Curator: Anu Jindal
A group exhibition of artworks by ten artists from around the world working in different genre and media on the universal theme of mother and the associated sentiments.
Artworks by
NILS-UDO Landscape Art (Germany)
HIMMAT SHAH Sculpture (India)
RAMESHWAR BROOTA Visual Art (India)
HILDEGARD WESTERKAMP Soundscape (Canada)
KAVAS KAPADIA Painting (India)
CHANG HOON WOO Painting (South Korea)
RAMAKRISHNA VEDALA Painting (India)
PRABIR PURKAYASTHA Photography/Digital Art (India)
NAOYUKI ISHIGA Kiri-e or Paper-cutting (Japan)
ANU JINDAL Visual Art (India)
On 4th January 2021 at 5 pm, there will be a virtual opening with a webinar discussion on: The Act of Creation
Online exhibition on view from 4th to 17th January 2021
Curatorial Note
Adversity encourages innovation; pain draws out hitherto untapped emotions. Humanity today is in the stranglehold of the Covid-19 pandemic. Physically forced into insular lives, virtual connections have intensified. Thus struck, creativity continues unabated donning new avatars. This exhibition’s theme of mother and associated sentiments, sprung from the loss of my mother a year ago. Artworks of ten artists from around the globe are in varied genre and media.
Nils-Udo’s site specific installations celebrate nature by “drawing with flowers, painting with clouds, writing with water”. In urban spaces or deep womb of forests, he conjures up a wishful habitat, unblemished by humans. Himmat Shah, follows his maxim “do or die” in a fiery, unquenched quest. Wondrous as a child’s birth, creations originate from humble clay – his ultimate material. Rameshwar Broota’s magna canvases hide and reveal mysteries of life. In recent experiments with glass and resin, interplay of altering light conveys musings on birth, growth, the cycle of life. Hildegard Westerkamp’s soundscape compositions weave a magical world – a stimulating sound-sensorial experience.
Chang-Hoon Woo’s profound paintings delve into the tech-driven tableau of contemporary living. Kavas Kapadia’s delightful cameos of everyday life, rendered in water colours, display spontaneity and refreshing candour. Ramakrishna Vedala’s poetic portrayal of his mother draws out the spirituality and gentleness of her essence through moist, pigment soaked brushstrokes. Prabir Purkyastha’s visions are phantasmagorical journeys to a utopia, which surprisingly is very much our own planet. Naoyuki Ishiga translates his fascination with nature into highly intricate, gossamer, lace-like kiri-e or paper-cuts. Yours truly’s expression has leapfrogged by being orphaned, emerging anew to explore the matrix of the metaphysical.
Also viewable at
https://urmilafoundation10.wixsite.com/urmilaartexhibition
ANU JINDAL PROFILE
Anu Jindal, Artist, Art Historian & Educationist, holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi. As a Japan Foundation Fellow she studied at Doshisha University, Kyoto.
Since the 1980s Jindal has held many solo shows and participated in several important exhibitions in India and abroad including at the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Exhibitions at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, Festival of India in USA, Berlin Biennial and Tama Art University, Japan. Her work finds place in Art collections in India and abroad.
Jindal combines artistic practice with academia and teaching, each discipline enriching the other. Teaching has spanned two decades, primarily at the National Institute of Fashion Technology and the School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi. Scholarly work on Visual Art & Design has been presented at International Conferences and in published papers. She has delivered lectures at India International Centre, University of Delhi, the National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art, and New Delhi and at many organizations. For a year she was Visiting Research Professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan.
NILS-UDO
NILS-UDO has travelled all over the globe in his mission of creating Land Artworks, constructed with natural materials, a symphony in harmony with nature. He photographs his site specific Installations and withdraws with no harm, disturbance or damage to the natural ecology. Back in his studio he paints on his favourite subject of natural environment. An oft repeated theme drawing attention to humanity’s origin is that of the Nest and dwellings.
His fantastic oeuvre over the last half century consists of several hundred works of Environmental Art in various locations, from his country Germany to far off locations like the Red Rock Canyon in California or an island in the Baltic Sea, in the course traversing several continents. In many cases he fashions his installations by planting vegetation, e.g. “Planting of 1000 daffodils on a floating island” in Rügen, Baltic Sea, “My May Meadow” -planting with poplar, shrubbery, ask poles and clematis, in Upper Bavaria. “La Couveé’ featured in this show was made in the forest at Île de Porquerolle, France. His materials are primarily drawn from those indigenous to the sites like earth, pampas grass, local flowers, reeds and bamboo, volcanic rock.
Numerous publications, replete with photographs of his artworks have been published; Major art institutions, galleries and cultural bodies have sponsored and exhibited his work. Whether urban spaces or the deep womb of forests NILS-UDO’s visual language communicates to all humanity, to simply rejoice in the purity and ephemeral beauty of Mother Nature and leave it unhurt, unblemished. Read more about his extraordinary journey on nils-udo.com
NILS-UDO LA COUVÉE
MARBLE, EARTH, FOREST
FONDATION CARMIGNAC, ÎLE DE PORQUEROLLES 2018
PIGMENT PRINT 138 X 180 CM ED. 8
HIMMAT SHAH
Himmat Shah was born in Lothal, Gujarat in 1933. He studied at the J J School of Art in Mumbai. From 1956 to 1960, in Baroda, he learnt avidly from N.S. Bendre and K.G. Subramanyan whose quest for language and appraisal of folk art stimulated him. Shah was a member of Group 1890, a short-lived artists' collective founded by J. Swaminathan. The then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, opened the group's first and only show in 1963. On the recommendation of the poet diplomat Octavio Paz, Shah received a French Government scholarship in 1967 to study etching at Atelier 17 under SW Hayter and Krishna Reddy in Paris.
On his return, from 1967 to 1971, Shah designed monumental murals at Ahmedabad; and later relief sculpture series called silver paintings and sculptures in terracotta and bronze. Shifting to Delhi, to a studio at Garhi, he experimented with clays and slips to develop a unique vocabulary in terracotta. In 2004 – 2005, Shah worked on bronze sculptures, cast at a foundry in London. Even today, Himmat Shah continues to push boundaries in sculpture and drawing, working from his studio in Jaipur, established in 2000.
www.himmatshah.com. Himmat Shah UNTITLED terracotta & gold leaf
RAMESHWAR BROOTA
Born in 1941 in Delhi, Rameshwar Broota graduated in Fine Arts from the Delhi College of Art. Since 1967 till present, Broota has served as Head of Department at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. Broota has perfected his own unique technique, layering paints and then meticulously scraping away the upper layers, to literally unearth his luminous images.
Broota has received multiple prestigious awards including 3 National Awards by Lalit Kala Akademi and ‘Kala Vibhushan’ by All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi. His works are housed in leading collections in India and abroad including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, the Josip Broz Tito Museum in Yugoslavia and the Künst Museum in Dusseldorf. His works are part of various private collections in India, USA, Germany, Switzerland, UK, France, Mexico, Sweden and Dubai. www.brootarameshwar.com Rameshwar Broota UNTITLED-4 Pen and ink and objects in epox resin, 10in x 10in x 5 in
HILDEGARD WESTERKAMP
Hildegard Westerkamp’s pioneering musical works and writing, at the intersections of environmentalism, acoustic communication, radio arts, listening practices and soundwalking, activate an awareness that sound is a decisive dimension of the world, an idea that underpins contemporary thinking across social, political, artistic and scientific practices of environmental respect and concern. Initially she worked with R. Murray Schafer and the World Soundscape Project. She is a founding and board member of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and was long-time editor of its journal Soundscape.
She has conducted soundscape workshops, given concerts and lectures, and led Soundwalks locally and internationally. Her compositions draw attention to the act of listening itself, to the inner, hidden spaces of the environments we inhabit and to details both familiar and foreign in the soundscape. Excerpts of her compositions appear in Gus van Sants’ films “Elephant and Last Days” and more recently in soundtrack of Nettie Wild’s film “Koneline, Our Land Beautiful”. In 2017 Hildegard’s ways of composing and listening were presented on CBC IDEAS: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-opening-our-ears-can-open-our-minds-h…; www.hildegardwesterkamp.ca
DB BOYKO (female solo voice in the composition featured here “Moments of Laughter”)
One of Canada’s most adventuresome vocalists, DB Boyko has explored the boundaries of vocal music as a performer and a creative collaborator. Her vocal tour-de-force with singer Christine Duncan, on projects Idiollala, Hubbub and the Canadian tour of “Stall” set in public washrooms invite whimsy and serious listening. For 24 years DB also championed experimental practice in her role as Director/Curator of Western Front New Music, realizing innovative music productions in Vancouver. DB is currently working on Ayelet Rose Gottlieb's 13 Lunar Meditations: Summoning the Witches. Sound Compositions by Hildegard Westerkamp
MOMENTS OF LAUGHTER (female solo voice by DB Boyko)
KAVAS KAPADIA
Kavas Kapadia completed degrees in Architecture in 1969, and Planning in 1971, from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He was faculty at his alma mater and served as Head of the Department of Urban Planning for three decades, retiring as Dean of Studies.
Kapadia has served on numerous juries, advisory and key committees such as Council of Architecture, Indian Institute of Town Planners, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, Delhi Urban Heritage Foundation, Planning and Architectural education in India and International Architecture and Urban Design competitions. He has presented papers in many international forums including at Hawaii, University of Kyoto, Tokyo (World Water Forum), Jogjakarta (UNDP) and Singapore (EAROPH). Has worked on projects in Delhi, Nigeria, Iran and Singapore. Volunteer member of the PARZOR foundation (initiated by UNESCO for documentation of heritage of Parsees-Zoroastrians). Projected interests of PARZOR in tangible heritage, at Kyoto and Salisbury. Worked on “The Everlasting Flame” exhibition held at IGNCA 2016. Since last couple of years has been polishing his sketching skills. Kavas Kapadia INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY & HUMAN RELATIONS water colour on 200gm paper, size A3
CHANG HOON WOO
Chang Hoon Woo graduated in Fine Art from Chung-Ang University, South Korea. Over the last four decades he has been painting prolifically, mainly in oils, making large canvases replete with vibrant colours and intricate detailing, creating conceptually intense, complex spaces, highlighting in particular the high-tech aspects of modern living. He has held as many as twenty-two Solo Exhibitions of his paintings and has participated in numerous Art Exhibitions and Art Fairs around the world. Some of these include the Karlsruhe Art Fair, Koln Art Fair in Germany, the Scope Miami Art Fair, USA, Hong Kong Contemporary, Europ' Art Fair, Geneva, Switzerland, and The Sydney International Art Fair (Australia). Some of the participations in his own country include AHAF-Asia Top Gallery Hotel Art Fair, West-in Chosun hotel, Seoul, The Doors Art Fair, Imperial Hotel. Seoul, Seoul Open Art Fair, COEX. Seoul, and Korea International Art Fair, COEX. Seoul.
Receiving his first award in 1978, the “Special Prize” at The 1st Chung-Ang Art Exhibition, he went on to receive several more honours, including the Gold Prize in 1985 and 1992 by the Korean Association of Figurative Art, and the prestigious ‘Best Artist of Korea’ Prize by the Society of Critics. In 2019, at the ‘Affordable Art Fair’ held in Singapore, in front of a live audience he carried out the ‘Official Performance Live Painting’.Chang Hoon Woo SUPERHUMAN oil on canvas 145 x 112 cm
RAMAKRISHNA VEDALA
Artist and Art Historian Ramakrishna Vedala did his graduation in Painting, and has a post graduate degree in Art History from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi. He has researched on Matisse's influence on Indian art under a grant from the Nehru Trust for Indian Collections. Vedala’s creative oeuvre ranges from fantasy to realism expressed through the medium of Oil and Water Colour painting. Presently he is Secretary Incharge of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. Ramakrishna Vedala MY MOTHER water colour, size A3
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PRABIR PURKAYASTHA
After a long & successful stint in journalism & advertising Prabir shifted professional gears and began his career in photography. For the past two decades he has been extensively photographing in India & abroad.
He was awarded the Habitat Award for Best Photography Exhibition for 2002. His Inter-Globe calendar for 2003 was presented a gold at the SAPPI Asian Awards for Printing. In April, 2005, he published his picture book, ‘Ladakh’, which won the prestigious Gold, at the federation of Master Printers Awards Ceremony in Mumbai, and was voted ‘Book of the month’, by Better Photography (UK) in July 2006.
In 2005 & 2006 Prabir presented talk shows, on his wall murals of Ladakh, at the Rubin Museum of Arts, New York. Purkayastha was nominated for the international Prix Pictet 2009 Award and selected as one of the Super Six Photographers for 2009 by Fuji Film, India. During the past few years, he has held critically acclaimed solo exhibitions in New York, Chicago, London, Katonah, Los Angeles, New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. www.prabirpurkayastha.comPrabir Purkayastha CREATION#2 digital image
NAOYUKI ISHIGA
Japanese artist and designer Naoyuki Ishiga works in the technique of kirie or paper-cutting. He works principally with paper, but also applies his technique to a variety of materials like glass and metal whereby he meticulously etches out his designs on these materials.
Drawing on nature for his inspiration and the sights and experiences that have remained with him since his childhood, he translates his perceptions into highly intricate and delicate paper cuts, which display the fineness of delicate lace. Further combination of the play of light, imparts a radiance and enhances the gossamer quality of Ishiga’s compositions.Ishiga has held several exhibitions in Japan and Europe, held workshops, appeared on TV shows and has received awards for his work displayed at exhibitions in Lisbon and London. Recently his artworks have been used to adorn the interior of the Heijo Palace in Nara, Japan.Naoyuki Ishiga BIRD AND FLOWERS kiri-e or paper-cutting, size A3
ANU JINDAL
Anu Jindal HYMN TO THE SUN 150 x 135 cm, Acrylic on canvas
Anu Jindal HYMN OF CREATION 150 x 160 cm, Acrylic on canvas
Anu Jindal ASHWAT VRIKSHA 167 x 135 cm, Acrylic on canvas
Anu Jindal HYMN TO MOTHER 3 minutes 19 seconds, Video
