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Celebration of woman
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Some of the works in "2006 - Her Canvas" on display at Hues Art Gallery show promise
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EVOCATIVE WORKS One of the paintings on display
The Hues Art Gallery's show titled "2006 — Her Canvas" is supposed to showcase 15 women artists, but only 10 are on display. On this occasion, a catalogue has been released and the opening line mentions "Amrita Sher Gill, Jamini Roy to Arpita Singh — Indian women have come a long way... " Referring to Jamini Roy as a woman artist reflects the ignorance of gender as well art history on the part of the curator.
The 10 artists on show are Alamu, Anne Samuel, Jayashree Venkatadurai, Krishna Priya, Radhika Homusjee, Rajny Krishnana, Razia Tony, K. Saidivya, Shubashree Desikan and Victoria.
Universal theme
Works that attract attention are the powerful yet tender sculptures of Rajny based on the theme, `Mother and Child.' Her unique iconography juxtaposes convexities and concavities. The latter is posited to create evocative caverns within which the baby comfortably plays melding the bond of intimacy between mother and child. She works mainly in bronze though she combines it with polyvinyl resins.
Razia's works convey omniscient foreboding in her iconography as well colours. Her textures and hyper-realism convey a mute acceptance of the woman and her fate.
Pulsating with life
Radhika's works are a celebration of woman, as she happily indulges in an ideal play with a parrot or is lost in her reverie amidst lotus blossoms. Though a few generations removed from Ravi Varma, her great grandfather, she carries the baggage of his stereotypical women, buxom and pulsating with life. Nevertheless, her works are devoid of the intense realism, which had marked Ravi Varma's works and are manifestly decorative.
Krishna Priya, a final year M.F.A. student, shows promise in the way she uses the old door as a support for her painting, an idea explored by Anjolie Ela Menon. Her works also manifest a strong decorative quality, which bears echoes of Van Gogh's strokes, Art Nouveau floral forms and miniature tradition representation of decorative trees with idealised leaves.
Anne's works are autobiographical, sensitive and reticent in the rendering of mother and child, a perennial theme that can never lose its potency. Her colours are equally emblematic with blues for spirituality and reds and oranges for her fiery spirit.
The show lacks thematic coherence and some of the works are of extremely small dimension, losing their power within the gallery space. Exhibitions of this nature which attempt to define gender need to be curated with care.
The show is on till August 31, at Hues Art Gallery, 72, Eldams Road.
ASHRAFI S. BHAGAT
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