07 August,2023 08:07 AM IST | Mumbai | Tanishka D’Lyma
The Carpet by Raka Panda
Apart from the sheer volume of artworks that make up gallerist Saloni Doshi's Lost Fragrance of Infinity at Space 118, it is the umbrella theme that presents an exciting opportunity to relook at our surroundings from multiple new perspectives through art. Comprising the work of 22 artists from across India, Lost Fragrances, captures the artists' individual responses to the changing global environment including societal, cultural, ecological, and spiritual themes. In a poetic sense, Doshi notes that the artists' considerations also move into âInfinity' or infinite lines and abstraction where we cannot comprehend the future.
Taking us through a few pieces in the exhibition, Doshi begins with artist Deena Pindoria's work that picks up history and textiles lost in the past. This includes a series of frames placed together that showcase Pindoria's experimentations with Ajrakh block printing found in the Kutch district along with documenting historical occurrences and traditional customs from familial archival photos.
Artist Raka Panda's The Carpet, ink, acrylic and Nepali paper on canvas, empathises with and explores the stories of people that often get âdusted under the carpet'. Her work, which was also inspired by the term carpet area, speaks particularly about those who were forced to walk back to their hometowns and villages during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Challenging religious dogma and blind faith in societal practices, artist Bhaskar Bordoloi paints a portrait of an elusive world of mysticism and dystopia. Doshi explains that Bordoloi's acrylic on canvas work titled Lovers shows how lovers and public displays of affection are looked at through a lens of shame and disgust
in society.
Speaking about artist Starlyn D'Souza's three-dimensional glass cases with an assemblage of biological detritus including dead insects, plants and other fragments found along Indian coastlines, Doshi remarks how the works that look almost like human lungs in some aspects, breathe life into things that have already met their expiration date.
Finally, moving into the realm of abstraction through art, Doshi highlights Jyotiprakash Sethy's work that expresses the artist's ideas on urbanisation and the bustle of monotonous routine. The gallerist remarks, "It is very difficult to control the line, and Jyotiprakash has mastered control beautifully by letting go of control itself."
The exhibition, which doubles up as a fundraiser for the gallery's financial grants to budding artists, puts seemingly ordinary or forgotten things into extraordinary perspective by placing them on canvas through an artistic response. The works are also priced reasonably from R5,000 onwards making them accessible to those who would like to carry home a favourite. "Because of the artists' unique responses, the show itself brings in unique energy," Doshi signs off.
Till August 23; 11 am to 5 pm (open on Sundays)
At Space 118, Wadi Bunder, Mazgaon.
Log on to @space.118
