Fluid Realities | Curatorial Advisor: Lina Vincent

Reality is a constantly shifting and debateable concept subject to multifarious definitions at different points of time, as seen within diverse contexts. Science understands reality as a space within which all matter - inclusive of animate and inanimate things- floats around, interacting, expanding and dissolving continually. Within a spiritual and philosophical framework, this foundational understanding is prismatically split within multi-layered belief systems and the various trajectories of thought that structure human progression. Our collective consciousness of the eternal relationship between microcosm and macrocosm provides a relatable background to an everyday engagement with the whole gamut of life.

The compilation of work in the exhibition represents investigations into this ever-changing and dynamic space of life with its myriad physical and transcendental cycles. The artists, each of them iconic in the discussion of contemporary Indian art, showcase deeply individualistic approaches, both formally and conceptually.

For the artist, an engagement with this fluid space is organic and perpetual; it is an engagement that feeds inspiration and initiates creative processes. Building and communicating fresh perspectives inevitably influences different layers of existence, including social interactions, self-awareness and expression. It connects with the ability of the artist ‘being present’ and developing perceptions whether in the external world or from within an internal, emotional or cognitive experience. The artworks reflect a cross-section of responses and articulations: from depictions of the physical world, it’s constructions and layers, to meditative, spiritually oriented arrangements.

For Vivek Vilasini, there is constant intersection between observed and imagined reality; he creates intrinsic visual commentaries that revolve around the physical world and human social behaviour, often using humour and irony as narrative devices. With art, the potential for transformation is constant and evolving. Paresh Maity, in his characteristic style, translates and reinterprets the memory and experience of place, drawing from existing architectonic arrangements to present newer configurations of space and time.

Anjolie Ela Menon responds to the world in all its beauty and ugliness, finding meaning in a visceral engagement with people and objects. She employs the power of richly painted surfaces to penetrate layers of knowledge and history posited by human activity. At another end of the spectrum, Jogen Chowdhury articulates aspects of his personal history, local and cultural ethos through intuitive responses that seek to present the innermost core of things. His bold drawings play with spatial contexts and metaphors derived from revelation and concealment. Touching upon salient twists in the interpretation of social history, Surendran Nair produces modern myths that acknowledge the presence of alternative worlds and human truths; a kind of magical realism pervades his picture planes.

An artist’s exploration of contemporary realities is nuanced; in as much as the external world is made visible, the innermost aspects of his/her experience can be perceived – the artworks become windows that provide glimpses into emotional and psychological journeys. Viewing the world through a feminine perspective, Arpana Caur builds poetic narratives of her everyday experiences, sensitively balancing the past with the present, and the personal with the universal. Celebrating love and desire, vulnerability and strength, Rekha Rodwittiya is another artist who resolutely embodies a woman’s world – it’s realities and fictions. She draws deeply from her intimate experiences and enables a viewer to connect simultaneously with the mundane and profound.

Chandra Bhattacharjee in his series of atmospheric works, includes expressions of transitory, subtle engagements with the state of being, in time and space – there are vestiges of the past, future and present that mingle and correlate in fluid continuum, as his artistic presence encounters cosmological rhythms.

Each work in the exhibition is an imprint on time – a non-linear, transforming space that invites the viewer to contemplate our current times, as we face a rupture in our existence and pause to reflect on new realities.

Lina Vincent