Gigi Scaria turns to the erosion of nature, rampant urbanisation and its melancholy with his first Mumbai showing in nine years
Shadows of the familiar World. Pics Courtesy/Chemould Prescott Road
Nature has been a favourite pastime for Gigi Scaria. The artist has been documenting the rapid rise of urbanisation on his travels across the globe. “The crisis has been coming for a long time,” he says, adding, “It is only in the last two decades that it has evolved into a model where you really don’t care about the consequences.” These actions, and the potential aftermath find their way into the visuals of Scaria’s ongoing exhibition, Biophilia, at Chemould Prescott Gallery this month.
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Natural Conflict
The effect of rampant urbanisation finds representation in his works as the unstoppable bulldozer running through trees, endless infrastructure, and caged trees among other visual motifs. The curation is not limited to canvas. The Kerala-born multidisciplinary artist informs us that it includes sculptures and videos as well. Among the four videos on display at the gallery, one will include an endless cut of landscapes opening into other landscapes creating a visual illusion. It is a take on the avantgarde artist Lucio Fontana’s Cuts transformed to video, he explains.
Gigi Scaria
As for his influence of nature, Scaria says, “Right now, it is the most important thing for an artist to address. I do not say that art has the bandwidth to influence change on a large scale, but if you are a conscious artist and witness things, it should reflect in your work. It can help provoke like-minded people into generating sensitive art and perhaps, conversation.”
TILL October 14; 11 am to 6 pm
AT Chemould Prescott Road, Queens Mansion, Azad Maidan, Fort.
Forgotten stories
Rajendrasing Chaudhari’s legacy in textile art finds expression with a posthumous exhibition
On occasion, it takes the world time to recognise artists. While the late Rajendrasing Chaudhari was a well-known name among his peers, his work in textile and fabrics might still be unknown to the layman. With a posthumous exhibition, the Colaba space of Chatterjee & Lal hopes to change this.
“Rajen, as he was popularly called, was a product of the Sir JJ School of Arts. He travelled across India in the late ’50s to study textiles and weaving. He was also among the first generation of artists to be involved with the National Institute of Design (NID) and CEPT in Ahmedabad,” gallerist and co-founder Mortimer Chatterjee informs us.
(left) An untitled work from the mid ’90s. Pic courtesy/Chatterjee & Lal, heirs of Rajen; (right) a weave at the exhibition. Pic Courtesy/Instagram
In that sense, the artist belonged to the generation at the cusp of a confident and modern India. “You need to look back to Rajen’s generation where the intersection between design and arts was much more porous. His generation of artists were imbued with Western influences but also the legacy of what we call the Bombay Revival School,” Chatterjee notes.
With the interest in textiles growing among the art community, the gallerist remarks that it was as good a time as any to highlight Chaudhari’s contribution to the field. “He was incredibly active during the 1980s, 90s and also the early 200s. He did not have a gallery presence per se, that is why he was not exhibited much. He passed away in 2021, and this is really the first major commercial exhibition in his practice since he passed,” Chatterjee adds.
Rajendrasing Chaudhari
The exhibition includes works that trace the 40-year career of Chaudhari’s journey and interactions with textile weaving. His works highlight the influence of abstract weaves, as well as figurative expression — a reminder of the influences from his years at Sir JJ school of Arts, Chatterjee tells us. The gallerist explains, “The exhibition is an extension of the gallery’s efforts to highlight artists emerging from the Sir JJ School in the early to mid-20th century and their influences that the school played on artmaking practices in the 20th century.”
TILL October 26; 12 pm to 5 pm (Tuesday to Saturday)
AT Chatterjee & Lal, Kamal Mansion, Colaba.
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