Art News: Re-presentation of Reality in Contemporary Art

Re-presentation of Reality in Contemporary Art 

 22nd Nov at 5.30 pm at Reves Art Gallery, Bangalore

Introduction: All works of art are representations of reality, whether that reality is made up of sensory perceptions, an inner world or a fictitious account. The various styles or forms of art making suggest different ways of looking at reality.  In today's context, mediums such as television and film, and technology such as virtual reality offer transformative experiences with varied representations of the reality and of imaginary realms.

New media and technologies have opened up possibilities, breaking barriers of time and space in two dimensional media, making it possible to simulate experiences involved in viewing and engaging with art. It also allows an amalgamation of the personal and the popular in novel ways.
The all pervasive nature of the Internet and wide use of technology have impacted art production and consumption, allowing multiple ways of creating and engaging with contemporary art.

About the Panelists

Murali Cheeroth 

Murali Cheeroth has exhibited in over 100 significant shows across the globe in the last two decades. His visual works refer to a wide variety of sources in the cultural sphere and contain within them a deep conversation with the history of representation in visual media, fine art, cinema, music and architecture. Within the context of the history of visual representation, his current explorations include the architecture of the city, urbanization and urban cultures. He looks closely at the ideas of re-construction, infrastructure, technology, speed and change, intersections of local and the global, multiple layers of urban identities and so on.

Some of his major exhibitions include ‘Passage to India’ – the New Indian Art from the Frank Cohen collection in UK (2009); Indian Art summit in New Delhi, SH contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, Chicago Art Fair and London Art Fair in 2010, Colombo Beinnale, 2012, Chalo India – A group show of Contemporary Indian Artists at Basel Art Centre, 2014. Hotel Maria Kapel Korte Achterstraat 2a1621 GA Hoorn NL-2015, Art fair in Torino, Italy2015, The 2nd international art exhibition of the Silk Road, Shanxi Art Museum, China-2015. His art education includes a BFA and MFA from Shantiniketan, West Bengal and advanced computer diploma in digital media.

Ravikumar Kashi 

Ravikumar Kashi is an artist who works in different mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography and installation. His works combine or cut across defined expectations from these mediums. His idea / concept driven works are layered and connect with the viewer in multiple ways. Desire, decay and death are a major concern in his works along with introspection.

Kashi was born in Bangalore in 1968. He completed his B.F.A. from College of Fine Arts, Bangalore in 1988; M.F.A. from Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda in 1990; and M.A. in English from Mysore University, in 1995. He learnt handmade papermaking from Glasgow School of Art, U.K. He also learnt Hanji, traditional Korean papermaking, from Jang Ji Bang, Korea. He has shown his works in solo shows and curated shows across the world in galleries, art fairs, biennales and museums. He has received National award from Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi and two awards from Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy and one from Karnataka Shilpa Kala Academy for his works. He writes on art in Kannada and English. Two of his books, 'Anukta' and 'Kannele' have been published from AkshsraPrakashana, Hegggodu. His book 'Kannele' has received Karnataka Sahitya Academy award. He teaches at RV School of Architecture and Acharya School of Design as adjunct visiting faculty.

Shanthamani. M

Shanthamani. M has done a Papermaking Course from Glasgow, Scotland after finishing her Master of Arts (Fine) in Painting from the M.S. University, Baroda. Her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting is from CAVA, Mysore University. Her solo exhibitions abroad were “Neither Tree nor Ash” at Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery, Paris, France in 2016 and “Carbon Myths” at Gallery, Helene Lamarque, curated by Anne Maniglier, Miami, Florida, the USA in 2010.

Her participation in the Kochi Muziris Biennale, India 2014, in Art Brussels, represented by Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery, Brussels, in India Art Fair, New Delhi 2012, in “Critical Mass” Tel Aviv Museum, curated by Tami Katz-Freiman, Rotem Ruff, Tel Aviv, Israel, in “River, Body & Legends” a corpus multimedia presentation with two Women artists at Matighar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi 2003, in the two person show held at Galerie Muller & Plate, Munich 2001 and the 10th Triennale-India underline her credentials as a contemporary artist.

In 2017 she was Artist in Residence at Cité Des Arts, Paris and in 2013 she participated in the International Bamboo workshop with the students of Ensad, Paris, in Saline Royale.

Nalini S Malaviya

She is a Bangalore based art critic and consultant. She has been writing for the media since 2003, and has been an art columnist for Financial Times (Delhi and Bangalore) and Bangalore Mirror. She has contributed to Times of India, Sunday Herald, Art and Deal, Art Etc., Art Journal, Art Fair and Lalit Kala Contemporary.

Her curatorial projects include Reimagining: (Un)Reality and Space, Irreverent Gene, Polynomials of Relevance and the ongoing Parallax of Visual Memories. She has published papers on Art, Artists and Society – Catalysing Social Change, and Linear Progressions: Tracing the Line in Karnataka for the Karnataka Lalithkala Academy Journal.

Some of her prefatory essays for art catalogues include 'Feeling Absence' a photography show by Shibu Arakkal, ‘Icons in our Midst’, New Delhi, essays for Yusuf Arakkal's catalogues and books and for artists Gurudas Shenoy, Milind Nayak and Suresh K Nair among others. She was on the Jury for the Lalit Kala Akademi National Exhibition 2017.

An occasional fiction writer, Nalini has published short stories as part of various anthologies, The Shrinking Woman, The Curse of the Bird and Bhelpuri. She publishes www.artsceneindia.com, a popular blog cum Ezine featuring art news, events and articles. She can be reached on nalini.indianart@gmail.com


Venue
Reves Art Gallery
Address;#32,Yedla's 3rd Floor,
100 ft Maranahalli Road,
Sangam Circle,8th Block Jayanagar
Bangalore -560082
Tel -080 48663224
Mob +91 9901931314

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Also read,

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Art and the Question of Authorship and Ownership in the Internet Era

 Art and the Question of Authorship and Ownership in the Internet Era

by  

Narendra Raghunath

In this article, Narendra Raghunath, visual artist and faculty, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore draws on personal experience and discusses the complexities of authenticity, authorship and ownership rights of art and the 'image' in the contemporary art world.

A couple of years ago, I received an odd request from an unknown person in New York, to authenticate two works of mine. The work looked like mine, except it had some colour fading. It also had my name on the left bottom part in English, as I often write. The only problem was I had no Idea of such a sale or transfer. On further inquiry, I learnt that he sourced the work from a struggling Indian art student. During those days, if anyone would image search my work, Google strangely enough, showed a popular Hollywood actress’s name! This Indian student smartly used that opportunity and somehow managed to convince this poor chap that this actress was a big collector of my work.

During that period, I also had a website where I occasionally published some of my explorations with the caption that ‘none of the works are for sale’. This smart student utilized all these to his advantage to fleece this investor – for a cool $4,800 - for the downloaded prints. But, once the collector began to have doubts about the signature in the authentication letter, he contacted me for verification. The entire episode filled me with mirth. I informed the buyer that there was a colour issue with the print and offered to send him a new set of prints of the same works with my pencil signature (courier costs to be borne by the collector). He happily agreed, and as I did not want the Indian student to get caught in a serious crime in the US, I left it that.

This entire episode provoked me into a deep philosophical question of authenticity of authorship and ownership of an artwork. History of art is filled with stories where the artists and their families died in poverty while their work, later on, made many others billionaires.

The 'Reality' of Photo Art Today

   The 'Reality' of Photo Art Today

by

Shibu Arakkal

“The greater the number of people who share a subjective opinion in favour of a work of art, the greater the possibility of that work becoming timeless”

Hiroshi Sugimoto Boden Sea

Beginning this article with a quote of my own might seem self-absorbed but the quote itself is my distilled understanding of my learnings about art, having spent the greater portion of my life around art and artists and to later specialising in it as my medium of practice.

This article is my response to John Raymond Mireles’ article on petapixel.com titled ‘Why Photographers Don’t Get Modern Art’, which I found touched on many aspects of Contemporary Art which are close to my heart.

Before I make my way to contemporary photographic art, I would like to mention my dad’s (Yusuf Arakkal) words (possibly someone else’s originally), who is no more and someone who was one of the very significant and relevant contemporary artists from post-independence India. He used to say that any work of art will only be judged by time and no one else. Much as I too believe that, the statement also seems to put current art in a bit of a quandary in the sense of what is widely agreeable, certainly about the credibility and calibre of art done over the last thirty odd years. As Mireles points out that most of the art done over this period, varying in styles and mediums has been rather vaguely termed Post-modernist. Noting Mireles’ article, the most common statement a lot of this kind of art has been faced with from its popular audience is ‘I could have done that too’, to which I go back to what my dad used to say, ‘But you didn’t’.

If I were to name widely agreed-upon greats as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Salvador Dali of a few, I would quite confidently say that there would be little subjectivity about the ‘great’ calibre of their work, not just in the art world but even with the art literate. This level of consensus on a type or specificity of art, I fear often comes after the artist’s time and in his day leads to much debate and quarrel about the true ‘greatness’ or calibre of the art itself.

Edward Steichen's 'Road into the Valley' | Negative 1904 / Print 1906

Man Ray's Portrait of Dora Maar | 1936

Irving Penn's Skulls | Late 1970s

Bill Brandt's 'Coal Searcher Going Home to Jarrow' | 1937

Up until the point when photography arrived on the scene, painting seemed to be the most ‘realistic’ art form but it obviously couldn’t compete with photography in that department. From then on painting seemed to get fervently preoccupied with philosophical and conceptual interpretations of reality in their widest as well as technical sense.

Annie Leibovitz | The Three Ghosts

Although photography due to its ‘realistic’ character became a medium of documentation, there have been several photographers who chose to use the medium artistically. Of the ones who have, I count Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Irving Penn, Bill Brandt and in more recent times, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle, Cindy Sherman amongst others who seem to have succeeded by the earlier stated benchmark of subjectivity.

David LaChapelle 'Icarus' | 2012

 

Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled #305' | 1994

As Mireles mentions, stalwarts like Ansel Adams became the leaders of a modernist movement in photography, creating a style while crafting techniques that are relevant to this day.

Ansel Adams | Aspens Northern New Mexico | 1958

Until recently all two-dimensional visual art forms aiming to recreate or interpret reality have incorporated visually appreciable elements such as the subjective use of colour and contrast, creating an idea of composition relative to the viewing frame of the work itself, the use of lighting as an image enhancing element, amongst other things. This approach made the artwork distinctly ‘artistic' as opposed to faithfully realistic.

Even Photorealism in painting was a visual depiction of the way the camera or the lens saw reality with all the subjective artistic enhancements.

In photography, from Pictorialism to Modernism there was always a conscious effort made to heighten, if not strengthen these aspects of a photograph that made it more appreciable albeit not very realistic. To the point, that true realism was never seen as very interesting a visual idea.

With all art that is very ‘now’ such as a lot of new media or contemporary experimental work, I can’t honestly tell if the demand is due to the hype, which seems to be almost critical to the success of the work or if it is just the reality of the market. I do however feel strongly that in years to come, classical ideas of photography will stand on its own, even if in its own niche. And I think will also be regarded for its unique sensibility and aesthetic, simply because it has a visually rich tradition and processes, unlike any other print medium.

Thomas Demand's 'Clearing' | Gallery Display

Thomas Demand's 'Clearing' | Venice Biennale Display

I see photography's lead into new styles (or movements, we wait to find out) in the digital era that are either a very real interpretation of reality, visually faithful, devoid of artistic enhancements i.e. as the human memory remembers a seen visual, one that tries to harness the power of that memory and to somehow remain austere of those luxuries that we once considered appreciable, even fundamental.

Or tangentially giving rise to a concept such as Hyperrealism, where using, while pushing the boundaries, every available digitally technological means in creating images that are almost too sharp, with colour and contrast in their widest gamut ever seen in the history of photography. And to use photographs in their singular form or as multiples in stitching together, morphing, layering or making seamless digital collages that give one an illusion of a visual that could be real but isn’t really. Hyperrealism in its most experimental techniques challenges dimensions, the vertical and horizontal axes, space and in ways, time and fundamentally obliterates our secure bearings of visual comprehension. It is as much to be understood as accepted that photo editing and processing software from here on will be considered legitimately complimentary tools to photography and not as has been, an unholy convenience or an impurity in the process. This is especially where my views differ from those of Mireles’.

Lee Jeffries' Hyperrealistic Series on Homeless Children

The new wave of western painters seem to already have eagerly embraced these two styles of visual interpretation and will hopefully further the basic premise and idea with more freedom. Especially given that painting unlike photography doesn't have the constraints of working with subjects that are already existent.

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About the Author: Shibu Arakkal is a ‘Lorenzo il Magnifico’ Gold Prize winning photo artist, based in Bangalore, who has practised his art for over twenty years, and has shown his work extensively in India and abroad. One might bump into him riding his motorcycle, or cross paths with him while he is satiating his travel yearnings. He is a self-admitted dog-lover and philosopher inspired always by his daughter Zarah. You can connect with him on facebook.com/ShibuArakkalPhotoArt.com and www.instagram.com/ShibuArakkal

All images are for reference purposes and have been sourced by the author from the Internet, mainly from the artists' websites, Facebook and Pinterest pages. Please view image details for the source.

Art News: Jaipur Art Summit 2017

5th edition of Jaipur Art Summit (Dec 14-18, 2017) planned on a much larger scale

Rajasthan and specifically Jaipur, which had always been an art, culture and heritage rich city in the world has now steadily and strongly made its presence felt on the world art scenario. Jaipur is creating an international language of art, literature and design and some of the festivals have been really instrumental in giving Jaipur an international and national presence, one of them being the Jaipur Art Summit. 

Over the past 4 years, the Jaipur Art Summit has been able to create a premier platform for modern and contemporary art in the state to display the work of masters as well as young and upcoming artists from the globe. The five day long event is a first of its kind in the state. 
Its effort is to take the rich legacy of the state in various art forms across many mediums and formats like painting, digital art, art installations, sculptures, interactive art and other contemporary and folk-centric expressions to a wider spectrum of audience. 

It includes an international painting exhibition, national seminars / talks on contemporary and traditional art related subjects by scholars of repute, international art camp, site specific art installations, live art demonstrations of rare art forms, video art screenings and art films apart from performing art forms. 

The prime objective of the summit is to bring together artists working in different mediums and genres, cultural art players, art historians, critics, institutions and galleries from the country and the globe to promote art and build an environment for appreciation for arts, exchange of peer learning and knowledge sharing. This will help in bringing together regional, national and international voices alongside a world view, fostering possibilities of partnerships and create newer pathways for art promotion globally. 

In this coming 5th edition of Jaipur Art Summit the event is planned on a much larger scale taking into its ambit many more dimensions of not only contemporary art but also tribal and traditional arts internationally, owing to the response in the 2016 edition.

In 2017, the scheduled dates for Jaipur Art Summit are 14-18 December and the Summit would include participation of international/ Indian artists, art colleges, literary figures, architects and interior designers in several distinctive art events like: 

• International Artists Camp and Artist Interactive Sessions 
• International Art Exhibition  and Galleries Show 
• Demonstration of Tribal and Traditional Arts 
• Site Specific Art Installations 
• Contemporary Art Talk and Discussions 
• Art Movies and Art Critics Session 
• Art Performance Shows 
• Creative Art Workshops
• Graffiti and Street Arts 
• Experimental Photography Shows 
• Digital and Multimedia Arts 
• Performing Arts (Folk/ Theatre/ Music/ Dance)

(press release)