Unstructured Pursuit of Perspectives - Tao Art Gallery opens up for Mumbai Gallery Weekend

Art Meets Music at the opening of  "Unstructured Pursuit of Perspectives" at Tao Art Gallery as a part of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2023

'Unstructured Pursuit of Perspectives' is an amalgamation of different perspectives, where both artists make an 'un-structuring' happen through their art to create parallels of perspective in the mind of the viewer. A two-person show by artists Rajesh Wankhade & Smita Kinkale, this is curated by Sanjana Shah.

The end goal is to show the unified state of all, stripping away the existing rigid narratives around the uses of matter and the roles of humanity. The works by both artists are layered not just with materiality but also in thought, challenging notions of time and space, presence and absence. The show opens as a part of the four-day preview at the 11th edition of MGW ( January 12- January 15, 11 am to 8 pm) and will continue until January 31, 2023 (January 16-January 31, 11 am to 7 pm). As a part of the opening weekend, the gallery will also be hosting the Staatskapelle Berlin to perform a set of a string quartet. It will be an evening wherein Art meets Music!

TAO Art Gallery in collaboration with HIMS Academy, Germany will host a unique show called "Unstructured Pursuit of Perspectives" for the 11th edition of Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2023. Curated by Sanjana Shah, the exhibition will showcase artworks by upcoming contemporary artists Rajesh Wankhade & SmitaKinkale.

A prominent part of Mumbai's contemporary art scene and MGW roster - Tao's latest show highlights the fundamentally human pursuit of revelation. Both artists make an 'un-structuring' happen through their art to create perspective parallels in the viewer's mind.

In the spirit of celebrating diverse forms of art, the gallery will be hosting Tilia-Quartet of Staatskapelle Berlin on Saturday, January 14, 2023 (6:00-7:30 pm). Four young musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin will perform iconic pieces by Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, & Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Taking its name from the Staatsoper Unter den Linden - Berlin, Tilia being the Latin for Linden Tree, the Tilia Quartet has performed in numerous highly acclaimed concerts in Germany and several international festivals.

"Disillusionment causes the breaking and re-making of who we imagined ourselves to be. However, the human capacity to look beyond, despite the chaos within, is beautiful and necessary for growth and new perspective.

Artists Smita Kinkale and Rajesh Wankhade, in their highly different and distinctive mediums, explore just this fundamentality of existence. The works are layered by not just materiality but also in thought, challenging notions of time and space, presence and absence" says Sanjana Shah, Creative Director of Tao Art Gallery.        

Taking a cue from the use of plastic from her childhood village, Smita uses layers of plastic and converts them into aesthetic models of experiential art. Her series called "Neo Nature" attempts to make the viewers conscious about her new world and introduce them to sensitive consciousness.

Drawing inspiration from spiritual happiness, Rajesh uses a more figurative approach in his artwork. His artwork is more figurative - where human forms are moving between various stages of disintegration - displaying movement between different planes beyond the physical.

Speaking about his artwork and inspiration, Wankhade says,"I live in this stream of thought every day. A lot of questions arise, and they try to solve them. And then, instead of studying the world, it is expected to study oneself. Then the focus is on itself. And while exploring oneself internally, a thesis was formed. The vision of seeing oneself with a scientific body matured. So human figures in search of knowledge started appearing in my paintings. The human form in my paintings is always in search of knowledge. Such knowledge that beyond that knowledge, there is no turning back. He strived to find the ultimate end of giving. So in my painting, space and time got a place. The clock came as a symbolic form of time."

Kinkale says, "I have always captured my imagination in lines, dots and primitive shapes through many layers with a combination of polyethene. It reflects my growing up in a rural backdrop and my tribal roots. The material I selected for my works has a tactile appeal. I create and make references to the images of my work which is a subconscious reaction which I lived but also transformed to other new spaces."

Replete with the juxtaposition between the abstraction and the figurative, the show interestingly explores the thought of what is material, what is spiritual and their interchangeability. The end goal is to show the unified state of all, stripping away the existing rigid narratives around the uses of matter and the roles of humanity.

To further ensure that the audiences have an enriching art experience during the grand artsy weekend, Tao has organized High Tea with PD Dr Eva Wattolik - a senior lecturer at the Institute of Art History at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen Nürnberg, Germany– to be held on Thursday, January 12, 2023 (2 - 4 pm).

Rajesh Wankhade, Process of Supreme Knowledge, 2022 (Oil colour& mixed media on canvas)