Under the Canopy of SJCC (an art camp experience)

March 23, 2018, 9:54 am

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An art camp or residency gives an artist what he/she craves for - a hassle-free creative time with every need catered to while we need to indulge only in art, whole-heartedly. I was lucky enough to be invited to one such art camp conducted by the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in St.Joseph's College of Communication (SJCC), Changanasseri along with 16 others. 5 of them were students from the campus.

A well-equipped campus also called Media Village with their own Radio station at 90.8 FM (within 25 km of the campus) and a television broadcast, MVTV (Media Village TV). A moderately spaced college with young creative minds and a creative campus.

Artists from the art camp. 

3 of them were unavailable while taking the photograph.

 Invite to the art camp

SJCC campus courtyard with paintings of the students on the walls.

 Paintings of students on the side walls.

Various sculptures by the students:

We were at liberty to choose the place where we could put our easels and we choose under the canopy of trees. And yet the heat was so unbearable that we had to take our easels inside for a couple of hours on two days. It did help us to place our things lavishly on tables and finish our works early though. When I say "we" I mean my roommate and new-found friend Aswathy who is doing her first year MFA in Sri Sankara University, Kaladi.

I was working on this big a canvas, 3x4 feet, for the first time and I did have my inhibitions to tell you the truth. It definitely was a learning experience worth it! The background didn't turn out the way I had intended; at first, I thought it's the floor which perhaps wasn't even. Later I realized it's the canvas. But I somehow adjusted it to my requirement. I had a hard time the first day, but once the final sketch was on, it went pretty smoothly.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

3x4 feet, Acrylics

There's a flash of light on the top almost towards the left corner; it's not part of the painting! 

We were also invited to be part of the Women's Day celebration held on Mar 9th which was also the last day of the camp. The Honourable Lady (Thambuuratti) lighting the lamp is the current Queen of Changanasseri if it had been under the King's rule. I was in awe to share the stage with her. And she wasn't a good speaker but instead sang gorgeously and stole our hearts! They also screened 'Loving Vincent' the previous day which I was dying to see and I must say it's one of the most amazingly done movies!

Here's a short video of the art camp by MVTV :

And finally the artists and their art:
*couldn't get hold of all the artists' in the pictures though!

From left to right:

Above: Parthasarathy Varma (great-grandson of Artist Raja Ravi Varma), Saanandaraj, Sudaya Das, Durga Das, Akshay (artists not in the pic)

Below: T K Anil, Aswathy Byju, Sadanandan Changanasseri, Suresh Koothuparamba, Sathheesh Parakkode, M S Vinod

Student Artists: Arshad P K, Suryagayatri, Vaiganath

(Indu Ajay-standing behind Suryagayatri in the middle pic above- and Rony Linson were unavailable for a click)

I enjoyed the free spirit I experienced artwise...I didn't have to bother about materials...Oh, the paint is about to finish or something like that. I hadn't had to cook, clean etc. etc. etc. before sitting down to paint or after it! I had the luxury to think only about art! The one thing that we- Aswathy and I, missed was the sharing of art experiences and talks in groups among the artists. However, we did converse/share a lot between ourselves.

What are your art camp/residency experiences? What is that you enjoy the most in an art camp - the freedom, the hassle-free artistic indulgence, the food, the formation of new friendships...?

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Open the windows

April 6, 2018, 2:11 am

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A room with a view

can be enjoyed

only if the windows are open.

I spend my days and nights

weaving my thoughts

trying to bring order

in between all the chaos.

Trying to fill the gaps

where there's void,

trying to cement the cracks

which could dwindle my existence.

Trying to open the weather-worn

windows for a fresh breath of air.

After all the laundry

I put them to dry

for a new lease of life.

Hoping, 

That your room abounds with rippled laughter

Your walls embrace enormous joy

And each wide window opens 

To immense possibilities.

I am taking part in April Urban Art Challenge in Instagram and did these windows as part of that challenge. Since I am finding it difficult to make new pieces for every challenge I thought of clubbing it with #the100dayproject as well. The words above are all mine and is not quoted from elsewhere.
Linking it to the gorgeous ladies in PPF!

So what are you taking part in these days?

Sketchbook Pages and Mini Paintings

April 13, 2018, 2:01 am

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“Tipu’s fort” or “Palakkad fort” is named after Hyder Ali’s son who is said to have rebuilt this fort in 1766 A.D. The early history of this fort is not much known. It was under the Zamorins and when Hyder Ali was sought for help against an invasion, he seized the opportunity and made it into his base. It soon started to dwindle between his hands and the British for quite some time. Finally, in the 1900s it was turned into a taluk office. Today along with some government offices it also houses a jail.

It’s a favourite tourist spot. It’s thronged with joggers, walkers and time-killers in the mornings, evenings and probably at all times. 

The first two were entries for the iconic buildings #aprilurbanartand hosted by some very talented ladies - Anjal Sidhu, Abhiri K, Disha Chauhan, Pearl Oshin Barnabas, Nikita and Avanti Natarajan. Since it's sometimes difficult to make different pieces for the different challenges, I clubbed it with Elle Luna and Lindsay Jean Thomson's #the100dayproject as well.

 Tipu's Fort or Palakkad Fort

Palakkad Municipal Office is the seat of the Municipality Chairman and houses departments like General Administration Department, Accounts Department, Council Department, Revenue Department, Public Work Department, Town Planning Department and the Health Department.

Palakkad Municipal Office

Different moods of Lotus is a series I am doing for Tara Leaver's Mini painting series. Actually, I had been planning to do this for quite some months now and thought this is a great opportunity to delve into it and maybe I will continue it for the 100-day project as well. Flowers have always been one of my favourites!!! (I do have loads of favourites!) And our National flower has been one of them!!!

Linking to the gorgeous artists at PPF!

Moon Ladies

May 25, 2018, 7:37 am

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Sorry that I haven't been able to post for the last couple of weeks. I was travelling with my family and I hadn't enough time to paint a thing except a sketch or two. I am not very much fond of drawing amid crowd...I do need to overcome that though. I have shot quite a number of pictures hoping to create them in leisure. Now, many personal projects are pending! I have to take that all up one by one! 

I am posting these 3 pictures I had painted three years back when I was in Dubai. I call them Moon Ladies. I had used photos of some stunning models/actors as a reference. Acrylic inks are what I have used to paint my Moon Ladies. One of them was posted HEREalong with one of my poems. Dedicating and linking it to my gorgeous Paint Party Friday ladies.

So how have you all been?

Alserkal Avenue Arts District

June 8, 2018, 8:55 am

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Alserkal Avenue, named after its founder is the brainchild of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, was established in 2007 is situated in the industrial neighborhood of Al Quoz spreads across a space of 500,000 square feet which houses not only numerous galleries of international repute but also project spaces, residencies, non-profit artists' studios, concept stores, event facilities and even cafes' and food outlets. It was expanded in 2015 to give it the look of today. Situated in Dubai's industrial quarters, this Avenue is a cluster of architect-designed warehouses that aims to foster the creative spirit by bringing together collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines, encouraging open dialogue, sharing of ideas and collaborations to bring those ideas to life.

I believe the art boom in Dubai started around 2012, the next year I had to leave for India. I can see a drastic, almost stunning advancement in the creative and artistic ventures there. The spaces that have opened up in the recent years hav left me amazingly baffled! So whenever I visit Dubai I make it a point to visit those spaces - old and new alike.

Alserkal Avenue (pic courtesy from their site)

This is how the street in the Avenue looks

I had quite an interesting hour at the Alserkal Avenue last month about which I had posted briefly on Instagram. The first day I got to visit only 3 galleries - 1x1, Ayyam and Gallery Isabelle Van Deneynde. You will obviously be fooled by the 'looks' outside...I was in awe when each door opened up into a space beyond belief particularly the first two - 1x1 and Ayyam. Then I understood what to expect and that "appearnces is (stunningly) deceptive!" 1x1 Gallery had Vivek Vilasini’s, an esteemed artist from my region!!! His exhibition, “Between One Shore and Several Others,” works on identity and translation were interesting. Vivek’s superimposed images have always been a remarkable take. The embossed plates speak so much of our time!!! 


"‘Between One Shore And Several Others’ is an enquiry into the transmigrations of concepts, their assimilation, internalization, and the evolution of identities. Identity is an ongoing process embedded in everyday social practices. Ideas that shape one’s identity are usually local – local places, local customs, local histories – but in today's world, the availability of alternatives allows one to escape the circumstances of one’s origin. The osmotic nature of this interplay permits for a translation that does not seek to reclaim the context, but to adapt and expand the vocabulary of the concept."

These galleries and the Avenue reminded me of container modified spaces. Does it to you? There is a City Walk where they have modified container constructs and they are absolutely unbelievable. But I am yet to have a closer look.

Ayyam gallery has Jean Boghossian’s “Unpredictable Horizons” which again speaks of identity and translation in yet another interesting angle with experiments in abstraction and script. The video completes his art which explains the process of this “burning artist”. It’s a spectacular take! 


"A new feeling of spirituality emerges, whether it be secular or religious when viewing the Abstract Calligraphy series: where the canvas is scorched by fire, leaving a faint trace that evokes abstract inscriptions. This work, along with others similar to it, invites individual consciousness and self-examination through the critical process that has resulted from the alchemy of art."

Just Look at the texture he creates. 

The third gallery I visited was Gallery Isabelle Van Deneynde where Haleh Redjaian’s “Inhabiting the Grid”. Minimalist with influences of grids, lines and space - ‘natural geometry ‘ - as she calls it, combines the visual grammar of Western Modernism with craft practices of Iranian heritage. Formally trained in the traditions of the Bauhaus, she admires its female pioneers and Sol Lewitt.

“We like systems and grids because they give us something that we can recognize, a frame that we can work within, but I like the idea of imperfection, the point at which the grid starts to break down.” 

The second part of this visit will continue in the next post.


Linking it to PPF ladies. 

Alserkal Avenue Arts District - Part 2

June 15, 2018, 3:06 am

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Alserkal Avenue, named after its founder is the brainchild of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, was established in 2007 is situated in the industrial neighborhood of Al Quoz spreads across a space of 500,000 square feet which houses not only numerous galleries of international repute but also project spaces, residencies, non-profit artists' studios, concept stores, event facilities and even cafes' and food outlets. It was expanded in 2015 to give it the look of today. Situated in Dubai's industrial quarters, this Avenue is a cluster of architect-designed warehouses that aims to foster the creative spirit by bringing together collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines, encouraging open dialogue, sharing of ideas and collaborations to bring those ideas to life.

Read: PART ONE

I visited the Avenue a second time, a couple of days after, to complete my visit to the rest of the galleries. I had two hours at hand and I started from where I had stopped the last time. I began with Leila Heller Gallery. 

Counterpart of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf’s paintings and assemblage works in "Inner and Outer Space" are fun and colourful. They instantly invoke the childhood exuberance which is just a façade that leads to much darker and graver issues of consumerism and ecological concerns. They not only remind of pop culture as well as drip paintings of Pollock but also permeates a sense of street culture.

“These discarded toys and television backs are considered poignant objects, resonant with emotion. “Each of these objects carries a story,” Scharf explains. He considers how people may have struggled and sacrificed to buy these toys and TVs, and the intense relationships that children and families have with them. Scharf brings to life these inanimate objects in his work.”

The exhibition is on until 31 Aug.

Look at the dimension of this painting!

Another exhibition, currently happening, in Leila Heller is Philip Taaffe’s works which would immediately take you to Islamic architecture and mosaic patterns. They are bright, colourful and layered which range from linocut, woodprint, marbling, silkscreen, rubber stamp and collage including free gestural paintings. There is an unmistakable fusion of the ancient and the modern with an uncompromising vibrancy to his works.

 “I think the power and possibilities for painting today has to do with binding it to a cultural legacy,” says Taaffe. “Painting is where these symbolic languages or forms somehow crystallize and reveal their ancestry — and that in turn shows a certain sense of future possibility.”

The exhibition is on until 31 Aug.

From Alexander Calder, Picasso through to Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn and Pablo Reinoso, many of the greatest artists and designers have turned both their thoughts and talent to jewelry. Bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings, these art pieces cover the entire spectrum of jewelry. Often imagined as a proof of love, these artists' jewels originally intended for their families and close ones. Custot gallery mentioned that they were "delighted to present the first artists' jewelry exhibition in Dubai and in the region" as part of their "Art and Jewelry" exhibition. There was an apparently interesting ongoing dialogue between art and jewelry by the various artists

“A piece of ‘artist’s jewelry’, like a painting or a sculpture, is a work of art. Springing from the same creative approach, it possesses the same force, poetry and ability to provoke, sometimes even the same humor. It is only their ultimate purpose that distinguishes one from the other” – Diane Venet, Artists’ Jewelry Collector.

The exhibition is on until 31 July.

Loved this unique display

 And that's a Picasso (the right end figures)

 The unmistakable Jeff Koons

Abstraction is something that every artist and a layman can debate and argue on forever, especially if you are seeing something like egg-shaped forms, as a viewer. But then it isn't as simple as it looks as deep thought does go into it as for a realistic work. It is not something an 'artist' ventures into when he/she doesn't know how to paint as 'some people' put it so effortlessly. Jean Highstein's "Space and Place" reveals some light on it by speaking about his process in his curatorial note. Jean Highstein, a key figure in abstraction, used bronze, steel, concrete and wood to create primal and organic forms. His boneblack pigment and Chinese ink stand in contrast with the white walls of the gallery and its rugged-sturdy look stands in contrast with his delicate drawings. The timeline and photographs along the walls and beside the stairs give us an idea of his line of work.

“Highstein’s quasi-manufactured sculptures create a dialogue between raw materials and nature, while also stressing the importance of the object’s presence and surrounding space. Throughout his artistic career, Highstein investigated the relationship of sculpture to its surroundings and its impact on the viewer’s perception of space.”– Statement by the Foundation.

The exhibition is on until 30 June.

I have divided my trip into 3 posts as it's extremely difficult to accommodate all the photos and texts into one. The final post will be published next week.

Hope you are enjoying this series of Alserkal Avenue.

Alserkal Avenue Arts District - Part 3 (Final)

June 22, 2018, 9:34 am

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Alserkal Avenue, named after its founder is the brainchild of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, was established in 2007 is situated in the industrial neighborhood of Al Quoz spreads across a space of 500,000 square feet which houses not only numerous galleries of international repute but also project spaces, residencies, non-profit artists' studios, concept stores, event facilities and even cafes' and food outlets. It was expanded in 2015 to give it the look of today. Situated in Dubai's industrial quarters, this Avenue is a cluster of architect-designed warehouses that aims to foster the creative spirit by bringing together collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines, encouraging open dialogue, sharing of ideas and collaborations to bring those ideas to life.

Read: PART ONE andPART TWO

An architect turned artist, Mike Arnold, has used his old school skill of architectural drawings into a finer passion to create freer, looser and impressionistic works of the ever-changing urban cityscapes of UAE by playing with light and reflection. It most certainly reminded me of the Impressionists and their unending love of the transformative power of light and ‘the moment’. I was fascinated by his works which these photos haven’t done justice to.

“There is no overriding theme to his work other than a life-long passion dedicated to light. His attempt to chase and capture light is what marries all his work and within that search, Arnold attempts to convey emotion to his viewers.”

A grey eeriness definitely wafted in the air as I strolled through the unpolished floor of Carbon12. Umbra, ‘Shadows’ for Latin, immediately seized my whole attention. I could feel a sense of tension, abandonment, eeriness and desolation. In the vicinity of the scenes depicted. I could sense Hopper-like feel somewhere there. What made more interesting was the way the paintings were made. I have always been a lover of glass paintings and I have used this technique in my very old works. To have made use of the reverse glass painting on plexiglass this Portugese painter, Gil Heitor Cortesão, has made an awesome rendition. It makes a ghostly atmosphere where feelings are let loose and forlorn just as the things that inhabit the assigned space.

“Before: a ghostly shadow-world, where absence dwells in cavernous or cell-like spaces, rhythmed by the background hum of continual vertical lines. Behind: the viewing space, bounded by the gallery walls and floor. Or is it?”

(from the concept note)

If photography is a “message without a code” in the words of Roland Barthes, How does one read a photobook? Asks the concept while welcoming the viewers. The Photobook Show at the Gulf Photo Plus was the only we saw that was entirely dedicated to photography. They have works from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, showcasing a unique sampling of more than 40 photobooks from 13 different countries. In Martin Parr’s seminal work on the topic, The Photobook: A History Vol I, II, and III, he argues that in the form of a photobook, photography enables a kind of interpretation that is otherwise not possible from a single contextless image. While a gallery or museum wall offers a public display of photography, a photobook facilitates a private and even intimate reading of a photographer’s work and indeed, their world, even if the message may be elusive at times. 

The most striking was the ‘Visual Narratives’ of Aisha Jemila Daniels which is a series of self-portraits conceived with the aim to illustrate the conflicting internal states that negotiate for control within us. This was the show my daughter liked the best.

“...the combination of remarkable images and good design in a book that is beautiful to open and pleasurable to leaf through is an ideal way of conveying a photographer’s ideas and statements.”

(from the concept note)

The exhibition is on until 31 Aug.

‘Intersections’ in Mojo Gallery presents a visual dialogue of 8 African-Arabian artists who are exploring the role of contemporary art as a voice in two ever-changing cultural landscapes of identities, beliefs, perceptions and values. Huge and some full-length works adorned the gallery walls in myriad colours that told the tale of the modern times – of war, loss, the conflict both internal and external, the confusion and the crisis and even an attempt at the evolution of a new order.

La Galerie Nationale is not a typical gallery per say. I had the feeling of entering a designer home/apartment adorned with decorative pieces, eclectic furniture and then a coulourful array of fun, vibrant and buoyant-child-like paintings. When I say child-like, it’s by no means offensive...the strokes have the spirit and energy of, may I say, a flamboyant child. Only here, the child is the famous Moroccan writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun. It is a celebration of colours and life-force that one sees here. I am talking about ‘Cultural Crossroads’ the first solo show in the Middle East and is the recognition of a friendship between Ben Jelloun and Guillaume Cuiry, director and curator of the gallery.

“Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.” 

The exhibition is on until 15 Sep.

Rubbles and ruins were dispersed across the floor, some sketches along the walls and a looped video on the far end of Green Art Gallery, ‘Demolishing buildings, buying waste’; recorded and analyzed the demolition of a building in Tehran and incorporated the ‘traces’ of the process as video, sculpture and drawings. The artist, Nazgol Ansarinia’s interest is in Tehran’s changing architectural landscape and its relationship to collective consciousness. To me, these works spoke of the tale of every developing city/urban space in the world; paradoxical cycle of construction and deconstruction.

“Every part of this city is associated with memories from different stages in my life. I think that’s what makes this fast speed of construction so destructive in a way. It’s taking away our collective memory and individual memory with it. Neighbourhoods are changing so fast that they are unrecognizable. You feel lost when you can’t relate to a space.” 

(from “The Artist and their City”, The Guardian / Tate, 2016) 

Ref:Alserkal Avenue

The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran - Illustrations (a study)

June 28, 2018, 10:57 pm

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Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet" speaks of love and marriage, joy and sorrow, reason and passion, beauty and death, and conveys the yearning for a Unity of Being that can only be achieved through love.

I considered practicing anatomy, rather human form, by simply copying the illustrations, not in its entirety, but the central figures and/or that were clear to me. As some pictures lacked clarity, I assumed certain aspects of the illustrations too and so there may be oddities here and there. This was purely meant as a practice as I was reading through the book. For the most part, Gibran's nude figures were sleek and slender except a few and it reminded of symbolism and art nouveau. It was sometimes difficult to distinguish the gender; I felt some figures were more androgynous. I love the way he has expressed them.

There are 12 illustrations in all and I have combined excerpts from the book with each one that I felt could be associated with the illustrations. I have used drawing pencils (2B, 4B and 6B) and tea wash. Edited hue and saturation in Photoshop.

I am not going into details regarding the poet-artist as the information is readily available all over the internet but I would recommend Poetry Foundation in case you would like a detailed reading.

"Long were the days of pain I have spent within the walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness with regret?"

"A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether."

"Shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups? 

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?"

"Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love."

"Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone."

"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."

"It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'."

I will continue the rest of the 6 illustrations in my next post.

Linking it to the gorgeous ladies in PPF! 

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The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran - Illustrations (a study) - Part 2

July 6, 2018, 2:39 am

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Kahlil Gibran's poetry is soulful as you can see from the excerpts and his illustrations are Blake-like, having that eerie sensuousness to it. Continuing my illustration journey of Gibran's "The Prophet," you can see the final six. In case you missed the first, read PART 1.

Thanks to every one of you who visits, takes time to read, absorb and analyse and leaves their thoughts and comments. It's hugely appreciated!

The next six:

"Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also."

"The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs ride and run murmuring to the sea;

And the treasure of your infinte depths would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless."

"When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for naught but ecstacy and sweet communion."

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing,

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb,

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

"The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

In the stillness of the night, I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses, 

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams."

"It was but yesterday we met in a dream.

You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.

But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn.

The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

And if our hands should meet in another dream we shall build another tower in the sky."

"A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me."

So saying "The Prophet" concludes.

Hope you enjoyed "The Prophet". Would love to hear from you.

Linking it to the PPF and the immensely talented ladies out there!

Animal Sketches - Photo Challenge

July 21, 2018, 12:06 am

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Trying different mediums is something that interests me the most just as trying different themes. We all talk about signature style, for me, it does change with each medium (acrylics, watercolour, pen and ink, charcoal, mixed media) that I use and I believe that's perhaps the beauty of it. When I saw Fonda Clark Haight's Animal Photo Challenge and the quirky, humorous and adorable pictures of the animals up for the challenge, I wanted to join in and decided 'impromptu' to use charcoal. I was blown away by the works of the talented ladies! They were pretty inspiring! Thanks to Fonda and the ladies there for such a creatively-fun-'workout'. The one thing I gained from this is to use charcoal with much more confidence and to draw freehand without a sketch and it was all spontaneous!

I have noticed and heard that unless one loves animals truly, the ones you try to portray wouldn't come out well- with true sentiment. What do you think?

So here I am sharing the endearing beings that I made from those pictures. I have used willow charcoal and a fixative. The paper is Derwent Academy sketchbook. Edited it with some quotes (a couple of them my own if it's not credited) in Photoshop.

Here're the images from the challenge:

Linking it to PPF and the awesome ladies there!

Nocturne Series - studying the celestial sky.

July 26, 2018, 9:51 pm

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Nocturnes or Nightscapes have always fascinated me. There was a time when I used to think I could probably study Astronomy or celestial mechanics, as a girl. But then soon I found Literature and arts interested me more in terms of studies. But even now I simply love gazing at the sky - day and night; particularly night I guess. The sky, vast and expansive, with so many happenings occurring probably all the while and yet looks so serene and tranquil. Though the skies I have painted are not what I see in my region, I do love watching skies where such wonders happen... now that it’s available at our fingertips and within the comfort of our own room! I am like Jodie Foster in "Contact" in total awe when I look up (though that's a different storyline about extraterrestrial life)! So it's no surprise that at some point in time I would end up painting them or at intervals, if I may say. As a personal project that I started at the wake of this year, it was perhaps Whistler’s “Nocturne” that nudged me to make some of my own. 

*Click on the images to view it big*

This is the first of my Nocturne series and this is definitely inspired by Whistler while the rest are my own interpretations of some photographs mixed with creative liberty! 

 "Shooting up"

 “When the skies turned deep-blue

The Moon bloomed,

The earth shone,

The spell fell

And the magic happened!”

 Grey sky in showers

 It was when the Super blood moon happened early this year.

It was from the picture above I cropped the Moon and used it in my SuperBloodMoon (click to read) post if you remember. I edited it in Photoshop. These were the stages of my painting the Moon.

And finally the last of the series for now...I am still adding to the collection.

Which one is your favourite?? Would love to know.

Linking it to the Awesome PPF and the Incredible ladies there!!!

Carpe diem!

August 3, 2018, 11:32 pm

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≪ Previous: Nocturne Series - studying the celestial sky.

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Some posts are more organized and some just happen and this post belongs to the latter. Not a very happy post, let me say beforehand...Sometimes when there’s so much chaos around, you enter a state of mental ramblings...and you discover things you didn’t know existed. They may not have any particular form and yet they are very much there; if I am making sense! Our world now is so preoccupied with hatred and violence of all kinds and intensity that one feels agonized and repulsive to the core. Yet each one of us, I know, Hope...for something good and better. And it does exist in quintessential pockets in this very life...nuggets of happiness. As Horace said, Carpe diem (Seize the moment)! However, I don't think Horace meant to ignore the future but rather to be more aware of the present for a better future.

Before getting to those, let me thank each and every one of you who visited, took the time to comment and left me more inspired last week. Thanks to Nadya King for leaving such a beautiful link, info and comment. I immediately had to check them and what a beautiful story of Henrietta Leavitt! There are such gems and indeed that's one such nugget of happiness (for me!). In case anyone wants to check that out, here's the LINK.

Now leaving you with some of my ramblings in images and words...because I know not any other way...

{these are quick drawings done (within 2 or 3 minutes) without much thought...}

As if everything is not enough

From things around us

Now we pile violent hatred

Heaps and heaps on

One another for no reason

It’s as if the ‘new natural’

Why? I can’t contemplate

Everything is ‘taken into account’

And ‘acted’ upon

Why? I can’t contemplate

Even a simple smile

Is twisted and twitched

To suit ‘the other’ perspective

Why? I can’t contemplate

Why can’t people be what they are?

And the rest be whatever they want to be

Accept and be!

Live and let live!

Is it so hard to just ‘be’!

We can learn a thing or two from nature

Where everything grows, exists and die

Where ‘collective consciousness’ is not hypnotised

By outward sources or any ideology

It’s just accepting and be.

Linking it to PPF Girls! 

Floods, Fluids and Flowers

September 14, 2018, 9:44 am

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It's over a month since I posted and I really can't pinpoint on one thing...I am really sorry guys for not having posted for that long! But seriously, I needed a break not from blogging as such but to help me stabilize on certain things. I was emotionally amock particularly with the floods in my region and the aftermath of it all. Our place and people are slowly recovering. We were in a safe area but there are loads of people who have suffered disastrously. We tried helping them out a bit by buying them the essentials like food and stuff, and dresses and also a bit through our art.

I seriously couldn't touch my paint and brush for almost a month other than the two flood relief ones, though I did sketch and splash colours casually to relax in between. 

Created these two paintings as part of raising funds for Flood Relief. The event was hosted and organized by Kalakar Keralam and Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in Durbar Hall Art Gallery premises and displayed in the Gallery. Around 500 artists from all over the State participated and collected around 7 Lakh rupees by the end of the fourth day of the 5-day event.

 My two paintings - The Lily pads in the first one is referred from Pearfluer and the girl in the boat (really tiny) is referred from Pinterest. Jellyfish are also referred from a photo on Pinterest.

On the walls of Durbar Hall Art Gallery. 

Both the works sold and the money went to the Chief Minister's Flood Relief Fund

Paul, studying in Grade 4 - my young buyer, youngest so far! 

Loved the zest in his sparkling eyes to get it! So extravagantly satisfying!

Just splashing some acrylic inks - fluid colours on postcards...to see where the colours travel...

Can you spot the hint of gold there?

'White Flowers in Glass Bottle'

I think I saw this picture in one of my Facebook friend's wall. 

Wanted to try the glass badly,

was trying glass for the first time and this was before the flood. 

Something pleasant to end with.

How have you all been doing?

Commission, Inktober and Hopes

September 28, 2018, 8:58 am

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The past couple of weeks has been really busy with a lot of stuff to do and not having enough time! I finished a commission work for a dear friend in Abu Dhabi. He had selected a work which was originally commissioned by another friend 7 years back when we were in Dubai. It was a gift for her daughter's teacher. So here I was working on it and it felt fabulous! I could see the changes in my work though I was working on the same painting. It's folk-inspired style as my friend had wanted it that way when I first painted it in 2011. In both pictures, however, the colours aren't true to what meets the eye. I don't know why that is so!

 I have used acrylics with gouache and embellished it with semi-precious stones for the ear studs and the nose-pin. It's A3 size.

2011

I am also preparing for Inktober, trying to select a theme of my own since I feel so restricted with the official prompts. I want to work on my shortcomings and what better way than to chose one's own theme to improve a particular skill or aspect of ones drawing/painting. Last year was the first time I participated and I had a whole lot of fun!!! I drew insects - "Tiny, But Me!" - 31 of them and yes!! I did complete the change! It was a great feeling! In case you want to check it out the rest, here it is - Week2, Week3, Week4 and Week5. I wrapped it up with an Inktober Insect series calendar. I was asked by many friends on why I didn't make a zine at the end of it...so this time I am thinking of making a zine as well. In case anyone is interested, do let me know.

"So anyone here joining Inktober?"

It would be great fun!

Thanks to Jake Parker for Inktober and here's what it's about and the official prompt list:

Currently, I am also doing small studies for potential paintings, projects that need some positive "Go ahead" green flags! Here's a sneak-peek...fingers crossed! 

Detail of a work in progress - study for a potential painting

Inktober - Week 1 & 2 - Temple Sculptures

October 12, 2018, 11:09 am

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Inktober is here again and yes, it’s pretty exciting!! I took part in Inktober last year for the first time and fortunately I was able to complete 31 drawings in 31 days. Hopefully this year too! Like last year I am again not going with the official prompts and I have my own theme and I am sticking to temple sculptures, our very own centuries-old traditional Indian sculptures. I have references from google images and Pinterest. Most of the information is unavailable though like where it’s from and when it dates back to. I am concentrating more on the forms and shapes and the feel of it.

I first sketch the image on an ordinary A5 size paper and when I feel it's right I transfer it onto the sketchbook and then I ink it. It's a bit of tedious process though and it is consuming a lot of time but then I am enjoying the whole process though. I have limited my colours to one and a couple of times two, to have the feel of monochrome. I had intended to begin my Inktober post last Friday but unfortunately, I couldn't. So this is Week 1 and 2 together.

 Apsara (celestial singer or dancer) or *Shalabanjika

...either of these.

"Garuda and Naga"

Garuda is the “King of birds” and the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Vishnu. According to Hindu Mythology, Garuda has a synthesis of an eagle and human form; symbolic of birth and heaven while Naga represents death and the underworld. It could very well go with the prompt ‘poisonous’ as well.

“Mother and Child”
I think this could go well with the second prompt “Tranquil” too...look at the child's face.

*Shalabanjika 

11C from Khajuraho

- a woman’s sculpture with stylised features often seen holding a branch of a tree, sometimes mirror or lamp. They are often in poses of dance, music or even grooming themselves. They have complex hairdos and adorned with lavish jewellery. Shalabhanjika holding a tree is also a symbol of fertility.

Shalabanjika in Markanda temple in Maharashtra, it is also called Mini Khajuraho. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

A grooming, adorning Shalabanjika. 

This is a simple one. I am mesmerised by the complex ones that I have seen in many temples with gorgeous intricate work. Now that I have warmed up enough, I am starting my hand at that. 

Shalabanjika on Eastern Torana (gateway) of Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh.
The colours are more peachy orange than the red that shows here! I loved this pose and the way she intertwines herself with the branch of the tree.

"Goddess Saraswati"

-goddess of knowledge, wisdom, creative arts and learning of all sorts. She’s part of the Trinity, along with Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Parvathy.

From Meenakshi Amman temple, Madurai. 

The temple dates back to 1st century CE and finds mention in the earliest Sangam Literature. The temple has withstood the test of time and many foreign invasions and lootings. It was rebuilt and restored by Nayaka Dynasty and by various other rulers. It was again degraded during the British rule and was completed only in 1995. The temple is famous for Ayirakkal mandapam (1000 pillared hall) built by Ariyanatha Mudaliar is well-known for excellent engineering skills blended with artistic vision. There are several other mandapas too.

 “Vishnu-Lakshmi” 
Reference is of a 10C damaged buff sandstone from Uttar Pradesh.

A "fanfare" - trying something different! 

"Dancing Ganesha"
One of my personal favourites! What do you think??
I love Ganesha in all forms! 

This is actually a wonderful journey for me trying things not tried before and I quite like the outcome too though it’s consuming a lot of time. I am not sure whether I will be able to complete with some travelling coming up next week!

So which one is your favourite here (if any!) ??

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Inktober - Week 3 & 4 - Temple Sculptures

October 26, 2018, 3:09 am

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Inktober has reached mid-way and I am lagging 5 days as I had to travel to Dubai, just 3 days; fourth day we were travelling back, before my visa expired. By the time I got back, I was down with fever and severe allergies! But I lost one day because of my health but tried to go with it even though my posting time got delayed. So here's Week 3 and 4... (In case you haven't seen...Week1&Week2 )

I first sketch it out on an ordinary A5 size paper and when I feel it's right I transfer it onto my A5 Sketchbook and then colour it with my Winsor & Newton or Liquitex inks. I am doing monochromes in this series.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments here, in FB and on Instagram. It really inspires to do more! Love you all!

 Day 13 - “Kaliya Daman” 

- Taming of Kaliya (many hooded venomous snake) by Lord Krishna. 

 Day 14 - it’s a sculpture from Pala, Bihar. 

Looks like a scene from the war front. There’s something in here that I like it a lot; must be how one form fuses into the other particularly in the vertical format! 

 Day 15 - “Shiva-Parvathy Kalyanam” 

(Marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy)

{*Aside - "I find working with purple and pink inks difficult in this series...they have a mind of their own!"}

 Day 16 - "Naga-Nagini" 

(mating snake couple) from Belur. 

Belur and Halebidu are twin cities in Hassan district of Karnataka known for the exquisite and intricate temples carvings which are UNESCO world heritage sites. They were built by Amarashilpi (‘immortal’ architect) Jakkanna Acharya under the Hoysala Dynasty.

One of my personal favourites!

 Day 17 - "Varaha" 

(the boar avatar of Lord Vishnu) with Bhudevi (Mother Earth). 

This avatar, according to mythology, was adorned to save Mother Earth from Hiranyaksha, the fierce demon. This sculpture is supposed to be from the 8th or 9th century!

 Day 18 - “Yogini” 

- from Uttar Pradesh, 8th Century. 

 Day 19 - “Avalokitesvara” 

(earthly manifestation of the self-born eternal Buddha Amitabha; the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas). The bodhisattva is depicted in different cultures as either male or female. This is referred from a photo of a 10C sculpture found in Pala, Bihar.

 Day 20 - “Vrishabha” 

(bull, here the female counterpart of Nandi - the gate-guardian if Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva and the vehicle of the Lord), Yogini temple, Khajuraho, 10c.

Day 21 - "Mahishasuramardini"

Goddess Durga slaying the buffalo-headed demon, Mahishasura.

Just 10 more to for me while only a week is left for the Inktober to be officially over. I am going to finish it but maybe I will run a little into the first week of November. But that's ok, right! The important thing is to finish a body of work! 

"So how's your Inktober going??"

Inktober 2018 - the last of the series

November 16, 2018, 5:42 am

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Here's the last of my Inktober series. Though I completed it by 5 Nov. I couldn't post it last week. It was a hectic week and I had so many things to manage. If you haven't seen the earlier two posts, please check it out - Week 1&2 and 3&4.

I first sketch it out on an ordinary A5 size paper and when I feel it's right I transfer it onto my A5 Sketchbook and then colour it with my Winsor & Newton or Liquitex inks. I have been doing monochromes in this series.

 Day 22 - “Rati”

Goddess of Desire, wife of Lord Kamdev (God of Love, the Indian version of Cupid). 

 Day 23 - “Gandhaberunda” 

(2-headed mythological bird believed to possess massive magical strength). This particular sculpture relief is in Rameshwara temple, Keladi. It was the emblem of the Wodeyar Dynasty in the Kingdom of Mysore and is still the official emblem of Karnataka.

 Day 24 - “Kalpavriksha”

the divine wish-fulfilling tree. Also called Kalpatharu.

 Day 25 - “Lord Shiva and Apsara”

Kandariya temple, Khajuraho. 

 Day 26 - “Goddess Meenakshi on Kamadhenu”

Kamadhenu is the wish-fulfilling divine cow. From a photo of a carved temple chariot.

 Day 27 - “Sage Agastya” 

Revered and influential sage, a scholar well-versed in many languages and the celebrated author, among others, of the hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Rig Veda.

I found it a bit funny and interesting to see how he is portrayed with a pot-belly! Many of them are done so when in fact in reality that may not be true. 

 Day 28 - “3 men and a baby”

I am not sure about what the story is behind this sculpture but I loved it. The fear, the uneasiness, the discomfort is all so evident and the baby is someone important and has to be saved from the enemy hands!! 😊

I love working in this color - Peat brown from WinsorandNewton; it works beautifully as you want it!❤️

 Day 29 - “Lord Vishnu in yoga nidra.” (cosmic sleep) 

The sleep focuses on the infinite reality of his own identity. 

I loved working with the “knots”! As much I used to feel uncomfortable drawing serpent, I am getting the hang of it now. 

 Day 30 - “Pashupatinath” 

(a rare depiction of Lord Shiva) 

Many of the photo references show half-destroyed and some in ruins...a lot of history and lot of grieving there.

Day 31 - “Matrika Chamundi”

10 or 11c - Khajuraho.

And I complete my Inktober 2018 !!!! 31 drawings!!! Thanks to every one of you who followed my Inktober journey, cheering and supporting me!!! Looking forward to more of your love and support.😊❤️

Hope you all could complete a body of work too and even if not, no pressure...one can go on at one's pace. There are no hard and fast rules, it's just to work on our skills, right?!

Where Art Happens - Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018 - First Impressions

December 29, 2018, 10:14 am

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It's Biennale days in Kochi and one may find art everywhere - every nook and corner - if one has an eye for it (or even otherwise probably). The main venue Aspinwall and the neighbourhood is loaded with people from all walks of life enjoying art in all forms of it. Biennale commenced on 12 Dec and will continue until 29 Mar 2019. I made a short visit, need more time to go around, soak it all in. So here's the first glimpse and let me remind you these are not lasting impressions as you have to make your own and my own may change in the re-visiting(s) as well.

Anita Dube, the biennale’s first woman curator, has worked enormously to put together an array of artists and artworks keeping with the belief that “through the potential of social action, coming together, we ask and search for questions, critical questions, in the hope of dialogue.”

I was pretty excited when the names of the artists' were announced, the name that excited me THE MOST was William Kentridge who is very often described as South Africa's Picasso. I have always loved his works but had never in my wildest dreams had imagined that I would get to see his insightful work - a combination of figurative art, dance, music and mime. To be in the presence of such a work with so much history was is in itself 'a-pulsating-experience'for me! It is a personal response and not a commentary on the work itself. They are more like moving silhouettes that talk about the socio-political scenario of South Africa. His works reflect the aftermath of apartheid and colonialism and his landscapes are usually charred industrial and mining lands around Johannesburg. He uses drawings, erasures and re-drawings and films it. His projects are massive and yet they gloriously amalgamate the different aspects of visual art, theatre and performance, film into one decisive and ultimate work. Here's a small video-clip-

Then there are some other well-known names like Marlene Dumas, Sue Williamson, Anju Dodiya, Priya Ravish Mehra,  Guerilla Girls, Juul Kraijer, Shilpa Gupta, Monica Mayer and so on...

 Priya Ravish Mehra

Priya Ravish Mehra from New Delhi holds a special place in my heart, one of my favourites, for she was a humble human being laden with love and hearty laughter that would make one join in the mirth. I had the chance to meet her personally during the previous Biennale and she even accompanied me to visit our Community project which was part of a Collateral Project of 2016. She sat through my whole video, clicked a picture of mine, introduced a couple of friends to her and then I took her to some of the galleries near-by. I pay my homage to that Amazing Soul.
Priyaji was inspired by Rafoogari and her works were the beautiful testament to the weavers and their amazing craft of darning. She extended the idea of 'invisible' repair in darning by combining fragments of discarded weaves with paper pulp, reconstituting both fibres since they arise from the same source. Duality manifests as unity in her work celebrating the metaphor of 'reet' which stands for cosmic truth/order in the Indian philosophy.

Vocabulary - series of 20 drawings 

Ink and acrylic on paper

Marlene Dumas is a South African artist who now lives in Amsterdam. She is a prolific artist painting in Oils and Ink on paper. She stores all kinds of newspaper-magazine clippings which become the 'seed' of her works. Her subjects vary from children to unfamiliar adults to great personalities and the like. She uses the figurative form which has a phantom-like appearance, her technique more like swift, gestural watercolour washes, stains and delicately drawn images. Marlene's works here depict "small, inconsequential moments, objects and beings as an attempt to quieten our personal demons as well as those of the world around us."

 Messages from the Atlantic Passage

Glass. metal. water, wood. fishing nets

Sue Williamson is a South African artist whose work mentioned above recalls the historical past of South Africa welled up with heart-wrenching stories of the slave trade and apartheid and the reconciliation of the post-apartheid. "First shown at Art Basel Unlimited in 2017, the installation is a visual representation of the accumulated records of vessels responsible for transporting captives from West Africa to the Americas during the 19th Century – a journey repeated more than 30 000 times that was known as ‘The Atlantic Passage’. Williamson’s work recalls a small handful of those voyages. This remembrance takes the form of fishing nets, filled with glass bottles containing traces of earth, suspended above tanks of water. Each net represents one ship’s journey across the Atlantic. Every bottle, in turn, is hand engraved with information about one of the slaves on that voyage, including their African name, the new ‘Christian’ name given by the slaver, the country of origin, and the age, sex and height of the person. The installation is an extension of Sue Williamson’s acclaimed Messages from the Moat (1997), first exhibited on Okwui Enwezor’s 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, which listed the slaves brought to the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company between 1658 and 1762."

 Rehearsal for an Apocalypse

Born in Mumbai, Anju Dodiya's works have been meditations on the artist as the self-referential protagonist. She adopts a wide range of art historical sources from Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, medieval tapestries, and Renaissance paintings to newspaper photographs. In Anju Dodiya's work, the viewer encounters the artist as a calm individual traversing through the infinite cosmos signifying her insignificance as a witness of civilizations past and present. I was primarily interested in her miniatures which I felt were self-reflective and said that they were "based on Bible reproductions construct images of fear that can be viewed as talismans to distance the fear."

"The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. Over 55 people have been members over the years, some for weeks, some for decades. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. We undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. We believe in intersectional feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders."
I couldn't have described them better. They are a group of anonymous activists who fight against sexism, inequality and racism in the art world.

 The Clothesline

Mónica Mayer is a feminist Mexican artist, activist and art critic whose work includes performance, digital graphics, drawing, photography and art theory. Her projects are always participatory or done in collaboration with other artists. She has continually devoted to bridging the complexities in different places across the globe. Begun in 1978 in Mexico City, 'The Clothesline' is the enactment of an ongoing participatory installation where the participants write their experiences from Kerala's recent floods and of sexual harassment heightened as part of the #MeToo movement and hang them on a clothesline - replicating the domestic act of hanging the laundry that many women share.

One of the artists' that impressed me most is Juul Kraijer as I could relate, feel connected to her frames. It was as if an extension of my own feelings! Juul Kraijer is a Dutch visual artist whose principal mediums are drawing and photography. She occasionally makes sculptures and video-works. It is definitely not an individual's story but expresses a frame of mind particularly that of the feminine psyche - the multitude of emotional and spiritual states as designed through the convoluted and knotted forms without much of a backdrop negating the sense of time and space. She likens them to "the Hydra, the multi-headed Greek mythological serpent," considering them "as vessels for open interpretation within the imaginations of whoever they encounter." And then there are other images where one finds animal and vegetation sprouting and/or mingling with the human form as if indicating the inseparable natural world. 

 For, in Your Tongue, I Can Not Fit - 100 Jailed Poets

Shilpa Gupta from Mumbai has studied sculpture from J.J.School of Arts. Her works are embedded with the message that we are all actors in the political forces that regulate society. Her work makes obvious the invisible threads that bind various factions of society together, often sensorily challenging her audience to occupy subject positions of the 'other', even if temporarily, to initiate an empathetic understanding. "For, in Your Tongue, I Can Not Fit - 100 Jailed Poets"expands on the artists' investigations of political borderlines, and how they exist beyond maps to the invisible mechanisms of control and surveillance. It points to how orchestrated oppression is harder to detect as it renders those imprisoned voiceless and invisible.

Ocha (Louder voice) - Detail

Mixed media sculptural installation

Vinu V V from Kochi is again a favourite of mine this edition. He instils in us the sense of pride - coming from our own place - to see him displayed at this mega an avenue. He was also part of Shanghai Biennale. His installation takes you to a different realm - small and big at the same time. While on one end you have life-size wooden sculptures, in the middle of the room are 300 figurines nailed to the coconut tree trunks the reference clearly visible in Chottanikkara temple where women supposed to be possessed by spirits had to drive nails with the foreheads. Born into a Dalit family and having faced the harsh realities early on, Vinu is compelled to engage in discourses of social justice through his artmaking. Most of his works are structured around Dalit interpretations and re-readings of the social reformation that took place in Kerala by the end of 19th and early 20th century. 

Courtesy: have used excerpts from Biennale profiles

http://www.goodman-gallery.com/artists/suewilliamson
https://www.guerrillagirls.com/our-story/

Where Art Happens - Enunciation of an Enigma - Juul Kraijer - KMB 2018

January 6, 2019, 8:46 pm

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One of the artists’ whose works I could relate to most at many levels is perhaps Juul Kraijer, the dynamic Dutch artist. Her works are mystical and quite uncanny and it’s hard to explain its effect on us; they have this haunting mystery about it. Juul Kraijer started with drawings, progressed into sculptures and extended into photography and even short films. The instant I stepped in and laid my eyes on her works I felt connected. They are pretty intense and amazing as they reflect the emotional perceptions of self (whoever is looking at it and most pertaining to women, I feel). I probably felt this deep connection more so because I myself am often exploring the inner realms and the emotional-spiritual space than the external one. That doesn’t mean I am doing the same kind of work but it is women’s psyche that I am pretty interested in. That said the inner self is not exempt from the outer one and is always a twisted-reflection of the exterior (not generalising, this is often subjective). It is those very actions that take it to the inner-most suggestions and experiences all through our explorations.

Juul Kraijer

“The eloquence of my drawings I can't match with words. In spite of this, I'm asked so regularly and with such persistence to give a specific explanation, that I don't want to refuse out rightly doing so...Personally, I shrink back from interpreting my work, considering the fact that the meaning of a drawing is always ambiguous. If it were unambiguous, I would have chosen a more direct form than the poetic-associative one of visual art.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Photo-Archival pigment print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching -38.6x50.7cm-2014-15

The awkward-contorted poses, the bleak-eerie look, the suggestions of duality, the connection of man and nature at the very core, the unusual juxtaposition of animals and self probably mentioning the basic animal instinct that man is supposed to possess, minimal and yet a taste of the elaborate is all served in one plate. Even when we try to understand others, we often fail to understand self. But then these days trying to understand others is not much in vogue; we often close doors at the slightest of misgivings. Only when we realize who we truly are will others stand a chance, I suppose. As it’s said: “How can you love others when you don’t love yourself?” It stands true for any other sentiment too.

“I seem to be the type of artist who recognizes a small field as his or her domain, to be explored in depth and detail. In the drawings made during those twelve years, the main principles remain the same. Changes do not occur in the form of an abrupt break; instead, they appear as gradual shifts, leaving the core intact, like landscapes at the turn of the season.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Charcoal on paper/pastel on paper - 2013/2014

Juul’s drawings are in charcoal – sometimes with wiping and rubbing that traces the earlier patterns, her earlier drawings are less linear and her isolated forms loom out of emptiness or the black undefined background. Time, space and context remain absent in this landscape of the mind that just stretches far and wide, there is conciseness, lightness and brevity, female body borders on androgynous without explicit details like eyebrows, breasts and pubic hair, expressions are unmoved and reticent; a posture adopted for eternity, her forms are completely self-absorbed as if in a profound sleep or death, bodies are neutral and they mark the domain of the spirit rather than some reality and all that is there is ambiguous. Impermanence is the perpetual cohort or rather a confidante in Juul’s works. Some works also feature swarms and flocks that contours the human forms, and some have the twin form – the play of duality. Japanese, Indian and classical influences and that of Balthus as she herself mentions can be traced in her works.

“I frequently have the feeling that I am no more than a conduit.” ~ Juul Kraijer

Photograph-Archival pigment print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching-2014-15 edition

The eeriest, however, is her works with creatures. The medusa-like figures, the bugs, scorpion, snakes, owl and chameleon crawling, slithering or standing over, the face with tiny faces on it. The woman with her half-snake hidden face teases our senses. It could be facing our inner fears while baring ourselves to the world for them to see and yet stay aloof, impenetrable. There is a kind of violation in her images that is always endured and accepted. It most certainly raises the question of “Why such disconcerting endurance?” The inner turmoil while maintaining an external inertness is all too evident. The presence of these sinuous creatures seems to accessorise and become an inseparable and inevitable part of the form also indicating the beast within us. Juul’s figures evade gaze as they are in their own realm, pre-occupied, in monotone surroundings mostly black and luminous white. Her mutating figures may speak a thousand tongues and yet be silent, oblivious to our visual investigation.

Sculpture in bronze - 2007-8 edition

“The world is miraculous without our filter of rationalism, but as soon as you try to express that in words, it immediately turns into mysticism.” ~ Juul Kraijer

In photography, Juul is inspired by Surrealist photography where she can employ alienation, mirroring, fusing of incongruent beings, objectifying body parts and/or casting an incredible snare of shadows. She is also inspired by *fin-de-siècle (end of the century especially nineteenth century) medical photography and Julia Margaret Cameron photography. For some photo shoots, Juul hired animal trainers to supply the reptiles, snakes and owls as they were specially trained to be draped on bodies and not be provoked by the human presence or of the glares of the photo shoots. Her photography like her drawings are concise and share the qualities mentioned earlier.

Photograph-43.6x34.5cm-2013edition

Juul’s figures are more of an abstraction or an apparition than an individual in flesh and bones. They are in a transitional zone somewhere between the transient and the timeless. It could probably be that searing desire to unite with the Universe which of course is unattainable unless one conquers the discord within.

*fin-de-siècle medical photography – In the second half of the nineteenth century the new media of photography and film gave way to a new understanding about mind – psychology and psychiatry. They became the mirrors of the unconscious, capturing the inner state of people who were troubled which paved way for an indulgent understanding of consciousness and sanity. 

This is my second post for "Where Art Happens - Kochi Muziris Biennale 2018 series". The first post can be read HERE.

You can send your feedback to mail.huesnshades@gmail.com

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Ref & Images: http://www.juulkraijer.com/
(I've edited the first and third pictures for the post.)
some info from Lensculture and cttheory.net

Where Art Happens - Thought is also a Matter - KMB 2018

January 17, 2019, 10:57 pm

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I chanced upon Vaishali Oak and Raju Sutar at one of the exhibition Openings in Gallery 27, Mattancherry two years ago. Vaishali and I connected instantly, and from then on we have met on and off at a couple of exhibitions. Raju had curated a show “Roots/Routes” during Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016. It was one of the best shows and it was part of the Collateral project as well. This year Raju Sutar is back again in Jew Town with “Thought is also a Matter” as part of the Collateral project organized by artexperiments.com. The artists include Vaishali Oak, Sandip Sonawane, Rajesh Kulkarni, Hrishikesh Pawar and Raju Sutar himself.

“How does it (thought) work on our minds and on different levels, conceptual or otherwise; or does the thought go beyond? I think it is important to question/challenge the very idea and go deeper instead of adopting it as it comes to you.” – Raju Sutar (from the Concept Note)

Enormous canvas paintings, huge fabric assemblages, colourful canvas on wooden mounts in basic shapes, languidly floating terracotta ‘matters’ in steel wires and culturally-transmuted performative pieces are not what you expect when you hear the title “Thought is also a matter.” Time and thought go hand in hand. Not a moment passes without a thought as we, humans, as are so cluttered with thoughts. While the sages had enlightened thoughts, we normal mortals have chaotic ones. It’s an exploration into this day-to-day seemingly mundane and unconscious process which is made exciting, colourful, humungous, surreal, performative and gestural in “Thought is also a matter.” Each artist reflects on the effect of thought in their lives and brings out their exclusive perspective.

Vaishali Oak and Raju Sutar

Entire Existence is a Thought Except Now – Raju Sutar

Raju Sutar explores the concept of ‘NOW’ and what this ‘now’ can offer. It’s an interlude between past and future. What is now will become past in a moment and it shapes the future as well. So 'Now' is crucial. He has made seven enormous 12’x42’ canvas with ‘action paintings’ as Raju calls it as his focus was just on actions of the now and not on the movement. The movement would have needed more organized thought and he was just living the now, capturing the fleeting thought by thought. There is also an animation that captures the movement of his action paintings like scribbles that web out of a plain surface projected onto the wall.

“...by avoiding movement of thought I am trying to look at the possibility of mutation to happen in the moment of ‘now’. Is there a possibility of mutation to happen in NOW? Which may change the course of the future. Yes, that is the quest going on...” ~ Raju Sutar

Seed Post – Vaishali Oak

An age-old thought revisited. A seed has always been associated with life and propagation of life and ideas. To Vaishali thought is a seed that when sown at the appropriate time sprouts into a sapling, which when nourished and nurtured would grow into healthy 'beings' providing food, shade and shelter. All life processes begin from that seed and ends in the seed. Follow its journey and you can journey along into the depths of your being. Vaishali’s fabric assemblages are intensely colourful drawing our eye and prompting it to move from one end to the other and back again. You could see the layered fabrics, the tear, the threads, the peeping warp, the in-between muted tones and you see the evolution of her thought. She has a black seed installation hanging from the roof ready to burst to life. Vaishali has even devised a Seed Postcard embedded with seeds that are available at the counter which can then be sent to your loved ones who can sow these cards and there you go with a ‘life’ sprouting from within.

“There is a great significance in the evolution of civilization. We are the products of what has been sown yesterday and this process will go on. When we dream of a brighter future we have to sow seeds ‘now’. ...Just as the way seeds travel and propagate, our thoughts do travel and propagate in our minds.” ~ Vaishali Oak

Breaking it Down to the Basics – Sandip Sonawane

According to Sandip Sonawane, we break down a complex image into simple shapes in the initial process of drawing for a better rendition of the image, for a proper grasp of the proportion and details. Whether it’s a circle, a triangle, a square etc. they are but the joining of lines to form an object/shape. So any complex picture can be broken down into basic shapes and can be seen en-route formation. They are also the boundaries that project an exterior and an interior; the field within and without. At first glance from a distance one could see monotones of shapes – circles, squares and triangles – in red, yellow, black etc. but as you near you could easily discern the layers of paint beneath; a camouflage of thoughts in 6’x6’.

“The idea is to break down the thoughts in a similar way. The thoughts are complex in nature we try to break them down to make sense. Whether it makes sense or not.” ~Sandip Sonawane

A Thought about a ‘Thought’ – Rajesh Kulkarni

Rajesh Kulkarni’s take on ‘thought’ is much more dreamlike and esoteric. Thoughts are like particles that hang around and once it steps into the past it immediately transforms that energy into enigmatic, abstract and clustered forms. Rajesh’s “Thought” is 15’x45’x28’ where beautifully sculpted terracotta forms float indolently in space through thin steel wires at the slightest breeze. One can even walk around it absorbing the sight of those gleaming earthy forms as the sun hits the roof, seeps through the pores of the warehouse and falls on its ‘raw skin’.

“When I thought about a ‘thought’ I thought that the thought that travels with speed, that has fickleness of present and at the same time, there is a sense of strong flowing reality. Present that annihilates the moment it creates itself. There is a grasp of multi-faceted analysis of the moment and amalgamation of mixed illusions co-existing.” ~ Rajesh Kulkarni

ITIAN – I/Travel/I/Arrive/Not – Hrishikesh Pawar

Hrishikesh Pawar's pertinent question here is where do thoughts originate and where does it end? It plays with time and space; a space with characters performing postures and gestures that have been imbibed, altered and metamorphosed not from any single individual or the performers themselves but from a “library of personalities” or “a pile of flesh, living a metaphor of turmoil and conflict of the surroundings affecting the present “Thought.”“ This performance is the melting pot; a layered deconstruction of various traditional dance/performative forms from Maharashtra and Kerala. With the help of 4 assistant choreographers, 25 dancers, they are to perform 48 shows by the end of the Biennale. The performance dates can be sought after at the exhibition venue. I am yet to see the performance albeit I did see their video in the gallery.

“A weaving of story-telling between the performer and the audience with abstract rhythmic poetry of sounds, gestures and forms. The performance is a first draft of re-imagining the physical aesthetic of the body and its thought which creates matter.” ~ Hrishikesh Pawar

photo courtesy -KMB

“Thought is also a Matter” is on view at VII/35, Jew Town Road, Kappalandimukku until Mar 29, 2019.