Calling All Artists!

Would You Like To Exhibit Your Work In Bengaluru?

Three months ago, the KalaRasa Art House made its debut, showcasing the work of 71 young, relatively unknown artists drawn from across Karnataka. Their work represented a passionate mix of styles, genres and media that explored different dimensions of the human condition and re-imagined the constituents of aesthetic appeal. 

The exhibition was met with an overwhelming amount of support and acclaim from both art aficionados and the general public, drawing some much needed exposure to several unrepresented artists possessing stellar abilities. 

The KalaRasa Art House is now tendering opportunities to artists from around the globe, both established and not-so-established, to exhibit their work at the KalaRasa gallery in Jayanagar. We are looking for individuals that display exceptional talent, a clear thematic focus and a will to push the artistic envelope.

To submit your work for consideration, log onto  www.kalarasa.com  and upload an image of each piece along with the relevant details. For more information get in touch with by emailing us at contact@kalarasa.com

About KalaRasa – Art House

KalaRasa is miscellany of spaces, encompassing an art gallery, art development centre, auditorium, literature

division, fashion store and design house. Offering a dramatic view of south Bengaluru, the art house encloses an extensive 15,000 sq. ft. area in High Street Building at 4th Block Jayanagar.

The prime objective of KalaRasa is to offer patronage to all forms of art and empower artists to transcend their understanding of what art constitutes. In the knowledge that each individual’s experience of art is unique in its own right, each show at the gallery is an attempt to make art a way of life for every human being and create a dynamic inter-cultural dialogue. 

KalaRasa Art House

# 62, 6th Floor, "The High street Mall", 11th Main 
Jayanagar 4th Block, Bangalore, India - 560011

Tel:+91 80 4940 1300
Email: contact@kalarasa.com 

Google Map Link

Sponsored Post

Festive Home Decor : A tradition of lighting the lamp

In our country, lighting an oil lamp has been an important ritual integral to festivals and ceremonies. The tradition began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, in temples and in homes, especially in the southern part of the country. The ritual of lighting a lamp is a deeply symbolic act of dispelling darkness or ignorance and spreading light or wisdom and knowledge. The mere act of illuminating the area by lighting a lamp is considered propitious and an important part of commencing any auspicious event such as a ceremony or festivity.

There are several types of lamps made of different materials such as clay, silver and brass which have been used traditionally and have specific symbolic associations and are therefore used for varying purposes. Amongst these, a brass lamp is a very popular artifact used in most homes as part of the daily ritual, while the more ornate ones are brought out on special occasions. Lighting a lamp is not necessarily a religious gesture but can be looked upon as a part of a spiritual or meditative process and therefore it is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.

Deepawali, which is considered to be the festival of lights is a celebration of good over evil and heralds new beginnings, and is celebrated with lights and firecrackers across the length and breadth of the country with great joy and enthusiasm. It is common to see people spring cleaning their homes and decorating with great fervor, and lighting up their homes with diyas and fairy lights.

During this festival, an ornate traditional brass lamp can not only be the centerpiece of the décor but also be an essential part of the festive rituals. Elaborate brass lamps of varying heights either singly or in pairs are a wonderful way to give a traditional touch to interiors and to form a focal point around which the ceremonial aspects of the festival can also be carried out. It is also interesting that there are so many variations of a traditional brass lamp available, with intricate patterns and motifs, which can make these artifacts so stunning and extraordinary. While some may have a traditional vintage feel, there are others which reflect a more contemporary look, but either way one cannot deny that these artifacts go far beyond their functional value and have a delightful old world charm. 

(An edited version was published recently in Times of India - The Address)

Antiques in Home Decor

Book Review: Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power

The publication accompanying the exhibition of selections from the Waswo X. Waswo‘s collection of Indian printmaking traces the growth of Indian art in a sociological and historical context. The scale of the exhibition and its significance in mapping the evolution of printmaking from 1916 onwards makes this publication much more than a catalogue. And, as Jyoti Bhatt has aptly pointed out in the introduction that a book has a much larger reach as compared to an exhibition which becomes limited by time and geography, this publication becomes an important documentation effort.  

In this survey of Indian print making, art historian and curator Lina Vincent Sunish explores notions of identity, place and power that shape artistic creation.  The exhibition of prints (from Waswo’s collection) held at NGMA earlier in the year, represented 79 Indian artists from diverse geographical regions and featured woodcuts, etchings, lithographs and screenprints spanning an almost 100 year period from 1916 to the present. “The thematic distribution of works according to the interconnected concepts of identity, place and power originates from the desire to take advantage of the time span the collection represents, and the Indian histories that directly and indirectly played a part in the creation of the works.”

During this phase, the transformations in the Indian landscape have been enormous and the collection attempts to ‘generate connections of thought between artists disparate in time and space, and make them visible to a viewer in the context of an exhibition’ while rejecting chronology.  The emphasis is on exploring imagery and meaning in the printmaking practice of various artists.

The works by some of the finest printmakers are a part of Waswo’s collection and are therefore featured in the book.  One cannot help but recall the exhibition and appreciate the effort behind it.  From senior artists such as Mukul Dey, Haren Das, Nandalal Bose, Jogen Chowdhury, KG Subramanyan, Laxma Goud, Krishna Reddy, Somnath Hore, Anupam Sud, Bhupen Khakhar and Chittaprosad Bhattacharya to works by the new generation of Indian printmakers like Maripelly Praveen Goud, Kurma Nadham and Jagadeesh Tammineni, the vast collection presents a remarkable selection of prints across time, location and artistic sensibilities.

 

The afterword by Waswo is a fascinating account of his collecting journey detailing his passion for artworks on paper; a modest beginning which soon grew into an extensive and noteworthy collection.

One of the highlights of this book is definitely its readability factor and this book is as much for the lay person curious about Indian printmaking as for the art connoisseur. In a sense, a large format coffee table book would have perhaps done more justice to this publication.

Between the Lines: Identity, Place, and Power can be purchased here

Consider sharing this post if you liked it.

Also Read,
26 Best Books: The A to Z Must Read Book List 

Book Review: Folktales from India by AK Ramanujan

 

26 Best Books: The A to Z Must Read Book List

When The Sunday Book Club (TSBC) recently published an A to Z list of books on their blog, I was inspired to do the same and compiled this must read book list, which includes my favourite books from over the years.  Having discovered the magical world of books at an early age, I remember eagerly waiting for the latest editions of Phantom, Mandrake and Amar Chitra Katha comics to arrive, not to forget children’s magazines like Chandamama (does anyone remember that? Apparently, its first issue was out in 1947!) and Champak!  Then came my involvement with Enid Blyton, Biggles (don’t remember the author), Agatha Christie, Alistair Maclean, and Hindi and Bengali authors Premchand, Shivani, Sharad Chandra Chattopadhyay and poets such as Jaishankar Prasad and Nirala amongst others.

Our entire group of friends then moved on to Leo Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, Somerset Maugham, RK Narayan and so many others.  Today, I just cannot imagine how I went through the voluminous War and Peace and Crime and Punishment or even She for that matter!

So here's my A-Z list of books, which I hope you will also enjoy.

Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Exodus by Leon Uris

Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins

The Guide by RK Narayan

How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be: The 25 Principles of Success by Jack Canfield

Ice Station Zebra by Alistair Maclean

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss

No Full Stops in India by Mark Tully

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran

Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

She: A History of Adventure/Ayesha, Return of She by H Rider Haggard

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Vital Signs by Robin Cook

The Wonder that was India by AL Basham

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrell

A few more books which come close are Ageless Body Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra, Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, Through Time into Healing by Brian Weiss, Godfather by Mario Puzo, Nine Lives by William Dalrymple and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy.

Do let me know other books that you have enjoyed reading and those that you would like to recommend.  I look forward to adding more books to my list.