Emami Art is hosting three distinct exhibitions for the discerning art connoisseurs of the city. ‘The Politics of Paper’ features artworks b...
Emami Art is hosting three distinct exhibitions for the discerning art connoisseurs of the city. ‘The Politics of Paper’ features artworks by celebrated artists, curated by Ushmita Sahu, ‘Essential Forms: An Exhibition of MF Husain’s Cut-Outs’ presented by Ina Puri, and ‘Imprint : Riten Mozumdar’ curated by Ushmita Sahu. All the exhibitions which started on February 12 will continue till March-April at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity.
“The Politics of Paper” is an
exhibition that talks about engagements and explorations of Paper as a support, a material,
a concept, a process, and/or other intellectual engagements from an individual,
formal, historical, socio-cultural, political perspectives to name a few. It
establishes a visual context of the expanding boundaries of language
and approaches through several works by renowned artists like Adip Dutta, Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Chandra
Bhattacharjee, Jagannath Panda, Jayashree Chakravarty, Mithu Sen, N S Harsha,
Prasanta Sahu and TV Santhosh. The crux of the show highlights Paper’s intrinsic relationship with
our history, culture and politics for several millennia. It also highlights the
ideas of accretion and transformation, thus turning the focus on material as
social practice, where aptitudes, traditions, social spaces, etc. feed a range
of strategies and ideological assumptions.
“The
exhibition, the politics of
paper, is a prominent highlight on our gallery calendar this year.
It brings together the most influential contemporary artists working in India
today, revealing the diversity of their practices. It is interesting to see how
remarkably the artists have used paper, exploring its endless possibilities as
a medium, material and concept,” said Richa Agarwal, CEO, Emami Art.
“Essential Forms: An
Exhibition of MF Husain’s Cut-Outs” features startling
two-dimensional cut-outs, bold silhouettes of beasts and humans created by the
legendary artist using blocks of primary colours, having first cut out their
shapes on plywood.
The subjects were inspired by the ancestral spirits of
man, deity and beast in a sacred space. The stamping beast, a magnificent
animal, is all black, almost primordial, as it stands frozen in time.
Reminiscent of a rural landscape, the Krishna-like figure plays the flute
riding atop a bull in another composition in a mood that is, in contrast,
lyrical and gentle. There are also figures, of human shapes almost erotic,
suspended in the air, limbs stretching out, strands of hair flying in the wind
or caught in arabesques as if dancing to silent symphonies.
“Imprint: Riten Mozumdar” brings together a body of work that spans Mozumdar’s
entire career includes photographic materials, texts, lovingly researched and
accessed material from various private collections across India, calligraphic
paintings on silk, clothes, rugs and much more. Mozumdar
was one of the most significant artist-designers of India’s modernist design
renaissance with an illustrious career spanning five decades which began as a
student in Tagore’s Santiniketan between 1946-50.
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