At the beginning of the month, I attended the India Art Festival here in Mumbai.
This was an exhibition of galleries throughout the country with a the type of fine art you would in most commercially viable gallery spaces, as such, much of the art I would categorize as décor. With that being said, I wanted to share some work that I found interesting. But, before I do, I would mention an interactive video installation presented by Som Sengupta which involved using a painting as a marker for an augmented reality video. That is, the video insert (the augmentation) was an animation made in the style of the painting underlying it. The style being something of a French circus from the turn of the 20th century.
This was an exhibition of galleries throughout the country with a the type of fine art you would in most commercially viable gallery spaces, as such, much of the art I would categorize as décor. With that being said, I wanted to share some work that I found interesting. But, before I do, I would mention an interactive video installation presented by Som Sengupta which involved using a painting as a marker for an augmented reality video. That is, the video insert (the augmentation) was an animation made in the style of the painting underlying it. The style being something of a French circus from the turn of the 20th century.
The first work of interest is Divine Bovine by Jaideep Mehrotra and presented by the Tao Gallery. Yes the QT code works and leads to the artist's website. I think this is nice allegory for embedded systems.
The next work I considered is based on a recurring, yet deliberately avoided, theme of consumer culture, waste. The building material for this 4-5 meter skull is eWaste. In essence, that is much the social and political point of this work; eWaste is a contaminant that is harmful to life. The source for the material is collected by www.e-incarnation.com.
Unfortunately, I did not manage to trace the maker of these embroidery. It was also a challenge to photograph them well due to the glass casing. However, from these images, you may be able to surmise the texture, the quality of the dyes, and the composition of the layout. The attention to detail, as a more contemporary aesthetic and modern materials are combined, like an alloy, in seamless fascination.
The nature of the subject matter carries a tone of the macbre, reminiscent of the more mystical qualities of European medieval art. In particular, the narrative forms that represented mortality of body juxtaposed to the immortality of the soul.
On to my most favored works...
Once again we visit the Tao Gallery, but this time looking at works of artist Ali Akbar Mehta. He has produced a painterly presentation of graphic novel using lenticular and vinyl depicting ordinary super heroes in a collection entitled, "of Men and Supermen." The photo references to the right illustrate use of the lenticular printing technique to convey the hidden realm or alternate reality in which the superman exists. Samples of the work can be seen on the gallery's website.
Though I don't really think there is such a thing as an 'Indian Culture' due to the diversity this country embodies. However, I would espouse the notion that graphic illustration plays an essential role in the cultures of India.
