Protect your paintings

(Nalini S Malaviya)

Monsoons are here and along with flooded basements, waterlogged roads and traffic pileups, most people are facing inconvenience in their daily life. But how is all this related to art? Well, paintings in particular are extremely susceptible to weather conditions and the increased amount of humidity in the air can play havoc with your expensive artworks.
This, in fact is a good time to take stock of your collection. One should carefully evaluate the condition of each of the pieces for any visible signs of damage.
Humidity levels in Mumbai are high throughout the year and this is one place where one has to be extra cautious with oil paintings and watercolours. However, in places like Bangalore and Delhi also, due to heavy rains, there are a number of people who are facing moulds and fungus on their prized art.

As most art lovers will be aware paintings need to be taken care of constantly. They must always be hung or stored in an environment that has optimum temperature and moisture. In watercolours, excessive humidity can cause growth of moulds or the paper may start to wrinkle. Moulds or dark spots may appear on paintings done on canvas as well. One must also check the back of the canvas for any infestation. Scattered dark spots, patches of faded colours, warping of the canvas mount or the frame should be taken seriously. One should consult a restorer for any damage that has appeared on the painting. Surface cleaning should be undertaken only if one is knowledgeable and confident about the process. If in doubt it is always better to consult a professional.

Collectors and investors spend huge amounts of money on the paintings, and therefore it makes sense to check them regularly to ensure they are in good condition so that their investment potential is not adversely affected.

(Published in Financial Times)

Art Buzz (London) Damien Hirst

Sothebys

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, a major auction of works by Damien Hirst will be held in London on 15 & 16 September.
Works included are an important series of new pieces which have been created over the past two years, including monumental formaldehyde sculptures; paintings which expand on the artist's classic themes such as butterflies, cancer cells and pills; exquisite new cabinets and insightful preparatory drawings.

The exhibition will be on view at the New Bond Street Galleries from 5 - 15 September.

Art Buzz (Bangalore) Threshold

Art Buzz (Mumbai) Sanjeev Khandekar

Metamorphoses by Jehangir Jani

(Nalini S Malaviya)

Jehangir Jani, the Mumbai based artist was in town for the opening of his new exhibition ‘Metamorphoses’ comprising of fibreglass sculptures and drawings. I found his sculptures delightfully whimsical and suggestive of a trace of humour. The myriad heads are those of hybrid creatures – part human and part animal. The gold foil accentuates the animal characteristics against a featureless form of the black human head. Lionman, Elephantman, Rhinoman among other hybrid creatures surprise the viewer with their absurdity, craftsmanship and expressiveness. In these creatures of fantasy, the beastly quality presented against the stark and smooth metallic finish of the heads may even disturb the viewer. One feels that the animal traits in a human being are expressed with a sharp wit.

According to Jehangir, as we move towards being a more ‘civilised’ culture, we tend to suppress our animal instincts, but then it manifests itself in various other ways. He points out how the twentieth century was an era of discovery, knowledge acquisition and inventions, yet this phase was marked by wars and blood baths. Not to forget the growing number of troubled people turning to therapy.

I felt that the apparent contrast between the sophisticated appearance of the sculptures against the rawness of the drawings presents an interesting study. The drawings are in two sets, where the larger ones focus on internal strife and chaos, while the smaller works are darker and appear more intense, projecting the physical attributes of the brain itself in various adaptive stages in response to stimuli.

(The exhibition will be on till August 6 at Gallery Sumukha)

Digital Fix

On a completely different note, in this technological day and age you don’t expect anyone to be unfamiliar with either e-mails or use of computers. Well, there are artists who are far removed from technology, and rely completely on traditional methods of communication and painting. Then, there are artists who are so proficient with technical advances that they use it as a tool to create their art around it.
It is common to see artists taking digital photographs and modifying them with photo editing software - playing around with colours, backgrounds and other features (adding and deleting elements). And, some then print it on canvas and fill in the colours. There is a school of thought that believes that art should be completely done manually, and there are buyers reluctant to invest in such paintings (remember, here we’re not talking about digital art).

While, this is debatable, what the artist can do is to state clearly how the painting has been done and then leave it to the buyer to decide whether he wants to buy a digitally aided work or not.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)