Not just a fair, it is an affair
Madhvi Parekh
The Indian Art Fair is not only about the displays at the Fair grounds but also collateral events, mainly shown by city galleries, each saving their best and most innovative display for the Fair. Art Alive’s project has artists painting directly on the walls, which is partly reminiscent of ritual designs and patterns being painted on the entrances and chambers in folk traditions such as Worli and Madhubani. On the other hand, there is the long and rich history of public art of mural fresco paintings.
Ram Singh Ukreti rendering the Origins of Gond Kings in primary colours on bare wall probably comes closest to this practice. He draws upon the oral tradition, rich in myths and fables, translating them into visual form through the crucible of his own imagination and collective experience. The multifarious experiences underlying his works have been transposed from the walls of houses and temples to the gallery with finesse.
Madhvi Parekh while delving into the folk idiom exudes a more contemporary sensibility in her rendering of Noah’s Ark, within a very ritualistic and symbolic Indian context.
Manjunath Kamath and Manu Parekh use delicate lines to evoke the natural and the fertile. Manu uses lotus pads, lotuses, swans interspersed with phallic symbols in his composition ‘Mother of Fertility’ invoking the duality between Purusha and Prakriti within a profoundly Indic water cosmology. Manjunath on the other hand draws a narrative based on household plants and gardens by placing them in cupboards, behind fences creating viewerly stories.
Subba Ghosh’s drawings with charcoal on the walls are amongst the most arresting depictions on display. A menacing crouching man and a floating sleeping woman in a self-protective fetal pose are depicted in opposition but not necessarily antagonistic relationship, thereby reassembling the man -woman duality, under a completely novel aegis.
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