Exhibition Catalog: Clare Arni | Anatomy Stillness

ANATOMY OF STILLNESS Photographs by Clare Arni

F35/36 Dhanraj Mahal, CSM Marg, Apollo Buder, Colaba, Mumbai 400001. www.tarq.in

ANATOMY OF STILLNESS Photographs by Clare Arni

30th September to 28th October 2015

INTRODUCTION

“Anatomy of Stillness” is Clare Arni’s second solo exhibition at TARQ and features a selection of works from the artist’s career of over twenty years. In her vivid photographs, the artist documents India’s cultural heritage, exploring the alchemy of still life through the beauties and intricacies of the country’s varying imagery.

These snippets of stillness have been captured by Clare over the years in what are otherwise chaotic, often claustrophobic spaces, and invite the viewer into a calmer, more introspective space. Drawing on the artist’s long-standing practice of engaging with her immediate environment, her pictures “offer a deeply personal interpretation of stillness drawn from her encounters with the quotidian”.

This catalogue puts together the images featured in the exhibition in their entirety, as well as a short note from Abhimanyu Arni – looking at the ideas of stillness captured in Clare’s work.

Hena Kapadia, Gallery Director, TARQ

F35/36 Dhanraj Mahal, CSM Marg, Apollo Buder, Colaba, Mumbai 400001. www.tarq.in 2

3

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 24 x 36 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2005

4

Digital print on canvas 24 x 36 inches Edition 1 of 10 Srivilliputtur, 2014

5

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 24 x 36 inches Edition 1 of 10 Mysore, 2005

6

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 24 x 36 inches Edition 1 of 10 Jaipur, 2013

7

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 36 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bidar, 2014 8

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 36 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2005 9

Digital print on canvas 24 x 36 inches Edition 3 of 10 Bangalore, 2008

10

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 24 x 36 inches Edition 2 of 20 Burma, 2009

11

Facing page: Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 New Delhi, 2007

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Fatehpur Sikri, 2006

12

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bidar, 2008

13

Facing page: Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Tamil Nadu, 2013

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Udaipur, 1989

14

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2013

15

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Jaipur, 2006

16

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Calcutta, 2013

17

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2005

18

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2013

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bidar, 2008

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bidar, 2008

19

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bidar, 2014 20

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 12 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2005

Facing page: Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Kumbh Mela, 2013 23

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bangalore, 2006

24

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 12 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Calcutta, 2007

25

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 12 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Hampi, 2001

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 12 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Hampi, 2001

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 12 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Sri Lanka, 2012 26

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Srirangapatna, 1994 27

Digital print on canvas 17 x 12 inches Edition 2 of 10 Banaras, 2005

28

Digital print on canvas 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Jaipur, 2013

Digital print on canvas 17 x 12 inches Edition 2 of 10 Bijapur, 2008

Digital print on canvas 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Andhra Pradesh, 2013

29

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Srivilliputtur, 2014

30

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Srivilliputtur, 2014

31

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Burma, 2009

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 24 inches Edition 1 of 10 Malnad, 1989

Facing page: Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 24 x 17 inches Edition 1 of 10 Calcutta, 2010 32

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bombay, 2014 34

Digital print on hahnem端hle paper 17 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Bombay, 2014 35

THE ANATOMY OF STILLNESS

Stillness as a quality can be exemplified but not defined.

Stillness cannot be mapped or recorded or explained in a museum – it cannot be preserved in ether, labeled and admired. There is little to be gained by tracing its lineaments and contours yet when we are looking for it, we know it we have found it. These are photographs of that moment.

The discovery of stillness does not necessarily entail a long journey to a distant point but can be encountered all around us. By bringing out textures, symmetries, colours and contrasts, these images show how a meditative peace can be drawn out of our every day encounters with objects and spaces. While the images occasionally abstract, that is not the artist’sprimary intention. Stillness need not be only observed or imagined, it can also be inhabited. That is why some of these images include the human form –showing at once, how stillness can envelop the self and how the human form itself can be inherently restful and lend to the serenity that we seek.

Digital print on hahnemühle paper 8 x 12 inches Edition 1 of 10 Banaras, 2013

Many of these photographs have an architectural element: Architecture through its essential immobility, offers an inherent craving for stillness. Great architects are aware of this and through the volume, mass and patterning of light and form, create a deliberate stillness in their structures. Yet these monuments remain alive and inhabited by life and people, who encounter, interpret and augment the stillness of these structures.

This sense of serenity is not simply external; these images are not seeking a simple aesthetic but are probing our sense of the still. We create stillness for ourselves out of the raw ingredients we find in the world around us.

These photographs therefore offer a deeply personal interpretation of the artist’s stillness drawn from her encounters with the quotidian.

- Abhimanyu Arni

36

37

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Clare Arni is a photographer based in Bengaluru, India.

Her work encompasses architecture, social documentary and cultural heritage.

Her solo exhibitions document the lives of marginalised communities in some of the most remote regions of India and the disappearing trades of urban India. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Essl Museum, Vienna; Grosvenor Vadehra, London; Bose Pacia, New York; Berkeley Art Museum, California, and is part of the permanent collection of the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Freer/Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

Her solo photographic books document the history of the architecture of Banaras, palaces of the Deccan, the recent excavations of Hampi — the capital of the Vijaynagar Empire and a four-month-long journey along the course of the river Kaveri. She has been published by leading British book publishers such as Phaidon; Thames and Hudson; and Dorling Kindersley. She has also contributed work to publications like Abitare (Italy), Tatler, Conde Nast (UK), Wallpaper, The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Design, as well as many Indian magazines.

EXHIBITIONS

Native Women of South India- Manners and customsWith Pushpamala .N. Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore, Nature Morte gallery New Delhi ,Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, Seagull gallery, Kolkata, 2004. Bose Pacia, New York, 2006 Click! Contemporary Photography in India, Grosvenor Vadhera, London, Vadhera Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2008 Art, Space and the City, Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore, 2008 Chalo! India, Essl Museum, Vienna, 2009 The Empire Strikes Back- Indian art today, The Saatchi Gallery, London 2010 Something I’ve been meaning to tell you, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi. 2011 Streetspace, 545 Gallery, Bangalore,2012 Bangalore Dreams, Rangoli Gallery, Bangalore 2013 Disappearing Professions of Urban India, TARQ, Mumbai 2014 At home in the world, 1 Shanthi road Gallery, Bangalore 2014 The Chikmagalur House, Dakshinachitra Museum, Chennai 2014 Paradigm Shift, Art Bengaluru, Sublime Gallery, Bangalore, 2015

38

39

Produced by:

F35/36 Dhanraj Mahal, CSM Marg, Apollo Buder, Colaba, Mumbai 400001. www.tarq.in Photographs by Clare Arni Designed by Anugraha studioanugraha.com 40