An ongoing exhibition at the British Council collaborates the works of Indian and British artists to celebrate 40 years of the display in England
A dazzling array of artworks, presented by some of the leading artists from the art world, in a range of different mediums like sculptures, paintings and photographs was displayed at the British Council. What was unique about the exhibition was the fact that more than 100 artists participated in it.
The exhibition titled Deck of Cards | Taash ke Patte, was organised to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first showing of the Deck of Cards in london.
In the year 1976, london gallery sent playing cards in a post to the leading British artists. They were asked to choose any medium they wanted and were asked to make an art piece with the interpretation of the given playing card. The exhibition was a huge success. At the opening of the show, a leading light in the london art world bought the entire collection. The success of the show resulted in a physical pack of very artful, playing cards which are still sold at major art institutions worldwide.
This art work was toured to over 22 countries by the British Council. In India, when laura Williams curated the exhibition, she asked some of the Indian artists to make their interpretation of the playing cards. The works of Indian artists were aptly titled Taash Ke Patte.
Veteran artists like Anjolie Ela Menon presented her works titled Queen of Diamonds, SH Raza’s work was titled Six of Diamonds, Jogen Chowdhury’s collection was called Two of Diamonds, Arpana Caur presented her Queen of Hearts and Farhad Hussain’s collection was titled Six of Hearts. Also artist Arpita Singh presented her Queen of Spades whereas the King of spades was presented by KG Subramanayam. And these are the works of a handful of artists. As many as 55 Indian artists have participated in this one-of-a-kind exhibition.
If we talk about British artists, then Queen of Diamonds was made by David Inshaw, Six of Diamonds by Robyn Denny while the Queen of Hearts was displayed by Phillip Sutton. Evan Charlton made Queen of Spades whereas Patrick Procktor had made King of spades.
What was interesting about the way the artworks are displayed was that one Indian artist and one British artist had been grouped together on the basis of the card they had worked on. On the walls of the gallery, there were two frames. The black frame showcased the work of artists from UK while the white frames showcased the work of Indian artists.
Rob lynes, the director of British Council said, “We are delighted to showcase the viewers a unique and historic collection of artwork which has travelled across countries. It is an opportunity to see what artists can do with just mere playing cards and their imagination which can leave us in amazement. The exhibition showcases the works of UK and Indian artists and we hope that the people enjoy.”
To make the exhibition interesting, the curator had introduced a game where one had to recognise the works of the artists and identify the artist by just seeing the artwork.