The ongoing exhibition at Aakriti Art Gallery is a tribute to abstract artist Rajendra Dhawan. Curator Ina Puri tells Shrabasti Mallik that the artworks also define dreams and hope
Artist Rajendra Dhawan had lived most of his life in Paris like S Raza, but unlike him, Dhawan is little acknowledged in India for his contribution to contemporary abstract art. He could convey his mood and feelings with few colours and fewer brush strokes. To pay tribute to the contribution of Dhawan to abstract art, 19 artists from India and Pakistan have come together to showcase their works in an exhibition titled A Requiem, A Song, A Dream at the Aakriti Art Gallery.
“Abstract art delves into the mind of the artist and mirrors his psyche. On the canvas it becomes a narration. It does not necessarily have to tell a story; rather it is an implied idea. And the implied meaning lies in the eyes of the viewer,” said curator Ina Puri, a noted art critic. The thought of putting together such an exhibition came to her almost a year ago and most of the exhibits are made for the show. “Except for Dhawan’s and Prabhakar Barwe’s works because they are no longer alive,” she added.
The subject of the exhibition resonates well with the condition of the world we are living in. She explained, “A requiem is a song of sorrow, something of an elegy which is sung when someone passes away. And we as humans are always lamenting about something or the other. We live in hope that the world will change for the better. The song and dream are symbols for hope. Even when we live in a world of chaos and unrest, we never stop dreaming. I found this an appropriate backdrop to pay a tribute to Dhawan.”
Jayashree Chakravarty’s work titled Germination lays the seeds of hope. The artwork is made with dried seeds layered with paper. She uses superimposed forms, like the sketches of the cave painters. Her fluid and transparent images reflect the present mood of the world, which is fluid in itself. “At a mere conventional and figurative level, her works reflect the unity of man with nature. We need to realise that we cannot move forward at the cost of destroying the nature,” she said.
The calligraphy work by Pakistani artist Mohammad Ali Talpur in black and white, titled Alif, is placed next to Prabhakar Kolte’s black and white artwork depicting Sanskrit letters. To the curator the two paintings might be different in subject but they share a dialogue. One will also come across a vibrant oil work by Rajnish Kaur who has exhibited his work after a long time.
More than abstract, the exhibits are non-figurative. All the paintings have a meditative quality. “They are serene and pleasant. Being non-figurative it gives an imagination the liberty to see it in its own way and it is peaceful to look at something which does not exert a meaning,” she said.
The artworks of Yogesh Rawal stem from the thoughtful conversations that he has with himself. The conversations are processed through varied techniques that the artist has learnt. While some artists have used oil on canvas others have used mixed media, gouache on paper and a host of other materials ranging from different kind of papers, fabric, mud, tea, stain, mango leaf and seed and jute to express themselves. The exhibition continues till February 28.