Indian artist Naresh Kapuria mounted an exhibition of his latest work in London, based on his collaboration with Akademi, a British organisation dedicated to South Asian dance. The show, which was exhibited at the Nehru Centre for a week, has now moved to Akademi.
Delhi-based multi-talented Kapuria, who is a sculptor, painter, art designer, landscape artist and an event manager, had collaborated with Akademi and Belgium’s Theater Tol to produce Bells, an amazing theatrical and dance spectacle, for the India Now festival in August 2007.
Inspired by the photographs and publicity materials created by Akademi for the Bells show, Kapuria says he decided to use those in his installations and created Dream World in My Box for a London show. Thus, Kapuria has created art pieces with photographs, bulbs and traditional Indian balance toy, adding a depth to simple postcards and posters by just using photographs from the Bells performance.
“I took permission from (Akademi director) Mira Kaushik and decided to create new installations, as I have really fond memories of my collaboration with Akademi and Theater Tol. The visual feat of twirling fairies in the air, the rhythmic beats of the dancers and the lights, all had created the beautiful vision that was Bells and I wanted to relive that magic through my installations,” explains Kapuria, who is now working on creating a laser extravaganza in India. He is also working on his autobiography, which will essentially focus on his art. He has another exhibition being displayed in Kyoto in Japan and that will move to Seoul soon.
In Bells, Kapuria had collaborated to create five sculptures — featuring hundreds of bells that were integrated into the dance piece. Kapuria is a regular exhibitor in London and has held annual shows of his work at the Nehru
Centre.
Installation art, Kapuria said, is again slowly gaining prominence in India. “I believe that installation art has its origin in India,” he said, explaining that its roots could be seen in the stylised marriage mandaps created in the country since the ancient times. “Take the example of Durga Puja, where first the idol is created, then combined with the decoration of pandals to create a visual spectacle but after a short and time-bound display, the installation is taken down and immersed in a water body,” said Kapuria, who has designed several Festivals of India across the world.
Though installation art is now an upcoming trend that is gaining popularity in India, he says that when he started making installation art in the late 1990s, the reactions he got were mostly those of bewilderment. “I used to be told that what I did was not art,” Kapuria says, adding that even institutions like that Lalit Kala Akademi, which were set-up to facilitate art and artists, confined their breed to sculptors and painters. There was no option for installation artists, he says, but goes on to add that things have vastly improved in India.
Kapuria, however, is not very impressed with the work of some Indian contemporary artists who are getting popular in art circles in the UK. “They manage more on their contacts abroad rather than their art,” he says.
Indian artist Arshi Ahmed, sponsored by ICCR, also displayed a collection of her paintings, Towards Moksha, about spirituality alongside Kapuria’s exhibition. Exhibiting for the second time in London, Arshi is excited by the plans to send her exhibition to Berlin and Spain later this year. “When people here told me this time that they had seen a vast improvement in my work, that was the biggest compliment for me,” Arshi says.