Curatorial Note | Am rita Gupta Singh My work is about looking, uncovering and revealing the layers underneath the obvious. It is also about space, giving form to the emotive and mental dimensions inaccessible to the naked eye. The process of investigation is like a surgical dissection, opening up, laying bare, cutting, splicing, transplanting, suturing to heal and make whole again. The outcome of the ‘surgery’ crystallizes as the form before one's eyes: the work. - Bharati Kapadia
The body is a powerful site and instrument for art, often becoming a metaphor for the human condition. Defining one’s identity, constructing gender ideals, negotiating power and experimenting with the nature of representation itself, are some of the concerns that get articulated through the idiomatic use of the body. For Bharati Kapadia, the body functions as a ground for investigating her inner self, synthesizing heredity, experiential situations, emotional and cultural worlds. Dissecting like a surgeon, through layers and masks that constitute our outer image, she places her work as encounters with the emotively charged landscape of her mind. Exploratively innovative, her work refutes classification as it moves between painting, sculpture, collage, mixed-media installations, re-invented found objects and performance. Her formal innovations are not disparate from each other, but are hybrid personal articulations of the self in conversation with the world. Performativity is evident in her visual works in the way she handles different materials in an almost visceral raw manner, a physicality of mark-making and gesture. The formal and conceptual concerns of her visual works and its modes of presentation have consistently evoked the performative space of the theatre in various ways. From the visual to the literary and the performative, is but a coherent culmination in her creative journey, expressing both feminist and human values, while negotiating disciplinary boundaries. THE ARTIST AND HER M ILIEU: This history of modernism in Bombay becomes important from the curatorial point of view, for it throws up interesting questions about the practice of Bharati Kapadia within this milieu. The advent of modernism as a conceptual and aesthetic category is intrinsically tied to the establishment of the Progressive Artists Group (PAG) and ideas of artistic freedom. Though their individual styles were vastly different from one another, they consciously sought new forms to capture Indian reality immediately after Independence1, while conversing with ideas of universality. Many of the artists of the PAG graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art and this educational site was an active space for debates around art, philosophy, aesthetics and praxis. A recounting of the Bombay scenario would be incomplete without the contribution of the
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Georgina Maddox, The Visual Arts in the City of Migrants, Art and the City, Goethe Institut, 2011.
abstractionists, V.S. Gaitonde and Ram Kumar2. Senior artists who taught at the J. J. School of Art were influenced by the art of V. S. Gaitonde and subsequently S. Palshiker3. This sensibility shaped the works of artists like Prabhakar Barwe, Prabhakar Kolte, Prafulla Dahanukar, among others4. Graduating in Applied Art from the J.J. School of Art in 1968, Kapadia joined the Pundole Gallery the same year. As a graphic designer and gallery assistant, she came in close contact with the pioneering modernists of the PAG who exhibited at the gallery. Her formative years were honed through studio visits and conversations with them, assisting with exhibitions and designing catalogues. It was during this time that she started painting seriously. In 1972, she co-founded the group ‘Astitva’ which comprised of designers, writers and artists including Prabhakar Barwe, Prabhakar Kolte, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Dilip Ranade, Lalitha Lajmi, Bhadrakant Zaveri, and Madhao Imartey5, among others. This group functioned like a discussion group or an informal reading circle6, exploring the basis of art, art-making and artistic existence through presentations and debates. One of the key ideological components of the group was to find an alternative to the commercialization of art, often supporting each other by buying work in their respective exhibitions. A deep interest in theatre has allowed for the interface of the visual and performative in her work. She co-founded the theatre group ‘Anaagat, in the early 1980s with playwright Bhadrakant Zaveri, co-produced plays in Gujarati, published scripts and acted in theatre productions. Her creative pursuits extended to graphic design and art consultancy through her own initiative ‘Art & Attitudes’ soon after she left Pundole Art Gallery in 1972. She actively served on important cultural committees as well. In the course of her career, she has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and her work has largely been collected by international connoisseurs. In terms of artistic influences, Prabhakar Barwe played a role as her mentor, particularly in his understanding of space and form as content. Gaitonde’s employment of translucent light and Ram Kumar’s rendering of spatiality find an echo in her pictorial relationships. In such a milieu of influential artists, Bharati forged an individualistic style that moved more towards lyrical abstraction with asymmetrical compositions, a conscious shift to complexity, narrative, expressive colour, squiggles, stains and undecipherable scripts which posited art as language. Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee come to mind here, in terms of her referencing to European modernists, who also played some role in shaping the art language of Barwe7. Nasreen Mohamedi and Zarina Hashmi are two other artists whose works resonate for her.
Ibid. Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ranjit Hoskote (Introduction), The Blank Canvas – Prabhakar Barwe,, Bodhana 2013 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 2 3
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THE W O RK: One of the abiding conceptual investigations for the artist has been of space as substance, and a synthesis of the emotive, the revelatory, the intuitive and sensuous. Space is one of the most emotive properties of art. This is the space created by light – light that joins and separates objects, planes, shapes; lthat illumines and transforms our perceptions and our senses. Her early drawings in the 1970s exhibit vigorous experimentations with form and mass, space and light, negative and positive permutations, which found mature fruition in her later works. Working with diverse material such as paper, nylon screens, wood, fabrics, found photographs, family objects and textiles, rope and thread, Bharati injects feminine propositions into the larger male domains of abstraction by putting it into dialogue with domestic crafts, such as the needle and thread work. Her early exposure to the rich traditions of Gujarati handembroidered, appliqué textiles and other culturally nuanced domestic practices, has played a decisive role in shaping her idiom. Yet, the stitch does not remain an element of craft alone but becomes a metaphor for ‘bonding’, an agency that supplies the ‘glue’ for various relationships to exist within a given time-frame. “Instead of drawing lines on the surface my work with a brush or a pen, I draw with needle and thread. This way, I not only travel over the top surface space, but also underneath it. With each step that the needle takes, I reclaim the space I travel in its entirety”. Approaching her art making in an unstructured way, Bharati allows for memories and life experiences, momentary situations and fragmentary responses to shape the forms and textures of her work. The ‘body’ of the paper, screen or fabric is rubbed, cut, dissected and healed with stitches, the void or ‘present-absences’ becoming thresholds to the inside or the underneath of our selves, our identities - claiming the personal to be political. It is significant to note that the ‘body’ or the ‘figure’ reappears in her artistic trajectories, and culminates in her performance where she performs with the corporeal female body as an active presence in the narrative, wrapping text and speech with gesture, sound, space and light. THE RETRO SPECTIVE EXHIBITIO N: As a curatorial project, the retrospective exhibition aims to draw out myriad dimensions of the artist’s committed and consistent art practice, whilst placing it within the art historical milieu of the city of Bombay. Through her different bodies of work, the exhibition will allow the viewer to discover the many layers intrinsic in her practice, and to engage through a number of collateral events around the exhibition, which will be educative in nature. The exhibition will comprise of: -
Drawings Paintings Collage
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Installations Video Documentation of her Performances A Reading/Viewing Corner which will present different aspects of the artist’s participation and contribution.
COLLATERAL EVENTS: -
Walkthroughs with the Artist and Curator | Children from Private and Public Schools, Art Teachers from Schools and NGOs, the Art Community and Interested Public A Storytelling and Enacting Workshop with art students of visual art colleges Live Performance by Bharati Kapadia | Untold Stories Public Conversation | The manifesto and genesis of the group – ASTITVA with Bharati Kapadia, Dilip Ranade, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Lalitha Lajmi and Madhao Imartey
OUTCO M E: -
An Exhibition Catalogue
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List of works • 1997 OF CURRENTS & CONFLUENCES 12 works Handmade paper & rope
There are two sections to this body of work. One, where the source of light is from behind the work, which is translucent and hangs away from the wall (Page from an Atlas on Nomadic Tribe Routes, Flying Gandharva, Cactus Flower, Chasm). When light penetrates the paper body, it illuminates its inner space and reveals to our eyes what is happening within it, much like an xray does. The other secton is opaque and hung directly on the wall (Disinvestment in six steps, Relics of the Present 1, 2, and 3, The Kiss). Since the first section of this body of work is meant to address the inner and non-apparent states of being, Bharati intuitively connects to her experience of looking at x-rays and stained glass church windows. Both reveal the images contained within their bodies only when the source of light filters through and lights up their interior space. This connection led her to the technique of scraping and peeling layers off the paper body to create the right conditions for light to shine through and reveal the image enclosed within the paper body.
Page from an atlas on nomadic tribe routes 60”x 36”
Flying Gandharva 55”x 46”
Cactus Flower 44”x 21”
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The Swan 9.75”x14.25” Collection: Anil Dighe, Mumbai
The Shield 26”x 19”
The Chasm
33”x 26”
Between Two Pages 32”x 32” Collection: Pinakin Patel
The Kiss 32”x 24” Collection: JNA, Mumbai
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Relics of the Present - 1 24”x 17
Relics of the Present - 2 24”x 17
Relics of the Present - 3 44.5”x 29.5”
Disinvestment in six Steps (each work 11”x 8”)
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• 2000 REALM OF THE ELUSIVE 8 works Nylon fabric stretched on wooden frames
The works in the Realm of the Elusive series are on transparent nylon bolting fabric stretched taut on wooden frames. The fabric is stained with thin layers of paint and sections of the fabric are cut out to create negative spaces which allude to the absent presence of space: something which once was but is now present only by the virtue of its absence, as a void form. “Suppose Space to be a substance” is Bharati’s hypotheses. “The absent presence that is Space I find reflected in the clear expanse of crystal, still waters and sheer fabric stretched taut on frame. It is the last of three that I have collaborated with to enter and explore the Realm of the Elusive.
Realm of the Elusive - 1
69” x 24” (each panel)
Realm of the Elusive - 2
36” x 36”
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Realm of the Elusive - 3, 18” x 18”, (two sided work) Collection: JNAF, Mumbai
Realm of the Elusive-4 36”x 48” Collection: JNAF, Mumbai
Realm of the Elusive-5 11”x11” collection: C. S. Lakshmi, Mumbai
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Realm of theElusive - 6 Dyptyche 11”x11” & 7”x 7” Collection: Shobha & Achyut Godbole, Mumbai
Realm of the Elusive-7
16”x16”
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Realm of the Elusive - 8 8” x 6” Collection: Cubby Sherman, Mumbai
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• 2007/08 STAGING THE SETS 16 works Mixed media on Fabric
The larger works in Staging the Sets series are constructed as ‘hangings’, a flexible format suggestive of theatre backdrops or screens. Each work also has a distinctive shape which lends its an individual identity. Thus, the works posit themselves as ‘characters’ in an imagined performance, and the ‘sets’. They, the works, refute classification under any one genre of visual arts such as painting, sculpture, collage or installation. Instead, they amalgamate the characteristics of these disciplines including craft, and appear as a synthesis of diverse disciplines. The hybridity of their constitution is also evident in the variety of materials, which have gone into their making. These hybrid characters are spaces, which have received and absorbed impetus from different directions to form the identity of their ‘self’. Their selves, like ours, hold myriad impressions in their depths, not obvious to the eyes. But, like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, if one-steps across the threshold and into their space, reality changes its guise.
The Emissary
74”x 37”
Paarasmani
68” x 46.5”
Genie, 78” x 42.5”
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At the Crack of Dawn
Siren
43”x 30.5”
72”x 48”
Jungle Girl
79.5”x45”
Target Zero
Incognito
77.5” x 46.5”
Puppeteer 59.5"x 23.75"
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Bridge
30”x 27”
Iredescent Scum (floor work)
King of Diamonds
Mission Successful
78”x 68”
27”x 36”
Satellite, 27”x 24.75”
Ancestral Dream
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• 2010 LEAVES FROM MY JOURNAL 15 works Fabric & acrylic paint on handmade paper
After Staging the Sets series, the urge to change the approach to work, made Bharati opt for a smaller format and a restricted colour palette so that she could travel light and play in greater freedom. Conceived as markers in the course of an imaginary voyage, as leaves from a journal, the works straddle the in-between space between drawing and painting, never quite crossing over into either.
14” x 20”
20” x 14”
14”x 20”
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10”x14”
14”x10”
10’”x14”
14”x10”
14”x10”
14”x10”
10”x14”’
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10”x14”
14”x10”’
10”x14’”
14”x10”
14”x10”
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• 2010 MUMMY & ME 7 works collages on paper
10.5”x16.25”
10”x16”
11.25”x16”
10”x16”
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16”x10.25”
16”x10.25”
10.25” x 16”
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• 2011 (on-going) OBJECTS OF WONDER 15 works sculptures from found objects:
Culturally, the tradition of preserving and collecting is an established social norm in India. Objects from various spheres of life, which may have outlived their original roles, are stowed away securely. The starting point in each of the works in this series is a ‘thing’ from the past with which are linked certain memories and associations of the role they performed once. In response to such evocations as well as to their potential to resonate on multiple levels, Bharati has engaged with their form and substance to re-invent their identities in the context of contemporary art milieu.
Super-Power 12.75”x 7.5”, S: 2”x 2.5”x 19”, P: 12”x 5”x 3/4”
Operation Sting
12.75” x 7.5”
The World on its back
11.75”x 11.75”x 1.75”
Maquette for a memorial to the 21st Century
4”x 5”x 3”
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Camera Obscura, 3”x 3”
Baby’s Rattle 12”x 3”x 3/4”
Time Horizon 7.5” x 5.25”x 3/4”
The Lonely Planet
7.5”x5.25”x 3/4”
Gangabai Gordhandas
11”x 9.75” x 1”
The Twin Towers
5.75”x2”x3/16”
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OMG
5”x 5.25”
Made for Each Other 11” x 9.75” x 1”
Nimaaz
72”x 66
One-eyed King 15” x 3”
Looking for Rama 9” x 10”
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• MISCELLANEOUS WORKS 8 works
The six selected works are representative of the visual and conceptual concerns being addressed through her work over different phases.
My Name is Woman and I sit where I please 42”x36 Heritage
Born of the Same Soil 17”x17”
The Hero and the Heroine 59”x 29”
Supersonic
The Banyan:Our Living 60”x 30”
39”x44”
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Pulse of the Matter 30.5” x 28.5” Collection: JNAF, Mumbai
Basmati DNA
36”x 36”
Rummaging the Self 29” x 54” Collection: JNAF, Mumbai
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•DRAWINGS on paper Three suits of drawings 68 works total 40 selected black and white drawings on paper commissioned by Sound and Picture Archives for Research on Women for five publications of English translations of short stories and poems by women wrtiters from all Indian languages.
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12 drawings in response to quotes by various artistes printed in the 1996 diary ‘Artistes Speak’.
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16 black and white brush drawings, average size 22” x 15”
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• PERFORMANCES 2 video documentations 2010 OUR LIVING HERITAGE: THE BANYAN, a collaborative performance at The Mill Culture Crawl Festival, Mumbai, on invitation by The Loft, Lower Parel. The intention behind the festival was to create an awareness within the community of how their space, can become a hub for imaginative cultural events and expressions. One of the highlights of the compound is a large Banyan tree. A silent witness over generations, it continues to flourish and make a difference to the environment in spite of being subjected to neglect and apathy by and large. I was invited by The Loft to present an installation and performance addressing the Banyan tree.
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• 2013, 2014 UNTOLD STORIES, solo performance written and enacted by Bharati Kapadia Drama has been a constant undercurrent in Bharati’s visual art practice. The formal and conceptual concerns of her work and its modes of presentation have consistently evoked the performative space of the theatre in various ways. The overlapping of the two genres in her work derives from an involvement with theatre and performance even outside the purview of her visual art background. This synergic journey has lead her to want to explore the performance art idiom and make it integral to her art practice. The form of the story/script, the way it has evolved, clearly locates its culmination point within the performance art milieu”.
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• Docum entation M aterial A reading cum viewing corner with a couple of chairs and a table will occupy one side-area, with a laptop. headphones and other relevant documentation material kept on the table.
* International and local projects: Tile Project, Destination: The World, USA Coaster Project, Destination: The World, USA The Living Blanket Project, Netherlands Traffic Training Park mural, Mumbai
* Residencies and Cam ps: Artists’ Equity Association, Seattle; Apex Art, New York; Sanghinahar, Hyderabad; Sandarbh, Partapur, Rajasthan, Cida De de Goa, International Centre Goa
* Notebooks/diaries/sketches
* All invitation cards, catalogues, reviews, posters etc of exhibitions includ ing Astitva Group of painters m anifesto
* Talks and Presentations: Apex Art, New York; Arbour Initiative, Mumbai; Search Within, NGMA, New Delhi; Indus Group, Museum Society, JNAF, Mumbai;
* Art & Attitudes design studio: Art related design work portfolio
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Realm of the Elusive - 2
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Time Horizon
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The left ventrical & the right ventrical, the hero & the heroine, the glass & the rope
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Genie
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My name is Woman and I sit where I please
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BHARATI KAPADIA Selected Features from CV
Solo Exhibitions and Performances 2013/14: UNTOLD STORIES, a 60 minutes performance written and enacted by self, Pukaar 2014 Theatre Festival, Pune, Kala Ghoda Arts Featival, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Goa Art & Literary Festival, Women’s Day Celebrations hosted by International Centre Goa, Art Adda and Lab Live, 2014, Bangalore 2008: STAGING THE SETS, preview, Guild Gallery, Mumbai. STAGING THE SETS, Sigmund Freud University, Vienna and Galerie Klaus Lea, Munich. 2000: REALM OF THE ELUSIVE, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. 1997: OF CURRENTS AND CONFLUENCES, Jehangir Art Gallery, Gallery Chemould, Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai. 1994: COLLAGES, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai. Selected Participation 2012: 10th anniversary of TransCultural Exchange’s ‘Coaster Project, Destination: The World’. VOICING A PRESENCE: Women Artists in the Jehangir Nicholson Collection, Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, Mumbai. 2009: 1x1 INDIA, organized by The Loft, Mumbai in March 2009. 2008: INDIA ART SUMMIT, New Delhi. 2005: WAYS OF SEEING, curated by Sushma Behl for Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi 2004: THE TILE PROJECT, DESTINATION: THE WORLD, organized by Transcultural Exchange, USA. Contributed tile works for the project installations scheduled at 22 sites globally. Designed and installed a permanent public-art mural comprising of 100 tiles by 100 international artists on the facade of Khyber restaurant building at Kala Ghoda art district, Mumbai. Traveled to Chin Chon, Spain, in November 2004 on TCE’s exchange programme for the Tile Project. KALEIDOSCOPE, small works on paper by contemporary Indian artists presented by Paperwasp Studios, NY, at Square One Gallery, New York, USA. ART & IDEAS: THE MUMBAI ART MAGAZINE curated Dr. Sarayu Doshi, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. 2003: OBJECTS OF WONDER, Brewster Project 2003, USA. ARTISTS RESPOND, exhibition organized by Tao art gallery, Mumbai, on the August 2003 twin bomb blasts in Mumbai. 2002: MAPPING THE PSCYCHE, with artists Lalita Lajmi and Rekha Rao, Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore. COASTER PROJECT, DESTINATION: THE WORLD, organized by Transcultural Exchange, Boston, USA. 8TH EUROPEAN PATCHWORK MEET, Alsace, France. 2000: ASSOZIATIONEN, exhibition showcasing the works of three Indian and three Austrian artists at the MAY FOR INDIA & YOU Festival, Tulln, Austria. THE BANYAN & THE BODHI: OUR LIVING HERITAGE, site-specific
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installation for ‘Making an Entrance’, for Kala Ghoda Arts Fest 2000, Mumbai. 1998: THE SEARCH WITHIN, curated by Werner Dornik, featuring10 Indian and 10 Austrian artists, Pernegg & Salzburg, Austria; New Delhi and Mumbai, India.
Residencies 2014: INDIAN ATELIERS Residency Programme, Goa 2006: SANDARBH International Artists Residency Programme, Partapur, Rajasthan. 2001: Awarded a month-long by APEX ART, New York. 1993/94: Invited by ARTISTS EQUITY ASSOCIATION, for a 6 month program to Seattle, USA. Public Projects, Presentations and Programs 2014: Invited by NIFT, Mumbai, to be on the Jury Panel for Design Space post graduation degree. 2012/13: Wrote the script UNTOLD STORIES and developed it as a solo performance. ‘Abstraction, Modernity & 20TH Century Indian Art: A Roundtable’, panel discussion on Abstraction. organised by JNFA and CSMVS, Mumbai. 2012: ‘Talking about Art and Feminism’ with artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, sociologist Gita Chhaddha and curator Kamini Sawhney, event organized by Asia Society at the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation gallery, Mumbai. 2011: AN ABSENT PRESENCE a presentation on two archetypal images from ancient Indian culture: the mantra AUM and the SRI yantra, at Arbour- Research Initiatives in Architecture, Mumbai Executed a 2.5’x15’x2.5’ wall mural, for Mr. Pravin Doshi, Acme Builders, Mumbai. Conducted a two-day workshop SHAPING WORDS, CREATING MEANING, EXPLORING PERCEPTION at Kitab Khana Bookstore, Mumbai. 2010: OUR LIVING HERITAGE, THE BANYAN, installation and performance at The Mill Culture Crawl festival, Mumbai. 2007: SPOTLIGHTING THE IMAGE WITHIN, a slide talk presentation for INDUS Group, Mumbai. 2006: MURAL for Children’s Traffic Training Park, Mumbai: An Environmental Public Art Project for the city, in association with Podar International School students and artist Parul Pattani. 2002: AN ABSENT PRESENCE, a slide presentation on the Sound Mantra AUM and the SRI YANTRA, highlighting the connection between their outer forms and the inner realization from which they evolved. Presented for the Museum Society, INDUS group and Mohile Parikh Center for Visual Arts, Mumbai; Dept. of Fine Arts, M. S. University, Baroda; Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore. 2001: AN ABSENT PRESENCE slide presentation for Apex Art exhibition space, NewYork. USA. Slide presentation of works by self, for South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, NewYork, USA. 1995: Slide lecture on 5 CONTEMPORARY INDIAN ARTISTS, Seattle Museum, USA and Royal College of Art, London, UK.
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Camps and Workshop Participation 2012: ODISHA LALIT KALA AKADEMI NATIONAL ARTISTS CAMP, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. 2005: Invited to participate in Ceramic Workshop conducted by the London based porcelain artist Jacqueline Li, organized by Gallery Non Zero, London and Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai, at The Academy of Arts, Mumbai. 2002: Conducted a Painting workshop with 3 less privileged children, for Akanksha Foundation, Mumbai. Curatorial, Organizational and Personal work Projects 2012: The Floor Plan: A Fiction, text based work published in the 15th anniversary issue of INTERNATIONAL GALERIE, A Journal of Ideas. Invited to be the Arts page editor by YOUTH’S STOP magazine’s for their inaugural issue. SPOTLIGHTING THE IMAGE WITHIN, article published in YOUTH”S STOP magazine. 2011: Invited by Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, to be on the panel of Vertical Studio Programme: CULTURAL MAPPING OF the city of Mumbai as a resource person for visual arts. 2006: Commissioned by Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women, to make 200 drawings for five publications of short stories and poems by 87 women writers from 23 Indian languages. 2001: With artists Tamal Mitra, Tushar Joag, Vidya Kamat, and gallerists Shireen Gandhy and Dadiba Pundole, formed AGREES: Art for Gujarat Relief Economic & Emotional Support and organized a raffle of 200 works at NGMA, Mumbai, for the rehabilitation of earthquake-effected craftspeople of Gujarat. 1996: Curated a series of 4 exhibitions THE YOUNG CONTEMPORARIES for Lakeeren gallery, Mumbai. Curated and designed the exhibition THE S. H. DAYA COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY INDIAN ART, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai. Curated and designed the exhibition THIRTY INDIAN ARTISTS from the collection of Richardson Hindustan Ltd., Jehangir Art gallery, Mumbai. Works in collection of Austria: Bernd Bosel, Barbara Cranach, Eva Wolfsburger, Gerda & Kishore Mehta, Lynn & Manfred Kaiser, Mario Dalpra, Reinhart Buchegger; Australia: Martha Merz; Germany: Derit Ends, Monsieur Du Boun, Gabriele von Schoeler, Jurgen Wesche, Karin Dingfelder, Monika Kapoor, Max von Schoeler, Sigrid von Witzleben, Uli Behr; Switzerland: Claudia &Tobias Reitzler; U.K.: Marquessa Christiana Serra, Rosie Gunraj; U.S.A.: Amy Sillman, Mr. & Mrs. Callaghan, Lynn Franklin, Kurt Hoffman, Tamarind art gallery. India: Booze Allen Hamilton, Fame Adlabs, Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd., International Centre, Goa, Indian Ateliers, Goa, Jet Airways, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, Torrent Group of Companies. Achyut & Shobha Godbole, Anil Dighe, Atulya Mafatlal, Ayesha Dharkar , C. S. Lakshmi & Vishnu Mathur, Cubby Sherman, Fritz D’Silva, JKS Nicholson, Jimmy Mehta, Dr. Kanti Modi, Maharaja of Palanpur, M. F. Husain, Nishtha Jain, Perin Notani, Pinakin Patel, Pravin Doshi, Saroj Setalvad, Tasneem Mehta, Urmila Kanoria, Zarine Taraporevala
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CURRICULUM VITAE AMRITA GUPTA SINGH Art Historian | Researcher | Writer | Art Education & Management B-501, Jai Ganesh CHS, Plot#31, Sector-20, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai 410210 Mobile: +91- 9869634032 | Email: amritagupta.singh@gmail.com
PERSONAL DETAILS Date of birth: January 30, 1976. Place of Birth: Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Nationality: Indian PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE !
2002 – Present | Program Director, Mohile Parikh Center (MPC), Mumbai
In this capacity at MPC, I have conceptualized, curated and organized diverse programs including scholarly lectures, panel discussions, workshops, film screenings, public art projects, exhibitions and national and international conferences. ! !
2010 – 2012 | Contributing Editor, ARTFair Journal, Bhuvaneshwar/Delhi 2010|Visiting Fellow, Secondment, ARThinkSouthAsia (ATSA) Fellowship, Centre for Contemporary Art, Dresden, Germany
HONORS & AWARDS ! o
2013 -14 | Grantee, Arts Research and Documentation Programme, India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Bangalore.
Research Title: Regional Art Praxis, Institutions, Pedagogy: An Archival Research on the Modern and Contemporary Art of North-East India | Focus Areas: Shillong, Guwahti and Silchar
The research will re-calibrate the centre-periphery dichotomy, often used to engage with the art history and practices of the Northeast, by looking at the ‘regional modernisms’ of the region in the context of its geographical and cultural affinities with South and South East Asia. The online archive will function as an alternative resource to supplement currently available pedagogies of art history and criticism. !
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2010 – 11 | ARThinkSouthAsia Fellowship, Fellowship in Arts Management & Cultural Policy, South Asian Network of Goethe Institutes, Germany
As a part of the fellowship, a two week residential course in New Delhi and 4 week secondment was completed at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Dresden, complemented with researching on art management, outreach strategies and networking with museums, art centres, and galleries in Dresden, Berlin and Leipzig. o
Selected as representative of the Mohile Parikh Center, Mumbai.
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2000 -2001 | Merit Scholarship (Art History Department) for the academic year, 20002001, Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan
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1999 | Graphics/Printmaking Award at the Annual Exposition held at the Academy of Fine arts, Kolkata, organized by the West Bengal State Academy in collaboration with the National Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi
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1998 | Applied Art award at the Annual Art Exposition held at the Academy of Fine Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
TEACHING EXPERIENCE !
2003 | Taught Art History (Indian & Western) at graduate and post-graduate levels, J.J. School of Arts, (affiliated to the University of Mumbai) as a Visiting Lecturer, Mumbai
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1999 | Taught Art History, on a voluntary basis, at the Centre for Cultural and Creative Studies, North Eastern Hill University, (NEHU), Shillong
PUBLICATIONS Books !
2013 | An essay on Amitava Das for the book, ‘Amitava – The Complete Works’, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
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2012 | Edited the book, ‘Parsi Portraits from the Studio of Raja Ravi Varma: A Legacy of Academic Realism in Portraiture, Ethnography & Nationalism’ Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai
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2011 | An essay on Hem a Upadhyay for the exhibition ‘Beyond the Self: Contem porary Portraiture from Asia’ at The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
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2011 | An essay on Waswo X. Waswo in the book ‘Men of Rajasthan’ published by Serindia Gallery, Chicago/Bangkok
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2009 | An essay on Hema Upadhyay, published in the book ‘Affair’ for the 1 x 1 ArtSpace Gallery, Dubai
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2008 | An essay on N .S. Harsha for the book, ‘From Surface to Origin’ published by Gallery SoulFlower, Bangkok
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2007 | An essay on Jyoti Bhatt for the book, ‘Jyoti Bhatt – Parallels that Meet’ Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
ARTICLES IN ART JOURNALS/MAGAZINES ART INDIA | Mumbai !
2014 | A Life Elsewhere: Amol Patil | Exhibition Review
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2012 | A Paen to the Pioneers | Book Review ‘Triumph of he Triumph of Modernism: India’s Artists and the Avant-garde, 1922-194 | Author: Partha Mitter
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2011 | Past Continuous: The TIFR Collection | Exhibition Review
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2011 | Reinforcing the Canon: The Jehangir Nicholson Art Collection | Exhibition Review
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2011 | Textures of Silence: Manish Nai | Exhibition Review
DOMUS | Mumbai !
2012 | Opening Spaces in the City: Sites/Contexts/Dialogues [Journal Section]
ARTETC | Kolkata !
2011 | Imagine: Rabindranath Tagore | Essay
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2011 | Of Fragments and Remembrance: Anish Kapoor | Exhibition Review
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2010 | Constructions of Memory: Vidya Kamat | Artist Interview
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2010 | An Aesthetics of Negation: Sigmar Polke | Lead Essay
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2010 | The Silent Wisdom of our Bodies: Monali Meher | Lead Essay
TAKE | New Delhi !
2012 | The Object Stares Back: Sharmila Samant | Exhibition Review | TAKE Collections
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2011 | Article on Jyoti Bhatt & K.G. Subramanyan | TAKE Modern
ART FAIR | Bhubaneshwar, Delhi !
2012 | Art Objects by Default: Sharmila Samant | Artist Interview
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2012 | Cautionary Signs: Sheba Chhachhi | Exhibition Review
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2010 | Traversing Boundaries: Navjot Altaf | Artist Interview
ART & DEAL | New Delhi !
2010 | Dialogical Encounters: Navjot Altaf | Interview
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2010 | New Myths, First Incarnation: Waswo X. Waswo | Exhibition Review
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2009 | Baptist Coelho | Artist Interview
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2008 | Negotiating Boundaries: Navjot Altaf | Essay
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2007 | Articulations of the Other: Raj Kumar Koram | Exhibition Review
NANDAN | Santiniketan !
2009 | New Linkages: Articulating the An[Other] | Essay
NEWSLETTER ‘I’| INDIA HABITAT CENTER | New Delhi !
2008 | Signs of Contestations: Sharmila Samant | Essay
ARTCONCERNS E-magazine | Kochi/New Delhi !
2006 – 2009 | Regular Contributor of reviews, and critical analysis of art events, exhibitions and interviews
REVIEWS IN DAILY NEWS AND ANALYSIS (DNA) | Mumbai !
2006 | Sakshi Gallery, Bodhi Art and Gallery Chemould exhibition reviews | Arun Kumar H.G, Reena Saini Kallat, Sudarshan Shetty and Seema Ghurraya
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2006 | Bombay Art Gallery, Gallery Chemould and Art Musings exhibition reviews Bose Krishnamachari, Dhruvi Acharya and Baiju Parthan
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2006 | Sakshi Gallery exhibition reviews | Amit Ambalal and Prantik Chattapodhyay
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2006 | Preview of the exhibition, ‘Dream of the Inhabitant of Mogul: Jean de la Fontaine/Imam Bakhsh Lahori’, CSMVS Museum
OTHER PUBLICATIONS !
2013 | Exhibition Catalogue, Alke Reeh and Shruti Mahajan, Goethe Institut, Mumbai
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2005 | Exhibition catalogue, Manifestations III | Jamini Roy, Gopal Ghose, Krishna Reddy, K.K. H ebbar, Laxman Pai, B. Prabha, J.A. Lalkaka, Delhi Art Gallery
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2004 | Exhibition catalogue, Manifestations II | Paritosh Sen, Suhas Roy, Prokash Karmakar, L. N.Tasker, Delhi Art Gallery
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2003 | Exhibition catalogue, Manifestations I, 2003 | Navjot Altaf, Prabhakar Barwe, F.N. Souza, Laxma Goud, and H .A Gade, Delhi Art Gallery
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2008 | Mumbai Exhibition Brochure, ‘Ripple’ on artists, Anupam Singh and Aniket Khupse, Artists Centre, Mumbai
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2007 | Book Review on ‘ Camera Chronicles: Homai Vyarawalla’, Mumbai
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2007 | Exhibition Catalogues on artists, Gurcharan Singh, Jenny Bhatt, Karen Shah, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
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2006 | Contributed text pieces for the collaborative project, 'Melting Pot' conceived by The Open Circle, for the Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Japan
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2005 | Exhibition catalogue, ‘Rhythms in Black & White’, on artist, T. Vaikuntam, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
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2005 | Exhibition brochure ‘Vertical Mappings’, on artist, Anupam Singh, sponsored by the RPG Academy of Art and Music, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
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2005 | Exhibition catalogue, ‘Melodies of the Blue God’, on artist, Shuvaprasanna, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
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2004 | Negotiating Boundaries - an article on Public Art Projects, with specific examples in the city of Mumbai, for the journal, Council of Architecture, Mumbai
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2003 | Collaborative Art Initiatives of artist, Navjot Altaf in Bastar, Inside Outside Magazine, Mumbai
PARTICIPATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES, PROJECTS & WORKSHOPS !
2012 | Arts Collaboratory International Workshop, Colombia, South America
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2010 | Moderated the discussion between the artists, Baptist Coelho and Christian Gieraths, in the project THE PROMISED CITY, Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai
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2008 | Invited to present a paper at the International Conference, Destination Asia: Eastern Orientalism , organized by the Soros Centre of Contemporary Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan
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2007 | Invited to the Preview of the 52nd International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Italy as a representative of the Mohile Parikh Center, Mumbai
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2007 | Invited as Observer in the International Conference “Elective Affinities, Constitutive Differences: Contemporary Art in Asia”, organized by the Biennale Society and School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
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2007 | Invited as Observer in the Ram Kinkar Baij Centenary International Seminar, organized by the Department of Art History, Kalabhavana, Viswabharati University, Santiniketan
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2003 | Public Art Project (Train Painting) organized by the World Social Forum & The Open Circle, Mumbai
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1997, 1998, 1999 | Annual Art Expositions, organized by the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, in the years
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1999 | Annual Exposition, West Bengal State Art Academy, Kolkata
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1999 | Painting Workshop, Centre for Cultural and Creative Studies, North Eastern Hill University,(NEHU), Shillong
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1997 | Sculpture Workshop with French sculptor, Jean Louis Raym ond from the Ecole De Beaux Arts, France, at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
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1996 | Fabric Sculpture Workshop, organized by Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
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1994 | Art Exhibition, organized by the Centre for Cultural and Creative Studies, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong
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EDUCATION Art: !
2005 | One year Post Graduate Diploma Course in Indian Aesthetics, Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai.
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2002 | M .F.A (Masters in Fine Arts) with specialization in Art History, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan.
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2000 | One Year Bridge Course in Art History, Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan.
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1999 | B.V.A (Bachelor of Visual Arts) with specialization in Applied Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.
General: !
1994 | B.A. (Pass Course - Philosophy, Sociology & Education), North Eastern Hill University, Shillong.
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1992 | P.U (Pre- University Examination) North Eastern Hill University, Shillong.
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1990 | Secondary Examination, Meghalaya Board of School Education, Shillong.
RESEARCH INTERESTS !
My academic areas of interest include New Art History, Visual Culture, Cultural Studies, and Public Art Initiatives.
Amrita Gupta Singh © 2014
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