A painting titled Making and Unmaking of Dreams and Destiny by Avijit Dutta as part of the showcase of artwork at the India Art Fair 2023 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The 14th edition of the India Art Fair (IAF), which will begin on February 9 in New Delhi, will witness the participation of 71 art galleries and 14 institutions. Among these, two galleries from Hyderabad will highlight contemporary and modern artists. Artwork will present a solo exhibition of artist Avijit Dutta’s new series, while Dhee Artspace will showcase works by emerging artists Arjun Das, Leena Raj, Purvesh Patel and Sumana Som. Topics explored range from dramatic interpretations of people’s lifestyles to the migrant workforce and history to urbanization. IAF 2023 will facilitate interaction between Indian and international artists through art talks and showcases.
all that drama
Artist Avijit Dutta will exhibit his series of paintings Masquerade – An Endless Drama at the booth (E-13) of Kalakriti Art Gallery. He imagines life as a theatrical stage, inhabited by people viewed through different social lenses. He portrays ideas related to dreams, destiny, power, love, lust, greed, anger and social status and says, “The world is our stage and we are witnessing a constant interplay of roles, characters and scripts that play out across contexts. transform and merge accordingly. situations. When we watch, we too get drawn into the maelstrom of this masquerade and become a character in this drama.
Using tempera on canvas, his paintings in vibrant colors create the illusion of light and shadow, as if recreating a theatrical stage on which the lives of men, women and animals play out. “As artists, we are always in motion, observing, reflecting, learning and uncovering the complex aspects of life. In that journey, some of us grow as individuals and it That is reflected in our art,” he says, adding that Masquerade is an extension of his earlier series Intimate Theatres.
Avijit Dutta had showcased his previous series Deck of Cards at IAF 2018 in collaboration with Artwork. The gallery has been participating in IAF since 2014, beginning with group shows and progressing to solo shows since 2016.
people and displacement
Dhi Artspace marks its presence at the IAF at booth E-6 through a display of paintings and installations by four emerging contemporary artists – Arjun Das, Leena Raj, Purvesh Patel and Sumana Som. The visual stories presented by these artists highlight issues of urbanisation, migration, labor and the environment.
(Clockwise) The Artspace Showcase by Sumana Som, Purvesh Patel, Leena Raj and Arjun Das | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Arjun Das’s work is inspired by the migrant workforce in Kolkata’s Bada Bazaar. Instead of presenting portraits of workers, he presents the products they made using wood, terracotta roof tiles, metal, stone, and coal, which is intended to make the viewer pause and think about those workers in the marketplace. They are sold in, who have gone to Kolkata in search of them. ‘An imaginary paradise’ and hence, the issue of displacement.
Leena Raj draws from her roots in Kerala’s Mavelikara and depicts surreal landscapes in earthy tones of dusty brown, surrounded by men, women, children, birds, animals and trees. The communication of beings is a running theme in his work emerging from his observations of the afterlife at Mavelikara.
Navsari, Gujarat-based artist Purvesh Patel produces striking and dramatic illustrations of sickle-like tools. He wants the audience to consider the effects of urbanization on agriculture; The degradation of soil quality is further aggravated by excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. One of his paintings depicts germinating seeds made of copper wire, symbolically drawing attention to urbanization and dwindling farmland. However, his paintings also underline the quality of nature to replenish itself and rise like a phoenix.
Historical sites like Charminar, Bawdi and Moti Bazar find a new interpretation in the work of Sumana Som, a resident of Burdwan, West Bengal. She uses her skills of map-making and miniatures to layer her narratives and juxtaposes historical structures and everyday life in urban spaces to draw attention to people’s relationship with public space.
As curator Urja Garg points out, the artists’ connection to the land and their association with nature is a vital, binding factor: “One of Purvesh Patel’s artworks depicts seeds germinating in the most ethereal environment; His art comes from his childhood memories of working on a farm. He also uses the sickle in several compositions. Arjun Das, who has moved to Kolkata from a village, gives an artistic interpretation of what he finds in Bara Bazaar and how migrants co-exist in the market.
Leena Raj’s work reflects her love for nature and the hours she spends painting in Kerala and the energy that some of the human forms in her paintings appear almost genderless (or androgynous). “And Sumana Som uses multiple media to focus on historical sites as they exist today and to convey a sense of the times.”
(The exhibition will be on view at the India Art Fair 2023 in New Delhi from February 9 to February 12)