We move into the long awaited winter months with pleasant breeze and comfortable
weather, yet the forecast of ‘smoke’ is a reminder of the pollution we face after the festive
season. Here in Delhi we have witnessed the first year of the ‘cracker ban’ which was issued
to counteract the burgeoning levels of pollution afflicting the city and its inhabitants.
A range of urban city environments are merged and explored in the work of Binoy
Varghese, whose solo exhibition ‘Let 100 Flowers Bloom’ recently took place in Delhi. Art
and Deal reports this series of acrylic on canvas, Binoy Varghese explores the connectivity
between the revolutionary history of countries such as Egypt, Vietnam and India, forging
connections between cultural landscapes and their inhabitants. The title itself is taken from
a quote from Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, and is an apt introduction
into this exploratory series of works.
Our correspondent in London, Rajesh Punj, interviews An-My Lê a Vietnamese
American photographer and academic. She fled her native Vietnam as a teenager in the
height of the Vietnam War, and now aims to analyze the disconnect between historical
events and the way they are retrospectively portrayed.
Freedom of movement is something of a gift to many of us in the modern age of
globalization, international art residencies are increasing in number and with this new
freedom of movement artists work is being impacted in unique and innovative ways. The
experience of adaptation and adjustment gives way to new found mediums of expression,
a concept explored by Lilian Hasler, Gaudenz Pfister
A contemporary psychological investigation of India’s involvement in World War I is
carried out by contemporary Indian painter Sumantra Sengupta in his ‘journey away from
humanism’. His most recent works are a series of paintings in which he psychologically
connects with the ‘Hahakar’ (horizontal devastation) experienced by those in his native
Bengal during the Great War. A number of questions arise as to whether India’s involvement
in the European war was justified, and in this work the concept of post-humanism emerges.
Lina Vincent Sunish takes us on a journey through the new Sculpture Park in RMZ
Ecoworld, Bangalore, and the opening of possibility for the general public to access and
enjoy the wealth of contemporary sculpture the modern age has to offer.
Art residencies have become somewhat commonplace in this day and age, however
a residency program with a marked difference has come about in the last few years.
Chitrashaala was a residency project originally started by hotelier Ashish Vohra, the
director of Justa Hotels, in order to breathe life into his hotels. And it has since blossomed
into an international residency which involves those in the local community as well as
established artists from overseas. Our correspondent reports from the residency first hand.
Malika Chakrawarti revisits a crucial period in India’s past – the Swadeshi movement,
and the Bengali art movement intrinsically connected with this movement for Indian
independence. In her analysis she reflects on the reclamation of Indian art by the masses,
while taking the processes of lithography and western painting techniques and reclaiming
them as our own.
In ‘Two Solo Shows’ Palak Dubey reviews two recent contemporary exhibitions in the
historic city of Hyderabad, and our correspondent reports first hand on the Art Bahrain,
Across Borders project which is currently taking place in India; connecting these two
ancient and previously connected cultures in the contemporary age.
Do send us your thoughts and suggestions.
Happy Reading.
-Siddhartha Tagore
