Art & Architecture

Visit to Volte / Sheeba Chhachhi's works: "Winged Pilgrims- A Chronicle from Asia"

Visit to Maskara / T. Venkanna's work: Print making

Book Launch / Rahul Mehrotra: Architecture in India post 1990

We visited two art galleries as a part of our Graphics studio yesterday. Firstly we went to Volte Art Gallery to see Sheeba Chhachhi's works "Winged Pilgrims- A Chronicle from Asia". The works tried to raise the issue of migration and mass consumption, the flow of goods and ideas in the age of globalization. To convey so, the artist layers moving images of birds or moving ships over landscapes of various topographies. As one passes through the exhibition, there is a gradual transition from the mythical landscapes to those of the modern and global scenes. One sees flying peacocks and floating musical objects against barren landscape - a contrasting combination of colour and rawness. Ships travel across the decaying Yamuna river. A line of cocks move across a background frame of a forest of birds and terrestrial creatures. All works suggest movement and consumption. Her selection of birds make an interesting communication of many other ideas such as the bird flue - a disease that was also transported from one space to other, or birds as messengers of information, knowledge (like the saraswati's hawk). On the other hand, there are various invisible figures, indicated by hollow robes holding screens which have miniature distorted images of similar type. These talk more poignantly of contemporary issues of global culture, mixed imagery, borrowed ideas, borrowed forms, imported goods, consumerism, flowing capital...

She very intelligently also chooses the tool of the moving screen - a chinese bulk-produced item which has become an object of mass consumption today by its sheer novelty. Such objects have a very short life in the public memory but still make an impact momentarily. She studies the mechanism of these cheaply produced chinese items and uses it's technique in her installations, thus intensifying our fetish for such objects. Overall, it was a completely interesting experience to see her works. I know I have not justified her work at all by my limited writing skills, but if i spent more time over it, I could really write a good review of her works.

Shubhalakshmi informed me very late that Maskara Art gallery was designed by Rahul Mehrotra. It was a large simple volume - almost a hollow with a sloping roof peaking to about 40 feet high. It had a large door made completely out of steel box sections and it was absolutely brilliant. We briefly had a work with Abhay Maskara, the curator of the gallery. He told us the history of the gallery being a cotton mill before where cotton stacks were piled up as high as 30 feet or more. The place was almost left deserted once the mills moved out. the walls of the mill, almost crumbling were repaired by laterite slabs and the interior floor was finished with concrete. Maskara Art Gallery is a must-visit for any architect around the city. It was completely awe-striking space.

Walking through a series of drawings, later monochrome prints and then some coloured ones, one saw sexually explicit images of love making, eroticism and masturbation. In Venkanna's view, he was trying to depict reality. But I wasnt sure what reality he wanted to depict? What about this reality? What was the reason for this perversion? Particularly, I felt so since there was no new interpretation of perversion. Bananas, couples, brassiers, eggs, phallic symbols - is this the only way to indicate the so called "reality"? Or was it about the technique? The technique of print making through wood cut, etching.

On his working table lay a series of books he was referring to for his copper plates he was etching. There were papers, tools, wood cuts, sketches, drawings, scribblings and colours. Venkanna looks a young little chap who has already been to Amsterdam (and probably other places too). He showed us how the entire process is carried out. It is extremely laborious. And as he sat with the book experimenting various details of techniques, I realized how important it must have become for the modernists to document these processes for later generations to come.

When I asked Venkanna if he gets bored alone working on his prints in the huge volume, he subtly pointed out that being in a private gallery was thus different. There are not many people who know of private galleries in the first place and on the other hand, public galleries bring in much diverse crowd. Unlike public galleries, private galleries are visited by the affluent section of the society to a great extent. But since he keeps working all the time, keeps producing all the time, I think his mental space keeps him occupied all the time. He later said that his studio too is a silent space. Probably I was again dissecting his mind through my architectural lens (trying to understand if the physical space affects his mental space).

Abhay (Maskara) helped with many larger questions like what happens when miniature like works are displayed in an absolutely huge space like this? Or how he was trying to collapse the workspace of the artist and the gallery into one. Or what happens when one sees the artist producing the work in front of you...How does one relate to print making technique today? On how the right kind of art work should be displayed in the right scale (you need the right scale to communicate an idea). [Abhay did his masters in management from the US and happens to be interested in art since the age of 12. He has been a thinker, curator out of passion and believes in expanding dimensions of imagination.]

Lastly, Rahul Mehrotra's book on Architecture in India post 1990s seems to be an interesting one especially since this was the phase I too grew up in. Mehrotra writes in his book that this phase becomes important for him not only because India's economy was liberalized or information technology came in, but also because it was this period when he too began setting up his practice. His personal struggle placed in the larger landscape of architectural practice around the country was a very interesting way to deal with the subject. He described a lot of works across the country, however spoke little about what he did extract. Much of his talk seemed almost familiar, but I wonder if it was so because he makes it so easy to understand (his skillful talk) or because  we have already read and discussed much of it. Although I expected the book to be a coffee table publication, I was glad to see enough critical text to substantiate the building activity in the 2 decades. However, I am sure much of the content is an assorted mix of various essays and writings done by others. Nevertheless, it shall be worthwhile to have the book in the library.

Had a long day! But an interesting one.