NS Harsha

N.S. Harsha’s work demonstrates his unique artistic practice based on the manipulation of traditional Indian miniature painting, known for its intricate illuminations and delicate brushwork, into bold, even absurd images that reflect his narrative bent and strong political views. The astuteness of Harsha’s work lies as much in the scale of his depictions as it does in the meticulous detail of his painting.

Recognized as an artist with many skills, Harsha’s body of work straddles a variety of genres and mediums. His oeuvre includes large, detailed figurative paintings, miniature drawings, site-specific installations, community-based art as well as research projects. In his monumental, tapestry-like canvases, Harsha weaves detailed stories, skillfully depicting the daily goings-on of his own community alongside significant global events. Almost always figurative, these large-format works are populated with people who seem to be focused on an ordinary event, an activity the viewer would not typically consider uncommon. However, within these customary settings, the artist might discreetly point out something that is unusual, something comically strange.

Born in 1969, in Mysore, N.S. Harsha received his Master’s degree in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of M.S. University, Baroda in 1995. He has taken part in numerous projects and exhibitions internationally including the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Arts, Australia, in 1999; the Second Fukuoka Asia Art Triennial in 2002; the Singapore Biennale in 2006; and more recently, in 2008, he won the prestigious Artes Mundi Prize, awarded at the National Museum in Cardiff. N.S. Harsha lives and works in Bangalore.

(Profile from Saffron Art)

Vivan Sundaram

Vivan Sundaram, painter, sculptor, installator is a key figure in a group of contemporary artists, who have, over the last decade, moved away from the enterprise of easel painting. 

Opposed to the comfort of looking at art from a drawing-room perspective or with disengagement, Sundaram, is more committed to realising multidimensional projects which invite audience participation as in open-stage theatre where, the distance between spectator and performer is minimal. You can sit inside a room, or on a car-seat or bed or within a sheltered space, for instance, in a hut with live video and music to experience and evoke multiple meanings. 

Sundarama’s work is conceived as a cultural product or debate rather than fine art to hang on the wall. It crucially relates to social and political history, the environment and to historiography itself. The viewer can take part in looking and thinking about event and issue and story in response to painted, crafted constructions and enclosures which are placed as excavated phenomena on the stage or, what can be a museum-like gallery space. Alternatively, the exhibition arena resembles an abandoned machine workshop or the karkhana (factory,in Urdu) of a toy-maker. 

Sundarama’s monumental artworks or relic-like objects acquire different meanings on different sites. An industrial landscape, is polemically represented as a totem-like structure, made with charcoal on paper and a tray of gleaming engine oil; the body of a man, killed in a communal riot, photographed by a reporter is an appropriated image, used by Sundaram as a "Fallen Man" emblem for many exhibitions; the memorial cum gateway,(a recurrent theme) made with tin trunks, the dwellings, cast as the House/Boat compositions or the dilapidated trawler-boat and its fragments are the image-structures which recur as the grammer of the environmental condition he models and re-models. The sculptures are erected and dismantled for shows in different cities.Their architectural instability, their incompleteness, along with the recently, added animistic exhibits of a bed with soft toys and the shell of an old fiat car with velvet seat and neon lights, point to a willful narration about strife, about the seduction and control of mechanical-electronic paraphernalia and about wishing and dreaming. 

Unsettling the gaze of the viewer is towards a purpose. It is to solicit an intellection to invite participation in the construction of history, and to jostle personal memories his and ours-so that the installation area becomes a speaking space. 

Sundaram had put up a mammoth installation at the Durbar Hall, Victoria Memorial, (A British-built building in Calcutta, which houses one of the largest libraries in Asia) in 1999. This site specific, turn-of-the-millenium endeavour was an alternative look at history, seen through artifacts of the colonial period and after, put together as cinematic montage and illumined as fragments of a mis-en-scene. (A theatrical- cinematic term, literally, Â’to put into a scenea’) 

In his latest venture, shelter the structure of the cube, the boat, the carcass-shell of the car, turned into a sofa or turned into an advertisement-object with blinking lights, an odoriferous bunk bed reeking with childhood memories, are things and forms which become a collection to be re-used and hauled from one exhibition into another. 

The shows demonstrate the aspiration to the condition of architecture, theatre, and the cinema where, remembrance is the key motif and the solid objects are like images in a pop up picture book.In the manner of an itinerant bard, Sundaram rephrases, transforms, renews his artworks as he exposes the deeds and words he has witnessed, heard or conjured himself. In the role of narrator, or a cine-theatrical director, he eliminates himself as author/individual artist. He collaborates with workmen as carpenters, masons, stone-cutters and photographers and video film makers so that the collective effort of many persons is dramatised as though he were unraveling hero-lauds. 

The actors, in the scenario are expectedly, the visitors to his exhibition. Sundaram has made space for that : To view and walk through the gallery or location in a way so as to be able to re-construct time and saga, individually, and by means of his contrary, often ragged artwork-documents .

(Profile by Saffronart)

Balaji Ponna

Born in 1980, Balaji Ponna completed his Bachelor’s degree in Graphics from Andhra University in Vishakhapatnam, and his Master’s degree in the same from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. 

Balaji Ponna’s highly detailed canvases and smaller works on paper may seem undemanding at first. However, the artist employs clever images and snippets of text to subtly address sociopolitical issues, including those of class and corruption, which are prevalent across all levels of Indian society. 

The artist’s solo shows include ‘Black Smoke’ at Bose Pacia, Kolkata, in collaboration with the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2009; and at Osmosis Gallery, Mumbai, in 2007. Amongst his group shows, the most recent include ‘The July Show’ at the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2008; at Tulika Arts, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘In the Midst’ organized by Zamaana Arts at Tehresharan Gallery, New York, in 2007; ‘Chronicles of Unspoken’ at Travencore Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; ‘Cross Roads’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi., in 2007; and ‘Stepping In - Stepping Out’ organized by Art Konsult and Gallery Threshold, New Delhi, in 2006. In 2004, Ponna was awarded a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

(Profile by Saffronart)

chittrovanu mazumdar

Mazumdar's paintings operate on fracture. Composed of bold brushstrokes, elements of collage, abstract spaces and layered figurative imagery, Mazumdar's raw, almost expressionistic, canvases create a powerful emotional response. Mazumdar graduated from the Government College Kolkata in 1981 with a First Class First in Painting. He has held a variety of solo and group shows in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Paris and New York, including special exhibitions such as 'Exhibition for the African National Congress', Kolkata Information Centre, Kolkata 1988 and 'Confluence Art Camp for French & Indian artists', Alliance Francaise, Kolkata, 1992, Saffronart in Los Angeles 2001 and Saffronart & The Guild, 2004. His work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi and the Seagull Foundation, Kolkata. The artist currently resides in Kolkata.

(Profile by Saffronart)

arunanshu chowdhury

Born in 1969 in Hoogli, West Bengal, Arunanshu Chowdhury studied art at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, acquiring both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Art there. Later moving from his native Bengal to Gujarat, much of Chowdhury’s body of work bears testimony to the changing role of the city. 

Having spent most of his life in Baroda, Chowdhury’s art confronts urban violence in a manner which does not shock, but rather leaves a lingering feeling of vulnerability, almost haunting the viewer. Playing with the idea of historical memory, Chowdhury’s work can be called a reaction to acts of extreme violence. While the Gujarat riots were a nodal point in his art practice, the controlled nuclear tests at Pokhran in Gujarat only heightened the possibility of further violence leading to increased anguish for the artist. While the current political situation does influence him and his art practice, Chowdhury also comments strongly on the frivolous nature of contemporary society, the unnatural need to belong and the societal pressures are all mocked on his canvasses. 

Highlighting the spectator-like role of the civilian, Chowdhury introduces the motif of the rickshaw – the most common mode of transport in Baroda, as a silent witness to urban atrocity. Other everyday objects, like the barber’s chair or a rocking chair play protagonists in his paintings, which teem with narratives but are unable to speak. Elaborating on his art he says “By juxtaposing several images, creating movement and a haze of memories, I have tried to animate the jumble of life, the fast pace and imposition of material things in my recent work.” 

Arunanshu Chowdhury has had several solo shows, the most recent of which include 'Wind in the Willows' at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2008; ‘Probabilities of Occurring’ presented by the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, at Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore, in 2007-08; ‘Palimpsest – A Journey Through Time’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2005; ‘Falling Up’ at the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2001; and ‘Veneered Images’ at Prithvi Gallery, Mumbai, in 2000. His work has also been a part of numerous group shows including 'Vicissitudes of the Constructed Image' at Tangerine Art Space, Bangalore; 'Life is A Stage' at the Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA), Mumbai; 'With the Best Intentions' presented by Anant Art at Shridharni Gallery, New Delhi, all in 2009; 'Hot Shots' at the Viewing Room, Mumbai; 'Freshly Squeezed: The Young Indian Contemporaries' at Suchitrra Arts, Mumbai, both in 2008; and ‘High on Art’ at Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007. 

Chowdhury was honoured with the Ravi Jain Foundation Award, New Delhi, as well as the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, Canada, in 1995.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Suchender P

Rajesh Ram

The photo-realism of Rajesh Ram’s paintings and sculptures captures the truth conceptually and as an artistic expression. His large-format canvases, populated by figures caught up in everyday situations, encourage the viewer to reexamine objects and circumstances that would otherwise appear regular or mundane. The artist’s application of rich, deep colours brings the characters that populate his stories to life. However, their almost expressionless faces do not give the viewer the slightest hint of what may be playing on their minds. It is only the vibrancy of Ram’s palette, varying from earthy to vivacious that gives any suggestion of a mood in his work. 

Born in 1978, in Jharkhand, Rajesh Ram studied at the Patna School of Art in 2002, and in 2007, he participated in an Art Appreciation Course at the National Museum in New Delhi. An award winner at the 17th All India Art Contest, Nagpur, the artist has held several solo exhibitions, the most recent being 'Hybrid' at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi and Kolkata, in 2008; Project 88, Mumbai, in 2007; ‘Kala Akshar Bhains Barabar’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; and ‘Open Sculpture Show’ at the College of Art, Patna, in 2003. The group shows he has participated in include, 'Urgent: 10ml of Contemporary Needed!', presented by the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) at Travancore Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2008; Galerie Christian Hosp, Tirol, Austria, in 2008; 'Peers Group Show' at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2008; Art Konsult, Hong Kong, in 2008; Kala Gallery, Austria, in 2007; Art Pilgrim, London, in 2007; ‘New Paradigms’ at Gallery Romain Rolland and Gallery Threshold, New Delhi, in 2006; ‘Variation’ at the State Gallery of Fine Arts, Hyderabad, in 2006; and Habitat Centre, Open Palm Court, New Delhi, in 2004. 

The artist lives and works in Patna.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Ajay Dhandre

Ajay Dhandre draws with meticulous detail and highlights his images with sheer, transparent watercolours. He carefully positions these multi-layered intricacies within the spatial white of the paper; the contrast making his line-work appear even more congested – just like the metropolis he is trying to depict. Dhandre’s almost-technical imagery looks like a planned elevation of a science-fiction city, one that is impersonal and devoid of the ‘human touch’. The artist seems to have a foresight into what is soon to happen. 

Born in Nagpur, the artist found Mumbai ‘dramatic’ when he moved there. His reaction to the bustle of the cosmopolitan city led him to capture some of its drama on his surface, albeit with a futuristic take. Critics find the artist’s approach “in terms of robotics and architecture”, very novel. His futuristic Mumbai landscapes like ‘Cyber Village’ and ‘Dream Formation’ depict buildings suspended in air. “We can look up to technology alone to save us,” Dhandre says. “What with the threat of Mumbai drowning because of global warming and rising sea levels, we might find ourselves living in apartments floating in the sky.” 

Born in 1977, Ajay Dhandre completed his Bachelor’s degree at the College of Art there in 2001. Since then he has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions throughout India. In 2007 he held a solo show, ‘Hyper-Bio-Nano Materialism’, at the Museum Art Gallery in Mumbai. Amongst the most recent group shows in which his work has been featured are ‘Third Life’ at Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘Millennium Turks’ at Art Konsult, New Delhi, in 2008; Daira Centre for Arts and Culture, Hyderabad, in 2008; ‘Recent Works’ at Project 88, Mumbai, in 2007; ‘Does Size Matter?’ at Art Konsult, New Delhi and Mumbai, in 2007; and ‘Ye Hai Mumbai Mari Jaan’ at Art Konsult, New Delhi, in 2006.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Manjunath Kamath

Manjunath Kamath tells stories with his images. His narratives, however, are altered and adjusted constantly, adapting fluidly according to the environment they are narrated in, and resulting in a different meaning each time a story is told. As a visual artist, Kamath feels impelled to regularly reinvent his method of storytelling. By relentlessly working on his articulation and modernizing his techniques, the artist continuously updates his visual vocabulary. 

The artist’s need to draw and hold his viewers’ attention is palpable in his varied use of painting, drawing, sculpture and video. With the help of these disparate genres he creates narratives that are gripping in content, even though they are composed of simple, commonplace elements. Thus Kamath’s forte ultimately lies in creating fantasies out of the ordinary. 

Kamath usually begins a painting with just one element; this could be drawn from memories of past experiences or the reality of present contexts. He then keeps adding and taking away from the imagery, paying particular attention to structuring throughout this process, and ultimately arrives at a composition that he deems suitable to be the vehicle of his narrative. To Kamath, then, the process of construction is more important than his completed work. 

Born in 1972 in Mangalore, Manjunath Kamath obtained his Bachelor’s degree in sculpture from Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore, in 1994. He was also an artist-in-residence at the School of Art and Design of the University of Wales, Cardiff, in 2002. Kamath’s works have been featured in a number of solo exhibitions, the most recent ones including ‘108 Small Sories’ and ‘Something Happened’ at Gallery Espace, New Delhi, in 2007 and 2006 respectively; and ‘About Something’ at Sridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 1996. 

Kamath lives and works in Delhi.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Vibha Galhotra

Born in 1978, Vibha Galhotra received her Bachelor’s degree in Graphics from the Government College of Arts, Chandigarh, in 1999, and her Master’s degree in the same from Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, in 2001. The artist works with a variety of media, ranging from print-making to painting, animation videos and site-specific installations. As she explains, “The medium isn’t important to me. It’s about conveying the message”. Galhotra’s work frequently addresses issues of urbanization, exploring the various relationships between city and citizen. Often, the human figure seamlessly blends into wider cityscapes, almost as if the city was an engulfing protagonist. 

Vibha Galhotra has exhibited her work in several solo shows, including most recently ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2006; ‘Between Me and Delhi’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2005; ‘White’ at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda, in 2004; and ‘Space Within the Space’ at Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, in 2002. Her works have been featured in several group shows, including ‘Everywhere Is War (and rumors of war)’ at Bodhi Art, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘Destination Asia: Flying over Stereotypes’ at Elementa, Dubai, in 2008; ‘Walk The Line’ at Avanthy Contemporary, Zurich, in 2008; and ‘Rethinking Materiality’ at Gallery Espace, New Delhi, in 2007-08. 

Galhotra was awarded the Inlaks Foundation Fine Arts Award in 2003 and a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in 2001. She has also served as a visiting member of the faculty at the National Institute Fashion Technology, New Delhi, and has been conducted several workshops all over the world. 

The artist lives and works in New Delhi.

(Profile from Saffronart)

Prasanta Sahu

Commingling pictures and text, Sahu borrows motifs from the mass media. The black and white photographic images adopt a documentary style of address, presenting a snippet of everyday reality, such as we would be likely to find in a newspaper or magazine clipping. Yet, in Sahu's oeuvre, this process of citation operates on multiple levels. 

The artist is intensely aware of the pictorial surface of the canvas. Monochromatic pictures are contrasted with vividly painted areas and abrasions on the canvas form interesting textural motifs. However, in his work Sahu moves away from the high-modernist obsession with the formal properties of the painted surface. The paintings operate as performative gestures connecting the realms of art and society. 

For example, if Sahu draws attention to the materiality of the canvas through deliberately disfiguring its surfaces, the technique also highlights the symbolic importance of the image thus blemished. Violence is enacted on the pictorial surface, so that art is no longer the terrain of isolated intellectual pleasure, it becomes part and parcel of our social and political environment: both implicated in its aggression and a place for critique. 

As such, Sahu's painting functions as social commentary. Acutely conscious of the inherent conflicts in the urban condition, his works draw ironic, sometimes poignant, attention to its underlying brutality and cloaked hypocrisies. The crowd forms a familiar theme in his canvases. Through the depiction of its seething mass of faces, the artist analyses common human sentiments and the complicated relation between individual consciousness and collective deeds. 

The artist lives and works in Santiniketan.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Meera Devidayal

What sets apart Meera Devidayal from her contemporaries is her abundant use of popular symbols from everyday life and iconography in her work. She is intent on making a statement, albeit a subtle one, and prefers to leave it to the viewer's discretion and perception to interpret it. Painting to her is a means of self-exploration, questioning her own dogmas and beliefs as well as a means of bringing out the ironies in our immediate surroundings. 

It is not easy to classify or compartmentalize Meera Devidayal. She has been termed a feminist and more so a Kitsch artist. But she does not appreciate any of these tags. For this sensitive artist, her deep artistic sensibility rooted to the social concerns is a yardstick for gauging herself. 

Devidayal's artistic choices place her in a definite narrative of Indian art. She was one of those artists from the early seventies who reacted to the strict high modernism of their predecessors by exploring popular and kitsch imagery. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she remains isolated because she has charted her own journey and formed her own agenda. She has chosen rather not to be associated with the self-conscious avant-garde groups of her times. She has relied on her personal experiences and, in the process, has evolved and matured, as an individual and as an artist. 

However, she is quick to note that there is a clear emerging trend involving more and more contemporary Indian artists who are now making the adept use of the elements of kitsch in their works. Kitsch elements are resurfacing, and are well on the way to be part of the mainstream art, as she points out. 

She adds to say: "When I started off in the 1970s, my interest was kitsch or urban folk art, expressed in so many different ways in India - on buildings, in shops, in living rooms. Since then I have portrayed different simmering issues of modern life as my horizons have widened." 

Color, texture and tone are of importance for this artist; yet the pictures are not merely ornamental. They may be read at many levels and are intended to disturb you. Meera Devidayal believes that there need not be one particular message or meaning in a work. Perhaps a picture should evoke diverse emotion in different people and be read on many distinct levels. 

For example, a disturbing diptych by the artist portrays a sheet covered corpse and the exposed legs of a girl, presented behind barbed wire that separates the viewers from the subject. It raises perplexing questions regarding its meaning and significance. Equally perturbing is a painting of a reclining woman; is she merely relaxing; is she asleep; is she perhaps dead? It seems the ambiguity is intentional. 

Born in March 1947, Meera Devidayal completed her graduation in English Literature from Loreto Convent, Kolkata in 1966. She preferred to study art privately since in those days, art education was not an attractive proposition. Her formal training in fine art was only in 1969 after she married and came to Mumbai. She studied at the Sir J.J. School of Art for three years, and then switched to a part time course. 

Homes with intricately painted doors; windows and verandahs with patchworks of pealed paint earlier dominated her paintings, mostly set in an urban environment. Rich colors and feminist overtures dominate her canvas. Her paintings depict the man-woman relationship, sometimes in harmony and often in conflict. She easily identifies with feminist themes - whether it is in the form of women sitting semi-nude with a sewing machine; stitching flowers on a dress or a complete nude just being herself oblivious of a hand with a knife in one corner. 

Her show "The Secret Garden" in 1998 based on this theme was well received. The Secret Garden, according to the artist, is a place where beauty blooms in unexpected corners, where fragments evoke by implications, the workings of the heart. Another series of works - Woman's Body: Site of Contestation - that was exhibited in 1995 is a sort of sardonic comment on the work of generations of male artists who had painted the subject of woman and womanhood. Critics term her exploration of the relationship between men and women as a feminist statement. 

But she is not restricted to feminist issues. She has raised pointed objections to other social maladies. In one of her works, she has taken a hard look at gambling during Diwali juxtaposing it with exploitation of children in firecracker factories. In her set of pictures on the tenements of Mumbai, she employs mixed media on paper. She cut out film images of couples to create bright spots in otherwise dreary life. The pictures appear to contrast dreams, expectations and romanticism with the harsh reality of chawl life. 

Among her most recent shows is "Brahma to Bapu; Icons and symbols in Indian art" at the Centre for International Art (CIMA), Kolkata in November 2002. The artist has exhibited extensively in India and abroad. She lives and works in Mumbai. 

Meera Devidayal's latest body of works titled "Dream-Home" captures the quest for that lovely abode that can often drive us to despair. The exhibition is on at Gallery Chemould in Mumbai till March 28, 2003.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Tushar Joag

Tushar Joag describes himself as a public intervention artist. He founded PWC (Public Work Cells), an organization that aims "to create works of art that seek to make interventions in the urban space, by designing and producing objects that while being functional and aesthetic bring into focus the various concerns of the immediate situation." 
A conscientious artist deeply aware the problems and tensions of contemporary urban life, Joag spends his time doing things like developing a special vending cart for hawkers that folds up into a ‘Shanghai Couch’, on the approach of prowling BMC officials. All his works carry a strong social message and address issues prevalent in our society including the corruption of the judiciary, political hierarchy and disparity of wealth. Joag’s drawings are meticulous, but do not appear to be confined; some images appear in momentum, others seem to entirely break away from the limitations of the canvas. 

Tushar Joag was born in Bombay in 1966. In 1988, he received his Bachelor’s degree from the Sir J.J. School of Arts, Mumbai, and in 1989, he completed his Master’s degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. The artist’s solo shows include ‘Reconciliation and Truth’ at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, in 2008 and ‘Willing Suspension’ at Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, in 2005. Joag has also participated in numerous group shows including ‘India Art Now: Contemporary Indian Art Between Continuity and Transformation’ at Provincia di Milano, Italy, in 2007; ‘Here, There, Now: New and Recent Work by Artists from India’ at Soulflower Gallery, Bangkok, in 2007; ‘Pink’ at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, in 2007; ‘Subcontingent: The Indian Subcontinent in Contemporary Art’ at Fondazione Sandretto re Rabaudengo, Torino, Italy, in 2006; ‘Hungry God: Indian Contemporaries’ at Arario Beijing, in 2006; and ‘We Are Like This Only’ at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2005.
(Profile by Saffronart)

Ravi Agarwal

My childhood self, located in a family of women, was a multiple of differing types of negotiations, but many based on my being a biological male. Growing up with a sister who is a confirmed feminist, this was always forefronted, even as I struggled to relate with aspects of myself which are considered ‘feminine.’ My maleness, its ‘gaze’ and the inherent power relationship which societally exists between the sexes was presupposed and imprinted into my psyche, even as I resisted being stereotyped into my being a ‘male.’ Where lies my experience of myself, and how much did it belong to my being a male, in spite of ‘femininities’ within, can I even ever know?

(Text by Ravi Agarwal)

Prajakta Potnis

Although she is inspired by everyday objects and landscapes, Prajakta Potnis’ real interest lies in interpreting dreams. In a world where a great deal of attention and time is focused on realizing or fulfilling one’s dreams, Potnis attempts to reverse the process and understand people’s realities through their dreams. Her unique ability to rediscover, rather than merely document reality through her body of work, allows the artist to create a new world, much like ‘a fairytale suspended in reality’, exposing the fragility of desire and the impractical romanticism of dreams. 

Potnis has painted houses, scooters and cars, all objects of desire, covered in corrugated sheets or packaging material. These material objects, usually identified with position and status, when cloaked by the artist reveal that the significance of the objects within are largely based on appearances, and that the dreams to possess them are dangerously fragile. Through her work, Potnis unsympathetically makes her viewers aware of their false sense of security and superficial desires and measures of success. 

Prajakta Potnis was born in Thane and completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Art from the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai. 

She has participated in several group shows, the more recent ones being ‘Some Blind Alleys’ at Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; ‘Soft Spoken’ at the Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2007; ‘Reading Paint’ at Gallery Soulflower, Bangkok, in 2007; ‘III/III - Here and Now: Young Voices from India’ at Grosvenor Vadehra, London, in 2007; and ‘Myrrh’, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2006. The artist’s first solo show was ‘Walls-in-Between’, held at Kitab Mahal by the Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2006. In 2003-04, Potnis received the Inlaks Fine Arts Award, and in 2001-03, she was awarded a Young Artist Scholarship by the Department of Culture of the Government of India. 

Prajakta Potnis lives and works in Mumbai.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Nicola Durvasula

Nicola Durvasula’s works present the oppositions and contradictions of contemporary life. Drawing from differences such as those between East and West and fine arts and popular culture, the artist intertwines images that are seldom seen in the same light. Her works, therefore, often appear surreal or mystical. 

The use of painting along with her already eclectic style of drawing allows her audience to understand the time consuming nature of her process and simultaneously, the intensity of her thoughts portrayed. A hint of satirical humour can also been sensed in Durvasula’s compositions, which sometimes appear laced with subtle eroticism. 

Nicola Durvasula was born in 1960 in Jersey, Great Britain. Her education in art started in 1985 with a Diplome National Superieur d’Expression Plastique from the Ecole des Beaux Arts du Havre, France. In the same year, she studied at Atelier Gravure, Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris, France; and in 1993, she received a Diplome Unilingue de Langue et Civilisation Orientales from the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, France. In 2004, Durvasula graduated from Kent Institute of Art and Design with a Master’s degree in Fine Art. Her recent solo exhibitions include, ‘Life is But a Dream Part VII’ at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘Static Lines And Where They Take You’ at Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, in 2007; Rachmaninoff’s, London, in 2004; Nature Morte, New Delhi, in 2004; Galerie Rue Montgrand, École Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, Marseille, in 2004; and ‘Indian Rope Trick’ at Centre 19, Montbeliard, in 2002. Her work has also been featured in several group shows, the most recent being held at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘The Acceptance World’ at Rachmaninoff’s, London, in 2007; ‘House of Mirrors’ at Grosvenor Vadehra, London, in 2007; and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, in 2006.

Viraj Naik

Although already proficient and established as a printmaker, Vasant Viraj Naik displays a natural flare for watercolours as well as acrylics. His works involve enchanting figures, which reflect his fascination with Greek mythology, and at the same time possess a distinct Goan feel – an influence of his strong roots. 

Naik was born in Goa in 1975. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in painting from the Goa College of Art in 1998, and later, his Master’s degree from the University of Hyderabad in 2000. He has held several solo shows, the most recent ones being, hosted at Travancore Palace by Gallerie Nvya, New Delhi, in 2007; Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 2007; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2006; and Museum Gallery, Mumbai, in 2004. Some of the artist’s group shows include ‘The Scared’, presented by Galleria at Museum Gallery, Mumbai, in 2008; ‘Meandering Membranes’, presented by Empire Art and the Shrine Gallery, New Delhi, at The Taj Bengal, Kolkata, in 2007; ‘Reading Paint’, Gallery Soul Flower, Bangkok, in 2007; and ‘Inaugural Show’, at the Guild Gallery, New York, in 2006. 

In 2001, Naik received the Young Artists Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, and, in 2005, won the Silver Medal at the Anvantika Awards, New Delhi. 

Vasant Viraj Naik lives and works in Goa.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Prajakta Palav Aher

Prajakta Palav Aher paints every detail from a multitude of photographic references that she has archived over the years. The candid medium of photography allows her to unpretentiously penetrate the many aspects of middle class life in India, and capture its varied truths. 

Her works in acrylic on canvas depict images from her own background and reflect the insecurities and complexities of middle class life. With great skill and photographic perfection Aher paints pictures of fake plastic flowers adorning doors and staircases; newspaper stacks lying behind wooden cabinets; suitcases and bags perched on top of the cupboard; torn papers and documents covered in plastic sheets filling old wall units; and the iconic image of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, traveling the routes of an everyday commuter. 

Although the artist’s portrayals are realistic, they do not come across as documentaries but instead, allow the viewer to realize the disposition of the situations, and find humour in them. 

Prajakta Palav Aher was born in Mumbai in 1979. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in painting from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, in 2000 and her Master’s degree in portraiture from the same institute, in 2003. Aher has participated in a number of solo as well as group shows. The most recent of these include those held at Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, in 2007; Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; Empire Art and the Shrine Gallery, New Delhi at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata, in 2007; Project 88, Mumbai, in 2007; Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, in 2005; the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, in 2005; and Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai, also in 2005.

The artist lives and works in Mumbai. 

(Profile by Saffronart)

Aditya Pande

Aditya Pande’s large format works are made up of masses of undulating lines and frantic concentric circles, making each piece appear as if it is made up of several whirlpools of energy. The viewer’s focus constantly shifts from one density to another, some with movements that draw the eye inwards while others seem to spring out of the surface with wild abandon. 

The artist uses computer aided graphic design to create these hyperactive works of art. He further enhances these equation and vector-based works by overlaying the prints with materials such as ink, tinsel and acrylic paint along with beady, pop-artish eyes. 

Pande was born in Lucknow in 1976, and raised in Chandigarh. He trained in graphic design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, from where he graduated in 2001. He held his first solo show, ‘A to Zoo’, at Chatterjee and Lal, Mumbai, in 2008, and his work has been featured in several group exhibitions. The most recent include those held at Alexia Goethe Gallery, London, in collaboration with Gallery Nature Morte, New Delhi; ‘Neti-Neti (Not This, Not This)’ at Bose Pacia, New York; and ‘New Paintings’ at Gallery Nature Morte, New Delhi, all in 2008. 

Aditya Pande lives and works in New Delhi.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Pratul Dash

Pratul Dash is a conscientious human being who believes that the most vital role of an artist is to work towards uplifting society. Born in rural Orissa, Dash grew up enjoying the openness of landscapes untouched by man. New Delhi however, came as a rude awakening to the artist, who spent over a year in the bustling metropolis while pursuing his Master’s degree at the College of Art there. 

After experiencing first-hand the deteriorating state of natural landscapes, Dash became more and more concerned with the rate at which expanding cities were invading open spaces. His works reflect his concerns about the environment as well as his own experiences as a man from a simple town, leading a simple life, thrown unprepared into the chaos of urban spaces. On close examination, the viewer can sense the pain caused by this displacement of the self and the physical body, and the struggle of trying to exist in as familiar land as a rightful citizen rather than a refugee. 

Dash was born in Burla, Orissa, in 1974. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the B.K. College of Arts and Crafts, Bhubaneswar, in 1995 and his Master’s degree in painting from the College of Art, New Delhi, in 1998. Dash has participated in a number of solo shows, the most recent ones being, ‘Proxy Origin’ at Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2008; ‘Neo-Istoria’ at Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; ‘UNIDEE in Residency’ at Cittadelarte, Italy, in 2004; and those at Krishna Collections Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2003; Triveni Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2001; and Rashtriya Lalit Kala Academy, Bhubaneswar, in 1995. Amongst Dash’s honours are the from the Industrial Literature Society award, Italy, in 2005; a scholarship from the Inlaks Foundation in 2004; the M.F. Husain award from the College of Art, New Delhi, in 1998; and three annual awards from the B.K. College of Arts and Crafts, Bhubaneswar, in 1991, ‘92 and ‘93.

(Profile by Saffronart)

Prantik Chattopadhyay

Prantik Chattopadhyay was born in Kolkata in 1979. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art at the Faculty of Fine Art at M.S. University, Baroda, in 2004. Two years later, he graduated with a Master’s degree in painting from the same institution. 

In addition traditional Indian art forms such as miniatures, the artist draws on folk and tribal art, popular culture, well known religious themes and Bollywood posters as the background of his works. However, Chattopadhyay readapts these to fit a modern context and language, creating a sense of irony and humour in his work. In doing so, he lightly critiques modern society, which he believes is characterized by consumerism and popular culture. 

Chattopadhyay’s style is quite varied. He uses different, often unusual materials in his work including food items preserved in raisin, stickers, ready-made objects, shaped MDF (medium intensity fibreboard) and acrylic sheets, and kinetic sculptures. The use of these materials enhances the satirical effect of his works, and through these he expresses his concern with sociological, political and religious issues. Although most of the works are created on the basis of external stimulus, some of them are inspired by childhood memories and experiences. 

The artist first exhibited his works in a group exhibition, ‘Threshold’ at the Nehru Art Center, Mumbai, in 2005, and had his first solo exhibition in 2006 at Sakshi Gallery in Mumbai. Other galleries in India such as Red Earth Gallery, Baroda; Sarjan Art Gallery, Baroda; and Gallery Sridharani, New Delhi, have exhibited some of his works in group exhibitions. In 2002, Chattopadhyay received the Nasreen Mohamedi Award. 

The artist lives and works in Baroda, India.

(Profile from Saffronart)