Mumbai witnesses the opening of IMMERSE at Somaiya Vidyavihar University, an art exhibition of talented young artists curated by Shaleen Wadhwana and supported by Natasha Jeyasingh, Carpe Arte and Al-qawi Nanavati, Young Arts Support.
Opening for the public-viewing from March 19th 2022, it showcases the work of over 23 different artists, each with a unique artistic flair. This exhibition is a community event for artists and is completely volunteer-driven. All professionals involved in this project are volunteering their time. A parallel project of the India Art Fair, this exhibition opens doors to new thought processes and mediums of art. The show will be open until March 29th 2022.
Programme on 22nd March, Tuesday 2022: 5:00 pm - Curator’s walkthrough of the exhibition 6:00 pm - Talk - “How does an emerging artist adapt to the changing landscape of the art industry now” 7:00 pm - Refreshments & interaction with Artists in Residence.
The participating artists are Adarsh Palandi, Aditi Kulkarni, Anindita Chakraborty, Anirudh Shaktawat, B. Vamsi, Kapil Jangid, Khandakar Ohida, Midhun Gopi, Ojasvi Peshawaria, Pahul Singh, Payal Arya, Prithwish Daw, Protyush Paul, Richa Arya, Sarmistha Bose, Snigdha Tiwari, Tasneem Lohani and with the artists in residence Aditya Rajpoot, Anilakumar Govindappa, Jaimini Jariwala, Jayeeta Chatterjee, Satyanarayana Gavara and Shubham Kumar.
The curator Shaleen Wadhwa enunciates, "As the curator of this exhibition, I had the distinct privilege of living with artists’ journeys from Baroda, Calcutta, Delhi, Pune, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Thrissur, Hooghly, Murera, Gaya, Berhampur, Bakhrahat, Bajwa, Udaipur, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Damoh, Vijayanagara, Mumbai, Bolpur, Surat and Birbhum. Ensconced in this lush green campus, Immerse has three pulsating strands of thought that bring it together. The truthful pace of everyday life, commentary on social fissures with a tinge of hope and the (lack of) feeling of home and belongingness embodied in the bodies and spaces we inhabit. With Anilakumar Govindappa, a slice-of-life narrative style introduces us to everyday fragrances on local streets, and his changing geometric lines are complemented by Aditya Rajpoot’s untethered warmth of movement in his Dali-esque acrylics. Prithwish Daw gives light to the cacophony of his city through chiaroscuro-led painting on angular wood blocks with marble dust. The variety of that texture relates to modulating interiors in social isolation from a global perspective through Aditi Kulkarni and Payal Arya’s pandemic photogrammetry project. With our toes dipped in the changing everyday of our recent past, this subtle social commentary digs deeper.
The tightly set intimacy of food assembled to be eaten or fed, and the same grains’ motif in the month-end stretch of fiscal balances in etchings by Satyanarayana Gavara and the sensitive metaphorical portrayal of land-based politics of rapidly changing regions of Bihar by Shubham Kumar in his detailed watercolours of Khet-i bring forth a deeper critique of stratification and access. Adarsh Palandi reminds our collective consciousness about the humor and horror of negotiating spaces of leadership and excessive authoritarianism as Protyush Paul’s gouache works tease connections of Statehood and recognising yourself within it. Evocatively reflected in the duality of wood and aluminum by Bajju Vamsi is the deep thought towards imperfect power balances in the pillars that uphold our society - polity and public justice - crucial more so today as global power struggles are at loggerheads with basic human rights.
Along with this, surfaces are explored in all dimensions. Mixed media works on rice paper and watercolor give us a window into Midhun Gopi’s mind - teeming with dream-like worlds. The body and self become the canvas for Khandakar Ohida to question the declared weaker sex in our society, through her tempera and watercolor works. Light ethereal other-worldly moving forms are a language on paper by Tasneem Lohani, which are complemented by Jamini Jariwala’s meditative forms on her cyanotype prints and embroidered artworks. For Pahul Singh, gaps in linguistic history and translation of thought are part of the embedded flowers and leaves in her watercolors in our primary scholastic notebook papers. These find contrast in the delicate and daring imprints in Sarmistha Bose’s cotton pulp works, which talk about the searing cycle of longing and belonging. The duality of textures and the disagreement of the different selves within one is exemplified by Anindita Chakraborty through her layered imagery of control and curiosity with pigments, tea wash and embroidery. Organic forms by Snighda Tiwari stress on the needed balance with the natural and the organic within a synthetic fast-moving world. These speak to Anirudh Shaktawat’s contemplative earth-based work urges one to think about how existing realities have exerted irrevocable environmental pressures. These changing circumstances are reflected well in Kapil Jangid’s 3D installation, watercolors and collage bringing alive an urbane landscape. This textile-based language continues with print on Jayeeta Chatterjee’s kantha stitched dual stories on generational familial bonds. Richa Arya’s sculptural forms bring to the fore questions of gendered safety which are in tandem with Ojasvi Peshawaria’s performative pepper spray fuelled commentary about domestic lives during the pandemic, and how they are still, detrimentally changing. We are still part of these changes and reflections as we cross many milestones in terms of global politics, localised trauma, and searching for resilience to weather it all. In that hope, allow yourself to be Immersed.
This exhibition has been conceptualised by Natasha Jeysingh of Carpe Arte, Al-Qawi Nanavati of Young Art Support, and supported by the Somaiya Vidyavihar University, and curated by me, Shaleen Wadhwana. The momentum of our team has shown that creating such community-driven events is a fertile ground for the sheer energy of raw, emerging, and independent talent to merge together and truly create fresh magic. Hence, no better word can fit the efforts that have brought this exhibition together."
Support these young talents and immerse yourself in this art treat.
Kreative on kanvas is one of the best canvas painting to show creativity on canvas art. As an artist, I encourage myself to cherish intuition, uncertainty, and creativity and to search constantly for new ideas. I break rules and find unorthodox ways of approaching contemporary issues and transform them into art. For now, focus on me and how can I improve. That is all that matters to me. https://kreativeonkanvas.com/my-portfolio/