JAN

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Aakriti Art Gallery & Art Konsult present Time & Material

New Delhi: Aakriti Art Gallery & Art Konsult present Time & Material; a group exhibition of more than 70 sculptures embracing the ubiquitous human form by forty leading Indian sculptors at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi from February 1 - 8, 2008.

The participating artists includes Akhil Chandra Das, Aku, Amaresh Kumar, Anil Sen, Asim Basu, Apurba Nandi, Anuj Kumar Poddar, Bimal Kundu, Chandan Bhandari, Chinthala Jagdish, S.Gopinath, Goutam Das, Jayanta Paul, Janak Jhankar Narzary, Jehangir Jani, Kanta Kishore Moharana, Kishore Chakraborty, K.S. Radhakrishnan, Mukulendu Pathak, Nilima, P.Rajivanayan, Pankaj Panwar, Partha Dasgupta, Pijush Patra, Rajender Tiku, Ratilal Kansodaria, Sandip Chakraborty, Shanta Samanta, Shiv Verma, Shyamal Roy, Subrata Biswas, Sujit Kumar Karan, Sutanu Chatterjee, Sunanda Das, Sunil Kumar Das, Suvadeep Das, Tapas Biswas, Tapan Kumar Das, Vinod Patel, Yogesh Mahida.

India's artistic heritage is one heavily dominated by a sculptural tradition. From the practical and decorative terracotta pieces of the Indus Valley Civilization to the intricate temple art of Mahabalipuram, Konarak and Khajuraho, the renowned bronzes of the Chola and Gupta periods, and the non-figurative stone-work adorning Mughal monuments, sculpture flourished as an art form in pre-colonial India.

Marking the presence of modern India, sculptors began to push the traditional media of their genre to take on new forms. Wood was smoked, burnt and assembled. Metal was not only cast, but etched, embossed, moulded, beaten and welded into shape in the hands of sculptors. These trends continued through the 1970s and early 80s, when students of the early moderns took up their cause to champion the freedom of expression, as their teachers retired.

Vikram Bachhawat of Aakriti Art Gallery says, "This sculpture show embraces notions of both the primitive & the modern - earthiness, naturalness, directness, abstraction & the surreal. They are wrought from materials such as brass, copper, iron, bronze, mud and papier-mâché which make for its wonderful richness of colour & light. The variety of medium and form is of utmost importance in sculptures as is proportion. One has to make a concerted effort to bring in a wide spectrum of artists, which was no mean task for us, but the challenge seemed worth taking."

Bhavna Kakar of Art Konsult says, "These sculptors take references from their life experiences, personal accounts & observations, initiating a sequence of activating the viewer through a cerebral engagement. The one common feature in this exhibition is an ubiquitous human presence in most of the participant's work."

The exhibition explores, expresses and captures the enlightened vision of the artists through contrast of lyricism and reality. Derived from life, it goes beyond physical attributes of life and resurrects the vital elements of nature towards pure beauty. The ethereal beauty of the sculptures is related to the medium as the body is related to the soul. In the absence of one, the other loses its relevance. This proves sculptures are more committed to life and art. Siddharth Tagore of Art Konsult sums it up by saying, "Each artist is living sincerely with his/her creative pursuits, having developed his/her own personal style. One can see their contribution towards modern contemporary sculpture which has been out of sheer personal passion."