Art's Way

Such is art, and such is pain, a lot not visible, a lot unseen, and visible so that you may scream. Such is art, of poetic verses, such is a day of raindrops, on painted vases, and on gulmohar trees, such is art- still, moving, free. There is snow, black ice perhaps, such are choices, or rather traps. A whirlwind is painted, so is pain, gain and mazes, a triumph is written about, so is a subway route, traffic lights and haunted houses. Such is art, or rather craft, withered, billowy, coloured bright, such is the city, of art, of wizards, twisted blue boards, metros and scuttles.

Once again the air is infused with sounds of meaningful voices and vivid strokes, faintly leading to close this month of rain and spots of sun, volumes of clouds and conversations. As minutes of sound, light and storytelling capture the walls of an enclosure in this mystic city, so do tales from another continent.

Award winning documentary films from Australia bring in tales of aboriginal tribal structures through “First Footprints,” another film talks about the abilities rather than disabilities of its subjects through “Sons and Mothers.” “The Sunnyboy” narrates a story traversing through the life and times of fifty year-old Jeremy Oxley, front man of the much-lauded eighties band the Sunnyboys, as he emerges from a thirty year battle with schizophrenia. Many more films and documentaries from Australia become a part of this film festival that takes place over the course of three days at the India International Centre in New Delhi.

Art trails flow through city streets, sidewalk walls, truck backs, distant signs of historic remains, and stories of family histories, inspiring a few to create, to write and talk about art and its various forms, in various social arenas, making art and artists accessible.

Gunijan Sabha engages in bringing alive an ancient Indian tradition to organize enriching interactions with people with extraordinary skills. It is a community platform which encourages and patronizes various art forms through discussions and talks with artists from different genres.

At the India Habitat Centre, this month, it brings an in-depth introduction to the classical art form of Indian Classical Music, focussing on its beauty through introduction to Gunijan Sabha, The Dagar Archives, a film screening tribute to Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar and interaction with artists Smt. Sunanda Sharma (Khayal) and Prashant Mallick (Dhrupad).

The skies clear to bring strokes of sunlight, drying paths and patches of greyness. Art is being carried into centres evolving into day lit galleries of creative prowess, cultivating connections with contemporary aesthetics.

“We have some Stardust” at NIV Art Gallery in Delhi brings together fourteen artists experimenting and creating their own stories though their art practice. From sculptures in conventional mediums like wood, fiber-glass and stone by Prashant K Vishwakarma and Shailesh Mohan Ojha to psycheldic paintings by Aditi Aggarwal, these new emergents are proposing a fresh approach to the context and language of art.

Artists like Anoop Akhar Pandey, Mekhla Harrison, Kumar Ranjan, Moumita Ghosh, Neha Narayan and Aban Raza are exploring arenas of experimentation through the mediums of drawing, painting and printmaking, challenging the traditional aesthetics and exploring different realms of socio-psychic realities of their own time; the exhibition at NIV Art Gallery marking a backbone for the future of contemporary art.

Building on art, building on dreams, foams of written words, up in the air, locked into visuals, spoken, broken, bubbles of effortless art, carrying my soul into painted beams on paper globes, around the world, into homes, art is like blood as it flows through the wind, tunnels of veins in circuits of paint.

Such is life, of dollops of cream, of cramped window screens; such is you, hovering past blobs of paint, on art’s way, of painted dreams, walking memoirs and effervescent screams.

- Stories from Australia, a festival of award winning films from Australia at C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi, from the 23rd-25th of July, 10am onwards

- Gunijan Sabha at the India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi, on 27th July at 1900hrs

- We are Stardust at NIV Art Gallery, 210, Neb Serai, Near IGNOU, New Delhi. Exhibition can be viewed till the 31st of July.