Contemporary Eclecticism: Two exhibitions in Kalaghoda

This Tuesday opened with some interesting shows in south Bombay Art district, two of which have found special place in my mind. Both the shows are of people I have been associated with for almost a decade now, and have thus personally witnessed the evolution in their works and thus the current prospect of what the artists have achieved is exciting. 

Smita Kinkale's 'C2H4n Encoded Poetry' is a show that surprises you pleasantly, simply because of the material, plastic/polythene, that she has explored for her works. Her exhibition in 2015 too had the same material but its hybridity was yet retained in the colourful works. The current works firstly transgress the rigid, artificial impression of the plastic material and are first and foremost very lyrical abstracts. although the technique of creation of her works is highly technical, with cutting, firing, smelting, the output in the current series shows free-flowing forms, spontaneity and visual that looks much organic.

Encoded poetry is a revelation on many levels. It brings out the possibility of postmodern materials that are around us. It is quite positive to see an artist accepting the available material of postmodern era, plastic, which is inevitable, and exploring its possibilities rather than denying it as non-organic. Also what is very affirmative is that Smita does not use the plastic merely as found material. She renders it as a medium and thus has been ale to transform its immediate redundancy to something romantic.

What I really appreciate about this series is the transition of the artist from the novelty of material exploration to actual inquiry into visual aesthetics. Smita's works are beautiful compositions capturing moments, sensual and cerebral, irrespective of the material. At a certain point, the material vanishes from our mind and what remains is the dance of colours on coarse surfaces. Some works large black works , Smita has woven the material, the visible marks bring out the dexterity of urban living, of combining modernity with traditions into developing what can be said as postmodern cultural hybridity.  

The wonderful Exhibition of paintings by young artists Ciby Samuel and Sagar Kamble, at Artists Centre, Kalaghoda showcases the eclecticism in the current thinking or same generation artists. Freshly completed their academics together, their works have taken parallel but individual paths of visual inquiry. It is certainly heartwarming to see works which are uninfluenced in the current bombarding of information. Both their works are direly apart in style and thus make an interesting view.

Sagar's works are rooted in his immediate environment where he grew up and have some very regional and personal references. His rendering of forms on the other hand are quite impersonal, making the characters and objects in his works neutral. Its almost like how an outsider would look that these foreign imagery,  except that Sagar weaves his intricate personal narratives in them like connecting the marionettes in the larger global world. His works are woven with rural myths, urban interpretations and 'folkish' figurines, something that is his unique idiom. 

I am much charmed by the textures and material applications in his paintings, specially the use of unorthodox fabric and paper surfaces. The use of gold leaf too is just appropriate and adds a very distinct cultural identity to his subjects. At a point these works remind of the eccentricity of northern renaissance to create layered imagery of narratives. So enticing are these narratives that the grotesqueness and rawness of the imagery is completely nullified. Sagar's works define how the regional identities turn much profound in the globalised world.

Ciby's paintings take one into a realm of their own being. His subjects are not comments on anything on anybody, they are simple depictions of his very personal experiences of living. I feel that the very personal and truthful depictions take the viewer to the spiritual experience and the artist to the simplicity. Ciby's abstraction and simplicity are eventual; because one does not require to be elaborate talking to oneself. 

Many might find so, but his works do not seem reflecting on faith. The religious imagery is in immediate vicinity to Ciby, like the rural references to Sagar. It is a treat to see the gestural forms that he achieves in minimal adept brush strokes witness to his mastery over understanding and depicting forms. The abstractions become people and places as one moves back and forth into the painting and characters emerge like gaining mindful consciousness. Dark and tonal at first glance, the paintings dance with bright pinks, oranges and greens and flurry of colours as one goes closer. The experience is parallel to the quiet thinking that begins with woes and flourishes into a gamut of diverse sensual territories. Ciby's paintings move you out of your comfort zone to reveal in the disquiet of revisiting our submerged existences.    

Please do take time to visit these shows, Smita's in Jehangir Art Gallery and Ciby and Sagar's in Artists Centre, both in Kalaghoda. The shows will be open to viewing till 1st April 2019.