india art fair - art gallery, contemporary art space, art
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INDIA ART FAIR
Exhibit 320 will present a body of work by emerging and mid-career contemporary artists from the sub continent, with a focus on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at India Art Fair 2016. They include Ayesha Singh, Kumaresan Selvaraj, Sumakshi Singh, Vibha Galhotra, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Parul Gupta, Mustafa Zaman, Nurjahan Akhlaq and Sunoj D. Sachin George Sebastian will be presenting his work ‘Constructed Conversations’ at the India Art Fair Project section. Each body of work is a selection from their current inquiries situated in a pertinent conversation around abstraction and minimalism in the region. The dialog and contemporary narratives that are being articulated removes itself from within the histories of Western thought and discourse. Rather, they present a very particular language that re-imagines the visual lexicon rooted within history, urbanity and visual culture of many locals. Our focus artists include Yasmin Jahan Nupur who is part of The Performance curated by Nikhil Chopra, Madhavi Gore, and Jana Prepeluh at the Dhaka Art Summit 2016. Parul Gupta, whose work navigates through the phenomenon of space and body in built spaces will present a new set of drawings. Vibha Galhotra , who recently opened a successful solo show at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York will be showing a new work from her Gungroo series and Sumakshi Singh will be presenting new work in conjunction with her first solo in India opening parallel to the fair at Exhibit 320 titled ‘In The Garden’. Exhibit 320 is also pleased to present two young emerging artists Ayesha Singh and Kumaresan Selvaraj at the IAF booth this year.
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AYESHA SINGH
Ayesha Singh’s fascination with Postcolonial and Minor architecture, a term coined by Jill Stoner in her book, “Toward a Minor Architecture”, has constantly brought her back to a structure in New Delhi. Located near Aurobindo Market, the structure is a 12 feet tall map holder. The original color and purpose of the structure has long since faded, yet it is informed by the transformative, physical evidence of its past as well as its present. One could argue that the structure is a hybrid of two worlds; one that represents the systems of the time in which it was created and the other, where time dilapidates that very function and re-identifies its purpose with the changes made by its’ surroundings. Here, the minor use of the architecture does not produce an alternative space, but rather, the structures minor use functions through it. Singh’s series of work attempts to explore these notions.
Ayesha Singh Before and After Weave Digital print on cloth 46.8 x 33.1 inches 2014
Ayesha Singh The Torn Poster Digital print Poster glue and wall 46.3 x 30.9 inches 2013
KUMARESAN SELVARAJ Kumaresan Selvaraj’s sculptures in wood, cement, paint and paper gently erupt and await to overflow
from within its surface as a poignant calling to our inner existential conundrums. In his series of
sculptures Selvaraj employs an aesthetic of spillage. Something from within is always making its way out.
In ‘Number of layers on my surface’, streaks of thick paint, are frozen in a moment of swirl right where
the large rectangular cement block breaks. In the objects gentle unraveling of itself we are left with
questions; the break isn’t one of violence, rather it is a reveal. The cold grey block reminds us of familiar
geographies. Selvaraj however, defamiliarises it for the viewer. The works don’t merely facilitate a
discussion about the fraught relationship of man and city. In the ‘Here’, to ‘see’ is to come undone.
Kumaresan Selvaraj Number of Layers on My Surface Copper Rod and Canson Paper 24 x 12 x 10 inches 2015
Kumaresan Selvaraj Number of Layers on My Surface Copper Rod and Canson Paper 30 x 9 x 8 inches 2015
Kumaresan Selvaraj Number of Layers on My Surface Copper Rod and Canson Paper 36 x 9 x 8 inches 2015
Kumaresan Selvaraj Lightness to Darkness Iron Rod and Canson Paper 48 inches diameter 2015
Kumaresan Selvaraj Number of Layers on My Surface Copper Rod and Canson Paper 38 x 8 x 8 inches 2015
MUSTAFA ZAMAN
Often forwarded in the form of a palimpsest Mustafa Zaman’s works attempt to outline the existential matrices that arise out of the changing patterns of the phenomenal reality while his idiom(s) is employed to interrogate the established notions of art and life. From the striated to the smooth, the plains of reality, in a modern context are, thus, addressed in relation to how the bodies appear in a given plain/context and in turn institutes an unfolding of a ‘scene’ that reveals and conceals, at the same time, truth(s) about the being. Body, thus has been Zaman’s foremost concern.
Mustafa Zaman Honey Series Photograph 46.3 x 30.9 inches 2015
Mustafa Zaman Honey Series Photograph 36 x 28 inches 2015
Mustafa Zaman Honey Series Photograph 36 x 32 inches 2015
NURJAHAN AKHLAQ
Nurjahan Akhlaq’s work explores concepts of space and perspectives inspired by the Islamic
tradition of arts and architecture. Referencing this language of flatness, geometry and abstraction in
a series of collages, Akhlaq attempts to create compositions that invite the viewer’s imagination in
its interpretation.
Nurjahan Akhlaq Distant Diagonals (ArdabilII) Mixed Media,Acrylic on paper 10.5 x14.5 inches 2015
Nurjahan Akhlaq Locked Diagonals (Ardabil I) Mixed Media, Acrylic on Paper 10.5 x14.5 inches 2015
Nurjahan Akhlaq Untitled 1 (Zigzag) Mixed Media, Acrylic on Paper 10.5 x14.5 inches 2015
Nurjahan Akhlaq Untitled 2 (Columns) Mixed Media, Acrylic on Paper 10.5 x14.5 inches 2015
PARUL GUPTA
Parul Gupta focuses on the line and its relationship to architecture and built environments. Gupta’s drawings, photographs and site specific installations prompts a subtle shift in the way we see perceive the environment we inhabit.
Parul Gupta Pen Drawing Oil pastel on acid free paper 39.3 x 59 inches 2014
Parul Gupta Detail: Pen Drawing Oil pastel on acid free paper 39.3 x 59 inches 2014
SUMAKSHI SINGH
Sumakshi Singhs layered installations constantly traverse the lines between Metaphor, Reality
and Illusion and ranges from plays on space-time theories to cultural, historic and physical
critiques of place, done in paintings, drawings and interactive installations. In her recent
projects Singh is involved in drawing out, assembling and even weaving illusions of a perceived
space, object or another time on top of the pre-existing objects and architecture of a chosen
space, until from one vantage point the actual space is completely obliterated by the perceived.
Sumakshi Singh Breath Song Embroidery on Layered Fabric 48 x 60inches 2016
Sumakshi Singh Detail: Breath Song Embroidery on Layered Fabric 48 x 60inches 2016
Breath Song Embroidery on Layered Fabric 25 x 21 inches, Frame 2015
Breath Song “Fern” Embroidery on Layered Fabric 25 x 21 inches, Frame 2015
SUNOJ D
Sunoj D’s art practice looks at the natural, geographic and social environments within the
context of his personal history and the manner in which he has always connected with land.
Sunoj D’s attempt is to apply the various ideas and emotions behind agricultural activities to
explore the relationships forged between human beings and nature.
Sunoj D
Moon Work
Graphite and Dry Pastel on Teak Wood
18 x 18 inches, each
2015
Sunoj D
Detail: Moon Work
Graphite and Dry Pastel on Teak Wood
18 x 18 inches
2015
VIBHA GALHOTRA
Vibha Galhotra is a New Dehli based conceptual artist whose large-scale sculptures address the shifting
topography of the world under the impact of globalization and growth. She sees herself as being part of the
restructuring of culture, society and geography – of New Delhi, and the world. Responding to the rapid
environmental changes and re-zoning of land, Galhotra embodies the dense urbanization and jungles of steel
and concrete through intricately sewn metal ghungroo tapestries – fusing historical grandeur with shimmering
veils of steel
Vibha Galhotra Untitled Ghungroos Work 72 inches Diameter, each 2016
YASMIN JAHAN NUPUR
Yasmin Jahan Nupur’s practice locates her own personal histories within the broader socio-political and environmental conversations. In Jahan Nupur’s drawings and installation each image functions as a trace, constructing a pictorial vocabulary for the immaterial act of ‘remembering’.
Yasmin Jahan Nupur An Ancient Cloud after the Sun Eclipse Ink and Watercolor on Paper 84 x 48 inches 2016
Yasmin Jahan Nupur Solar Eclipse
Ink and Watercolor on Paper 37 x 37 inches 2015
Yasmin Jahan Nupur Untitle drawing ink and watercolor on paper 12x17, each 2015
SACHIN GEORGE SEBASTIAN
INDIA ART FAIR ART PROJECT BOOTH P2
Sachin George Sebastian’s new body of work ‘Constructed Conversations’ extends a practice that requires us to infer
meaning from a complex network of relationships between macrocosms and microcosms within the notion of urbanity. While his earlier works looked at the metropolis, the new body of work zooms in the gaze to find what may lie embedded in the fissures and cracks. Sebastian employs repetition; using particular patterns derived from images he clicks of cityscapes. The patterns create kaleidoscopic forms that float organically through precise cut pieces of metal that are then arranged into structures that are at once familiar and yet non-specific. Ambiguity of the ‘image’ as a fragment dissipating on the visible exterior, as well as in the final piecing together that alludes to an architectural arrangement, remains an aesthetic tool to help
us ‘see’.
Sachin George Sebastain Constructed Conversations Archival Print on Canvas Mounted on Dibond 60 X 144 inches 2016