FLAG MARCH OF REASSURANCE

SUSHMA SABNIS

Every once in a while, a nation chooses to display its strength as a reassurance to the citizens it houses, aptly called a flag march, where various streams of security forces parade in all their glory and finesse. These times of recession urged six artists to display their show of strength titled, ‘Flag March’ with a similar intent of reassuring the art world, at the newly opened Art Gate gallery, reviews Sushma Sabnis.
Conceptualized and organized by artist Tathi Premchand, the show he believes is a ‘flag march for safe investment in art’. Six eminent and upcoming artists from Mumbai came together to display an array of their works at the newly opened art gallery, Art Gate. This was the gallery’s debut show and its intent at showcasing these six specific artists was more than just a launch of their new space in an age when gallerists are closing shop. Owned and managed by Runish Chedda and at 3000 sq ft of display space and well equipped, the gallery is not just reassuring for the artists displaying their works, but anyone who walks through their doors and is connected to the art world. The show ‘Flag March’ displayed the works of six contemporary artists of our times, Archana Mishra, Gajanan Kabade, Pradeep Nerurkar, Prakash Waghmare, Rahul Vajale and Tathi Premchand. With an eclectic mix of the range of works on display, from abstracts to contemporary art and drawings, the show had a little something for everyone. The participating artists have been working in their chosen field and medium for the past 10-20 years and the works on display are a testament to theireffort and evolution of their art practices.
Artist Archana Mishra, reaches deep within her mind and heart to depict her abstractions on large scaled canvases. In this show however, along with her large format works, were a selection of small format works named, ‘Moon series’. Fluid and lyrical in form and colours, the abstracts descended over the viewer like a comforting gaze. The palette, unlike Archana’s earlier works, was replete with cool blues, pale yellows and luminous ochres. Archana believes in the influence of nature in everything and it reflected in her works as well. Artist Gajanan Kabade employed a very unique method to layer his canvases or paper works. He used coloured cellophane tape. Multiple hued and varying in different width as per the necessity of the artist’s vision, the works were bit by bit layered. The translucency of these cellophane pieces ensured the textures and luminosity of the works. Contrasting the shades used the artist left minute crevices between the layering like lighted windows to peep into his art process and his thought processes. Some portions displayed a water colour treatment and appeared to be meshed behind the translucent tape. Raising the ordinary cello tape from a mere material to a medium of art, Gajanan aimed to show beauty in the mundane to the viewer. Once in a while an artist becomes so influenced by nature that instead of just depicting it through the paint medium, they engage in a seemingly tactile depiction of it, like artist Pradeep Nerurkar. One had to only look at the acrylic painted surfaces that were on display at the show to imagine the stages of art processes that went into creating the art work. The artist engaged in nearly covering the white of the canvas with another sharply emerging cotton mesh element which leapt out at the viewer in absolute boldness. There was little of gradual merging of the contrasting textures of the canvas and the treated, coloured, hardened cotton mesh which stood out almost as a pedestal. The artist drew inspiration from nature and its diverse secrets and his choice of cotton, a natural fabric cementedthe reliance and faith he harbours in nature.
The works of artist Prakash Waghmare were intense colour fields, reflecting depth of the artist’s art practice and thought process. An ardent practitioner of Yoga, this artist based his meditative and soulful canvases on the silence he experienced during those moments of practice. If one were to observe a silent river, one would encounter bits of floating elements now and then, which float and sink as the river ebbs and flows. Prakash’s canvases displayed a similar essence to that river in flow. Fluid, deep and hinting at the elements it encompassed, the canvases were large format colour fields with the occasional geometric shapes which surfaced only on closer observation by the viewer. Like the wind playing with a window grill and a curtain, the possibilities of the objects behind thescreen seem more hypnotic than the directly visible.