Naqsh Parwaz, a group show of nine artists at Jehangir Art Gallery opened on 6th March 2023. The occasion was graced by Shri Rajendra Patil, President, Bombay Art Society Director, India Art Festival, Shri Hesh Sarmalkar, Art Consultant, Actor, Producer (USA), Shri M. Shankar, Curator & Artist, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai and and Shri N. Raghuraman Author, Columnist & Senior Journalist.
The exhibition showcases works of Akash Yadav (New Delhi), Akash Srivastava (New Delhi), Devika Sharma (New Delhi), Gangji Ramesh Kumar (Hyderabad), Jagadish Ray Sarkar (Kolkata), Khurram Mohammad Amir (Uttarakhand), Dr. Neerja Chandna Peters (New Delhi), Shankar Pamarthy (Hyderabad) and Vinayak Nigam (Kanpur).
An eclectic mix of abstract, portraiture, cartoon and representational art the exhibition presents a variety of artworks including drawings, paintings and sculptures.
One is intrigued by the diversity of media used in sculptures by Vinayak Nigam who depicts human interactions in social and historical contexts through sculpted bronze, wood, fabric, bone, plastic and other media. His works are representational and conceptualise living beings and their interactions in both natural and man-made surroundings.
Khurram on the other hand shows his versatility in handling of both styles and media. To him true art is where our innermost feelings are expressed and the craft entwines the soul. His works show his passion for traveling and his sojourn in the hills. He enjoys the rich diversity of lands and people, cultures and life in the flora and fauna that he observes and admires in streets and jungles. His works range from his award-winning painting of a watchmaker sitting in his shop, to scenic landscapes of the hills and much more.
“The immaculate and crisply realistic imagery in the works by Gangji Ramesh Kumar speaks for the meticulous dedication and infallible technique, with which he renders each minute detail to its best.
The objects are chosen from our day to day life and the spotlight is put on their aesthetics which might be ignored by the common man in his daily struggles. “Exploring the possibilities and strengths of coloring pencils, his works explore and recreate the lustre and solidity of metal, glossy freshness of fruits and glistening liveliness of leaves, rubber of the tires, spokes, threads, fibres, rendering each detail and registering it in all its originality.”
Among the artists in the show is the first Asian to win the World Press Cartoon Grand Prix Award for 2014, Shankar Pamarthy who
through his latest series, presents his love for birds. Shankar Pamarthy’s drawings very deftly extract from figures we see, shapes that evoke a “gaze unseen”. In this process of ‘distilling’ the figures one witnesses flirtation within the cubic form with a hint of surrealism. ‘From portraiture to narratives in his daily political cartoon, his urge to unearth the unseen is often woven around his penchant for people, satire and celebration of life’. His pleasing distortions speak volumes of his three decades of experience in caricature and exceptional international acclaim he has received in the same.
Akash Yadav, a graduate from Meadows School of Arts, SMU, Dallas, Texas, US, comes with an advertising, cinematography and art background. Quoting him here, “we can only bring out what’s inside of us and painting I find to be the greatest medium to achieve that impossible desire to truly express oneself. “Not restricting himself to one particular conventional style, Akash expresses his emotions and feelings towards Nature and its deep connection with its inhabitants. He uses a variety of media including watercolour, oil and acrylic to create a sublime entrance to the exhibition.
Shadowing Aakash’s exhibits are paintings and drawings of Jagadish Ray Sarkar, who interestingly works on the theme of shadow. He gives a new meaning to the word shadow through his impressionist visual poetry using depth of shadows in his work to highlight the subject and it’s seamless interaction with the surroundings. His black and white drawings reveal the effortless strokes of an experienced painter who says much more through variation in the thickness of strokes which then form an identity of their own.
They say ‘big things come in small packets’ and the two young artists in the group, Akash Srivastava and Devika Sharma do precisely that with their work in small format.
Primarily a portrait artist Akash captures the expression of the subject very skilfully in oil. He also works in charcoal and soft pastels and has a distinct visual language within his portraiture. The great detail at such a minute scale is the result of hours of labour with subtle brush strokes and tremendous patience.
Devika’s paintings, on the other hand are “fictional. They do not relate to specific people but are about men in our living society. “She says, “The subjects of my work enter my consciousness much like the characters in a novel appear to an author. So, hopefully when I share the resulting imagery with my audiences, my visual expressions of solidarity with the indignity and suffering experienced by many, will touch people in such a way that they will understand far more about my feelings for the subject than my words could ever convey. My taste of art has always been surrealism.” Devika’s conceptual works have an aesthetic appeal and great handling of medium that comes through her hours of dedicated practice.
I am the abstract artist in the group and I work with geometry. The works are a play of line, and colour, with the gradation in value and saturation that creates a drama of light, the medium being acrylic paint on linen or canvas. The radial symmetry and central focus hints towards the inspiration behind the paintings. Art is my form of meditation. I enjoy playing with optics and refrangibility of colour and the meditative process of perfecting the outlines to create movement in my paintings which to me represents Divine grace. The works are part of a series that I have been working upon since 2016.
Naqsh Parwaz which literally means flight of creativity explores the journey of nine different artists and their creative pursuit and practice. The exhibition at Hirji Jehangir Art Gallery is open to visitors on all days from 6th to 12th March 2023 from 11:00am to 7:00 pm and is a must visit.
Neerja Chandna Peters
(The author is an artist who is part of Naqsh Parwaz, the group exhibition).
