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S.H.Raza inaugurates Contemporary Art Exhibition,New Delhi,India,16th Jan 2008

From:     Ashok Nayak
Category: ArtExhibitions
Date:     22 January 2008
Time:     11:02 PM

Review:

from a palace…

On the eve of 50th year celebration of Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, 
Chhattishgarh, India ,53 artists from visual art faculty who were studied their Fine Art from this oldest 
Indian Art Institution has displayed their exceptional works at Rabindra Bhawan Galleries II & III ,World 
renowned eminent master S. H Raza and Eminent Indian Poet/Art Critic/Writer Sh Ashok Vajpeyi has 
inaugurated the show.Ashok Nayak,the curator and exhibition director of Ashok Art Gallery has taken 
a major role towards its grand success. When you walk through the gallery, you will find Ajay Kumar 
Mall has worked on the speed and intensity of his brushwork to create abstract oils on canvas while 
the 'Green Landscape' by Hukum Lal Verma displays a celebration of colour and line. Elements from 
the landscape begin to disintegrate with its remnants in the title. Spontaneity of working in the 
outdoors brings about the need for speed with the application and the inevitable breakup of the form. 
In the lucid watercolours of the landscape by Anil Khobragare, transparent pigments look for spaces 
to hold on to the paper in a play of flow and merge in the painting process. Struggle for space and 
control comes forth in the acrylics of Devasis Mukherjee, as the birds seem to find a way to 
synchronize rhythms of existence among themselves. Girja Kumar Nirmalker delineates and engages 
pigments in indicating abstract spaces within composition while landscape remains in the hidden 
strata of the painting. Jiten Sahu works on constructing the urban landscape in a series of buildup 
activity across the canvas. Freedom of the display of brushwork remains in the periphery of the 
constructed space. Looking for purity of colour in the abstract, mixed media works of Mahesh 
Sharma engages in not looking for the definite and the orderly, rather the build up of pigment forms 
the base for developing the work.

Fleeting moments manages to manifest in the abstracts of Yogendra Tripati in a residual of earth 
colours that play every so light on the canvas. Elements from the landscape remain in the works of 
Manish Verma with an alluring content for transition into the abstract. Retaining colours of the earth, 
the acrylic works modulate to the circumstances. Shubra Chand also works on this transition with 
layering of pigments. Fields of colour are set against each other in the work of Prabir Kumar Dalai. 
The formations allow for brilliance in colour to make representations across the fields. Using dry 
pastel on paper Rajesh Mishra indicates flowing lines of the dancers in an attempt to capture the 
moment of action in 'Khairagarh'. In the rush for existence, evasion of death seems to be the moment 
of realization in the work of Sukant Dev Burman. Futility in the exercise seems to be the prediction of 
a parrot in contemplation while a dove tries to stabilize the present. Destiny in the hands of the 
richness of environment is taunting enough to be in the outdoors, away from comforts of the home in 
the painting of Sunita Verma. Symbolic in representation, the chair makes up for the absence of the 
household.

Relishing in the possibilities of transformation, the chance for a new world that could take one into the 
imaginable, the harmless soldier stands in readiness in the fusion of the real and the unreal in the 
work of Adhikalp Yadu. In similar terrain, Anup kumar Chand looks for transformations in the chance 
for that change in reality of a consistent regularity in the environment. Anant kumar Sahu ponders over 
the world order in the etching 'After Third Worldwar'. Frailty of lines in the etching drives home the 
situation in such an event. Aspirations in the form of a flower come in the etching by Khemlata 
Dewangan in 'Dream Flower'. The jaded sunflower looks up to the challenge in the present set of 
circumstances as the individual is caught in a vortex of the dream. In the dreaminess of the 
landscape, the painting by Malay Jain allows for another side of the landscape, not necessarily in the 
real. 'Soldiers after a War' by Mahesh R. Prajapati repeats the introspection of the individual caught 
in the cacophony of war. Etching and serigraphy allows for fields of hard, opaque colour in 
combination with sensitivity of the line.

Symbolic and the representational find its place in the prints of Rakesh Bani. The beast has its ways 
of instilling fear and control over frailty of the mind. With a limited use of colour, the work gets 
accentuated in its scope of an expanding vision. Spatial play gets mingled with the symbolic in the 
work of Tikendra Kumar Sahu with dog days open throughout the year to make a livelihood for 
comfort as Sharad Kumar Kawre explores the representational through the digital medium of 
printmaking. Sheikh Hifzul makes use of transformation of imagery in the 'Kiss-III'. Decorative 
elements and motifs adorn the masculine and the feminine in an intimate moment of the imaginary. 
Use of adornment continues in the work of Sankar Sarkar in 'Gold Show'. Looking for an intervention 
into the consumerist pattern of the present day, the subject is laden with showpieces that have 
questions on its origins. In an intervention for a social cause, 'Last drop" by Sajal Patra makes a 
statement about non-availability of a basic necessity for sustenance. 'Camel' by Ravi Kant Jha 
extends the possibility of tranformation of the subject for relating to a thought, in this case being a 
performance. An untitiled etching print by Rabi Narayan Gupta captures a vivid cacophony of imagery 
of torment. There's a search for redemption in the midst of such chaos and vulnerability. In the midst 
of these works is a painting by Ritesh Meshram that allows a seemingly innocent play of line and 
colour.

'Five Friends in B.F.A', an Etching by Mukti Agarwal is open to interpretation as a set of 5 birds gaze 
in extreme numbness. The quality of printmaking comes through in the work of Priyanka Waghela 
under an overlay of acrylic paint. Floatation of the subject plays with a compositional necessity of the 
work. Amar Jyoti Sarma plays a 'Mind Game' with a set of coffee cups set against an individual in 
contemplation. Spatial play with the cups sets a sense of intrigue to the painting while the mask of a 
clown against a series of stairs in the work of Dharam Beer Kumar allows for interplay of meaning. A 
stylized cow is represented in all its readiness for a charming display along its path in a painting by 
Hareream Das. A sense of freedom and pursuit is seen embellished in the Bronze sculpture by 
Rajesh Sharma and Kishore Kumar Sharma.

This physical show will be on vew 


at: Rabindra Bhawan Gallery, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, India till 22nd of January , 2008 and it 
will continue till 15th of February 2008 at Ashok Art Gallery.

Contemporary Art Exhibition Review : Ashok Art Gallery 
http://www.ashokartgallery.com


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