Date:12/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/12/stories/2008081250950200.htm

New Delhi

Emerging art trends to go on display

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Articulating the most exciting emerging trends in contemporary Indian art, a special art exhibition opens at Travancore Art Gallery on Kasturba Gandhi Marg here on Thursday.

Hosted by Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), ‘Urgent: 10ml of contemporary needed!’ is a group show featuring 10 emerging artists from across the country.

Chosen by the FICA Emerging Artist Award-2007 jury members Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, N.S. Harsha, Shilpa Gupta, Annapurna Garimella and Anshuman Dasgupta, the exhibition that will continue till August 27 will showcase the creativity of artists, who represent the heterogeneity and paradox within emerging art practices in the country. What binds together the young artists is their urgency to respond to the contemporary climate and to mediate crucial debates.

The artists — Abhishek Hazra, Baptist Coelho, Chinmoy Pramanick, Dilip Chobisa, Lavanya Mani, Rajesh Ram, Reji Arackal, Sakshi Gupta, Sisir Thapa, and Ved Prakash Gupta — have been inspired by historical, textual, spatial and psychological reference points.

With a background in communication design from Shrishti School, Bangalore, Abhishek Hazra has made a mark with his multi-media installation works that explore the intersection between technology and culture.

A designer and photographer from the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Baptist Coelho’s explorations in visual art are multi-sensory, through a combination of video, installation, sound, performance and photography. His works contend with time and history, memory, place, culture and gender.

Chinmoy Pramanick, who hails from Baroda, has a nuanced way of magnifying the mundane and compelling the viewer to re-examine the materialistic fabric of today’s society. “My works are comments on society and its practices along with autobiographical anecdotes,” he says.

Dilip Chobisa’s art occupies a space between the being and absence of the third dimension. The intimate and the minute in life attract his interest and hence come up as subject matter for his works. He is a sculptor from Baroda.

Lavanya Mani studied painting in Vadodara and is now exploring the role that dyes and printed textiles have played in trade through the period of colonisation and beyond. The artist is scrutinising the finer demarcation between the high and low ends in categorising art practices.

Established in January 2006, FICA is a non-profit organisation that intends to showcase contemporary Indian art, enhance opportunities for artists and establish a continuous dialogue between the arts and the public through education and active participation in public art projects.

Its annual programming includes the ‘Emerging Artist Award,’ the ‘Public Art Grant,’ the ‘Research Fellowship,’ and the ‘Art for Children’ workshops and other discussions based on various themes vital to Indian contemporary art.