It takes more than passion to achieve what Mohan Khokar did. He was like a man possessed, who collected everything that was possible on the subject of Indian dance. Dance aficionados would be familiar with the man who was himself a dancer, dance teacher, scholar and collector but for those who are not, an […]
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Author: Poonam Goel
The War Within
Long before photography was invented in the beginning of the nineteenth century, Spanish painter and last of the Old Masters, Francisco Jose De Goya y Lucientes, known to the world simply as Goya (1976-1828), had anticipated modern photography through his etchings. A total of 82 these aquatint etchings by the artist – celebrated as an […]
Be A Leader
Statistics prove that India’s potential to emerge as an economic and a socially responsible power in the next three decades rests on the Indian youth. That 47 per cent of Indians are under the age of 20 and 10 per cent of the world population is an Indian under 25 is a common assessment of India […]
More Than A Tribute
‘In my art work, I represent the tradition of moralists and political reformers. To save people means to save art itself. The activity of an artist means the active denial of death.’ – Chittaprosad, in the film Confession, made by Pavel Hobl of Czechoslovakia Very few gallerists can take the chances that Ashish Anand of […]
Art Beat-Fast And Famous
The ingredients: A prominent gallery backing you, an effective PR machinery espousing your worth as the next best investment and then, an innate sense of being media-savvy. The dish? Instant fame! With the burgeoning art market on their side, more and more younger artists are mastering this fool-proof recipe for achieving both financial and […]
Art Beat: Tribal Treats
When Arts of the Earth – Delhi’s first art gallery dedicated solely to folk and tribal art – opened in the capital last year, its director Meena Verma was sceptical about how the gallery’s ‘rustic and simple’ fare would be received by a city that is residence to celebrated artists like S.H Raza, Ram Kumar, […]
The Play That Wasn’t…
When Bhanu Bharti, acclaimed theatre director and NSD alumnus, decides to stage a play, he doesn’t go looking for ‘interesting adaptations’ and ‘inspired scripts’. He doesn’t bother about reaching out to the masses with risqué comedies or flamboyant productions either. He chooses to write, instead, intense plays based on pertinent social issues that happen around […]
Sensual Metaphors
I had just come back from a week-long trip when the doorbell rang. Fervently hoping it would be the home-delivery guy, I opened the door to find my 53-year-old neighbour, the good samaritan that he is, standing sheepishly with all my post. Sheepish is a trait I don’t normally associate with this effusive father […]
Picture This!
It was an out-of-focus photograph – of close friend and fellow artist Anjum Singh setting up her show at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi – that started it all for Manisha Gera Baswani. A lesser eye would have perhaps rejected the ‘flawed’ image, but being an artist herself, Baswani knew that it had […]
MF Husain: A Tribute
Just last month, Maqbool Fida Husain was busy giving telecon interviews denying that his most recent painting, posted on the Internet immediately after Mamata Banerjee’s landslide victory in the assembly polls, had anything to do with depicting the TMC supremo as Maa Durga. “I have depicted India, to express that woman power is on the […]
Art Beat: Summer Scorchers
If you are not out travelling to escape the Delhi heat, then it is time to indulge yourself in some of the choicest art that the city galleries have on offer. While earlier, a group art show during the traditional ‘off’ season was usually considered banal – as most galleries would merely put out their […]
Medium Matters
You could have stepped into a science lab. A hand drawn human brain connected to jumbled up wires sits precariously on one wall. Several similar drawings across the remaining space create an anatomical collage of the brain’s journey and make you wonder about the complexities of human mind. But this is an art gallery and […]