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ART

Marta Jakimowicz=20

Reclaiming gestures=20

A gallery in the Chitrakala Parishath has displayed = another=20 array of Ravi Shah=E2=80=99s wooden sculptures and the show is on = till July 19.=20 The free standing wooden figures celebrate common notions of the = human;=20 while they also act as a response to this contemporary = artists=E2=80=99 interest=20 in re-creating the human body=E2=80=A6 applying his signature = =E2=80=98axe-effect=E2=80=99.=20

In producing the wooden sculptures, Ravi consciously = renounces=20 elaborate or perfectionists=E2=80=99 techniques in rendering the = human forms. The=20 forms, scarcely clothed, possess the naivete and awkwardness, = exposing=20 incompleteness and compelling humanistic attitudes, a rawness of = material,=20 as if emerging out of nature. Realities with their contemplations = often=20 cross lines, where it appears that the one character, which maybe = the=20 artist himself takes over the qualities and idiosyncrasies of = several real=20 individuals.

These figures vary in=20 sizes. Not many artists are known to be doing such magnificent = sizes in=20 wood. The display combines the life-size figures leading to the = huge=20 monumental ones asking the onlooker to participate or proceed. As = you walk=20 along the path, as maneuvered by the divider in the gallery space, = the=20 figures grow bigger in size.

Soon after the free standing = figures=20 at the entrance which interrogate blankly, you arrive towards the = colossal=20 form in a corner positioning itself to sit=E2=80=A6 in turn = settling you within=20 the space. The dancer appearing as a three-dimensional relief, = with an=20 unequal head, greets with clasped hands. The stunted youth figure = adds=20 sudden alertness to the surrounding=E2=80=A6 but strangely closing = his eyes, may=20 be to reality. The largest, a huge monumental figure much bigger = than life=20 gestures an ultimatum, as he raises his finger=E2=80=A6 seeming = like a supreme=20 power acclaiming the heterogeneity of attitudes present around.=20

Ravi=E2=80=99s rendering with ruthless marks of the axe = give his=20 sculptures a unique genuine quality. The show incorporates figures = with=20 sometimes huge disproportionate heads. It appears that = Ravi=E2=80=99s frequent=20 shows, is his grappling with people and their stances together; in = turn=20 forming a crucial part of his ongoing development as an artist. = Not many=20 artists in the contemporary art world work in wood. Ravi = Shah=E2=80=99s sculptures=20 can be compared to German artist Balkenhols=E2=80=99 works in the = 1980s; but where=20 Balkenhol aims for objectivity and neutrality of representation, = Ravi=20 Shah=E2=80=99s work imbibe deep individual characteristics = portrayed through=20 posture or expression.

Nirali Lal =

Composite=20 gender

The launch of Dr Alka Pande=E2=80=99s = spectacularly illustrated=20 book Ardhanarishvara at Time & Space (July 9) was accompanied = by a=20 photographic exhibition offering glimpses into the transgender = phenomenon.=20 The two artists who contributed to the display, partly differ in = their=20 approach and partly find a common ground in their empathy, thus = enabling=20 the theme to reveal diverse aspects within it as well as its basic = humaneness.

Clare Arni, a British photographer living = mostly in=20 Bangalore, is more conscious about her aesthetic choice adopted to = convey=20 what she intends. Shot during a =E2=80=98Hijra Habba=E2=80=99 in = the city, her images=20 focus on single performers using the actual stage drapes to allude = to the=20 certain theatricality behind the transgender behaviour which = depends on=20 dressing up and on an authentically felt, nevertheless visibly = artificial=20 imitation of femininity. To varied degrees, the artist = simultaneously=20 accentuates the inherent rift and uncovers its reconciliation = through the=20 intense and defiant, sometimes innocent emotionality of those = people.=20

Shooting dance numbers and presentations of costumes, = Clare=20 mediates between the imposed convention and the heart-felt = underneath.=20 Formally, she steers from the kitsch and the awkward to the richly = lyrical. Patriarchal icons of femininity in bejewelled = Bharatanatyam=20 poses, in a floral outfit over bare body or in widowhood cloak may = betray=20 angularity of limbs yet may exude a natural and powerful, womanly=20 sensuality. Especially striking is the darkish, almost = monochromatic,=20 slightly lowered figure in a translucent veil photographed from = behind.=20

One of Clare=E2=80=99s shots presents a fashion show = underscoring further=20 the composite character of the looks and feelings here, while for = K=20 Venkatesh this motif becomes the central element also in the way = he=20 portrays informal groups of hijras attired in their best lady = clothes. His=20 =E2=80=98Models beyond Gender=E2=80=99 directly, intuitively and = with passion go in for=20 the sheer, often bawdy exuberance of what he faces straight on and = mingles=20 with. The artist to a large extent allows the crowded scenes to = dictate=20 his compositions which appear to spill out or tilt dynamically. He = captures the enthusiastic saturation of mood with a tactile sense = of=20 physical and vivacious, emotive togetherness.

The = admixture of=20 chance brings both somewhat messy images and some quite evocative = ones=20 where the rhythms amid human bodies speak for themselves. = Frequently the=20 loud, messy make-up resembles a mask, so hinting at the blend of = the=20 glamourous and the ordinary as well as at the inherent duality of = the=20 third sex. Thanks to his frankness, the immediate emerges as both = crude=20 and beautiful, aggressive and touchingly lively. Subtler tones of = this=20 oscillation are unearthed in the exhibited recently portraits of = Sridevi.=20

Indianness

The =E2=80=98Made in = India=E2=80=99 display=20 (Renaissance, July 6 to 14) brought under the title a fairly = unrelated=20 gamut of paintings whose themes and styles loosely reflect what is = popularly considered to reflect ethnicity. Rather than probe = reality, such=20 idioms indulge the viewer in more or less gently beautified images = of=20 conventionally attractive sights =E2=80=94 familiar and seen on = the surface,=20 otherwise transposed into nostalgic evocations. Examples of = academic=20 variants within this approach belong to Yashwant Shirvadkar and = Sudip Roy=20 with their colouristic and realist depictions of old architecture. = In=20 figuration, Anu Naik brings sentimentality, Vrindavan Solanki = =E2=80=94 a lyrical=20 but vague sketchiness, Bratin Khan, Anand Panchal and Rameshwar = Singh =E2=80=94 a=20 stylised sweetness, while Shyamal Mukherjee mingles it with a = cartoonish=20 mannerism. S G Vasudev=E2=80=99s modernist contour and patterned = texture has more=20 culture. The work of Shankar Kendale and Suresh Jayaram is = graceful in a=20 more traditional and contemporary way respectively. =

Mid-range=20

The new painting show at Akshana (earlier Lakshana II) = presented by the Bangalore Art Foundation has five young local = artists.=20 Although proving considerable skills and avoiding pretence, the = works=20 offer a gamut of not very original styles and primarily decorative = preoccupations. This characterises participants with an academic=20 background and self-taught ones.

Relatively contemporary = collages=20 with photographic elements and abstract brushing come from S = Vishnu Kumar.=20 Some passion evident there becomes exchanged for formal exercises = in=20 part-abstraction, be it landscape (Venkatesh O) or human heads = (Krishna=20 Raichur). Stylisation and naive playfulness inform the other = images=20 (Kuppanna Kandagal, H S Gangadhara, July 13 to 20)=20

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