Botanical Paintings of Indian Flowering Plants
24 August 2020, 12:00 am
Botanical Paintings of Indian Flowering Plants
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
Two centuries ago, the British botanists began a visual study of Indian flora. Indian artists were commissioned to make botanical paintings which were sent back to Britain where it survives in collections at some of the Royal botanical gardens. Siddhartha Das Studio has recently commissioned skilled miniature artists to create a series of botanical paintings of Indian flowering plants to celebrate this legacy
Two centuries ago, the British botanists began a visual study of Indian flora. Indian artists were commissioned to make botanical paintings which were sent back to Britain where it still survives in collections at some of the Royal botanical gardens.
India has always been a pluralist society with many influences. The flora is a manifestation of this. Over the centuries the Indian flora has been cross-pollinated through trade from regions across the world. These overtimes got indigenised and became Indian.
Siddhartha Das Studio has commissioned skilled miniature artists to create a series of botanical paintings of Indian flowering plants to celebrate this legacy.
Art Prints are available on request. Please contact: info@siddharthadas.com
Siddhartha Das Studio
Over a period of 18 years, Siddhartha Das Studio has led or collaborated on many cultural projects across the world. Projects undertaken across India and abroad include: cultural institutions, museum complexes and thematic exhibitions; art projects and installations; and livelihood programmes rooted in crafts communities.
Some of the Studio’s projects include the award-winning curation and design of the 80year-old Sardar Govt. Museum, Jodhpur; the interiors for the historic Jal Mahal, Jaipur, and flagship stores for GVK’s Airports in Bangalore and Mumbai; exhibitions at IGNCA and the Crafts Museum, Delhi and has designed the Indian Institute of Art & Design campus, New Delhi. Das has designed books, theatre sets and credit titles for films.
Siddhartha Das {Studio Lead}
Siddhartha Das has worked on cultural projects across the world for over 20 years. He has both conceived and implemented them across various disciplines of- design, architecture, art and crafts.
He is an Asia Society, Charles Wallace and Nehru Trust Fellow and also has received various international fellowships for study tours and been a part of art residencies in Canada and Japan. Siddhartha was awarded the British Council’s International Young Design Entrepreneur in 2009. Das is an alumni of Hindu College, Delhi University and thereafter of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
In 2002, he founded the multi-disciplinary Siddhartha Das Studio. He has been a contributor to the Arts Illustrated magazine for three years and has worked with over 2,500 craftspeople across 15 states of India. Das has extensively worked in Europe and other parts of the world.
He is the Vice-Chairman of the JD Centre of Art, Bhubaneswar and has overseen all its work across disciplines from construction, interiors, programming to conservation. He has also organised its International Film Festivals on Art and Artists, among other art programmes.
A featured speaker in India and around the world, he has been a visiting faculty at various institutions including CEPT and NID, Ahmedabad; Central Saint Martins, London and Willem de Kooning Academie (WdKA), Rotterdam.
For more information, please visit www.siddharthadas.com
Botanical Paintings of Indian Flowering Plants
Botanical Paintings of Indian Flowering Plants
Diverse Asia
10 August 2020, 12:00 am
Diverse Asia
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
An online exhibition of photographs by Ajit Rana
A kaleidoscopic journey across Bali, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam presenting the diverse landscapes, textures and people of Asia
Asia offers a rich palette of choices that makes each country a unique experience in its own right.
From the tropical luxuriance of Myanmar to the sparse landscapes of the high plateau of Central Asia, from the modern skyscrapers of Hong Kong to Hanoi’s narrow frontage buildings, one is faced with shifts of shape, colour and people. Equally unique is Bali, that extraordinary
outpouring of Hindu heritage temples and sculptures, studded within a largely Muslim Indonesia.
The diversity lives in Asia’s landscapes, cities, natural habitat and most of all it’s people. Each culture has an ancient history and traditions that stem from an authentic heritage. The aim of this exhibition is to give a flavour of the diversity of Asia without any pretense at capturing all of its rich diversity, because no one exhibition collection can properly do justice to any country’s richness, let alone what is arguably the world’s most varied continent.
These are some of the photographs captured in this exhibition.Taking the road less travelled and following your heart – these are two philosophies Ajit Rana lives by. With a passion for adventure, outdoors, cooking and travel, Ajit has never followed the traditional path, and from a young age, has shaped his life by his passions. This is reflected in his photography, which is driven by his passion for
nature, food, human emotion ns and different cultures. Introduced to photography by his father at the age of 12, Ajit took his learnings on both the art and science behind photography from him and tailored it to his own style. From capturing for posterity, intimate emotions of family members to the joy in the eyes of a village child, to the
scars of life in the face of an elder, Ajit lives his experiences through his camera. He believes that you are able to see things through the lens that you would not see with a naked eye simply because you are looking for detail in everything and framing a hot that has movement, a story, emotion and is unique every single time.
Adventure travel and wildlife safaris unravel opportunities through beautiful landscapes, cultures and abstract inspirations usually untapped and waiting to be captured. Through his off-roading company – Overlander India, Ajit has the unique opportunity to explore old remote cultures and organize photography tours.
The present exhibition of photographs is an example of Ajit’s travels over the last couple of years in Asia.
Ajit’s work has been exhibited thrice in New Delhi and he is working on his first international exhibition in Hong Kong. He has also written several travel and luxury related photo essays for well-known publications.
Limited editions of 5, signed prints are available. For details, please contact Ajit Rana on +919811159571 Email: ajitrana@gmail.com
Diverse Asia
Diverse Asia
Living the New Normal: In these Extraordinary Times
27 July 2020, 12:00 am
Living the New Normal: In these Extraordinary Times
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
Curated by Dr. Arshiya Mansoor Lokhandwala
Prakajta Potnis, ‘The eye that never sleeps’, 2018
The online exhibition explores the work of five Indian women artists that allude to the extraordinary but incongruous moment that we are experiencing, highlighted through their various bodies of work which refers to the current zeitgeist
On view are works by Anita Dube – Eye Photos; Shilpa Gupta; Prakajta Potnis; Pushpamala N. Return of the Phantom Lady (Sinful City); and Mithu Sen
Curatorial Note
By Dr. Arshiya Mansoor Lokhandwala
“The state of emergency in which
we live is not the exception but the rule.”
- Walter Benjamin
The new normal is anything but ordinary. The world as we know it has changed forever since December 31st, 2019. Most of us have never experienced an epidemic let alone a pandemic of an epic nature that affected every corner of the earth. The future has never looked more uncertain with no definitive cure or end in sight, leaving with us anxious, disoriented, overwhelmed, and paranoid. Sigmund Freud a noted psychiatrist has defined this as the “uncanny” or “unheimlich” in German when what is familiar somehow appears estranged or foreign, wherein social distancing, facemasks, lockdowns, quarantine or curfews have become the new norm. The exhibition explores the work of five Indian women artists that allude to the extraordinary but incongruous moment that we are experiencing, highlighted through their various bodies of work which refers to the current zeitgeist
Please click to view the exhibition
Words Sounds Images
01 March 2021, 04:00 pm
Words Sounds Images
Programme Type
Discussions,
Webcasts
A history of media and entertainment in India
by Amit Khanna
Panelists: Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-chief, BW Businessworld & Founder – Exchange4Media Group, Ms. Kaveree Bamzai, Author & Journalist, Sh. Rajiv Mehrotra, Author & Film-maker (Moderator), Sh. Amit Khanna, Filmmaker, Writer, Poet, Media Veteran & Author of the book
About the book :
Ambitious and encyclopaedic in scope, this is a first-of-its-kind book that presents the history of media and entertainment in India -- from the times of the Indus Valley Civilization right up to the twenty-first century.
The book starts with an examination of the origins, looking at a wide array of aspects such as: the state of entertainment during Harappan and Vedic times, including details from the Natyashastra; the early drama, music and dance of Kalidasa; the development of ragas; musical instruments and early folk traditions; the genesis of classical dance forms; developments through the ages, including in the Mughal period, in the southern kingdoms, in the north-east, and under the Marathas and the British. Independence onwards, the book takes a decade-wise look at the evolution of newspapers, cinema, music, television, dance, theatre and radio
Tic-Tac-Toe
18 May 2020, 12:00 am
Tic-Tac-Toe
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
An exhibition of illustrations by Ankur Ahuja from Delhi
A collection of portraits of people on the streets of Delhi that engages with the idea of the new ‘normal’
Delhi, like everywhere else, is socialising at an arm’s distance.
New routines, new protocols, new words, old words their meanings stretched to menacing portents. Isolation, lockdown, essentials, quarantine, community, charity, empathy, even Normal is the New Normal. People watching has never been more sinister. It sounds like a close cousin of surveillance- watching them watching me. Observing people has been the fundamental bedrock of my daily practice.
These days I watch them from behind glass doors, windows, and through the CCTV camera outside my house. People walking in bubbles of suspicion and fear, sheltering behind masks, or sheer dupattas wrapped around their faces, hurrying on and hurrying back. Caught between the compulsion to stay indoors and the need to get out, playing the Tic -Tac -Toe of social distancing inside chalk circles at the grocery store - scared, suspicious faces plotting and strategising every move. Take the centre or the corner. Occupy, block and fork effectively. Stand at approximate safe distance from others.
I see an old couple wearing starched white masks once in two days going for their groceries. I see two old men, one swaddled in a large handkerchief and the other in a tight black mask that’s often embracing the chin like a long-lost lover. Their body language betrays fear and anxiety. I see young people sauntering back sweating from a run, mask in hand, exuding confidence and a certain ‘अबे कुछ नहीं होगा!’; people pulling the mask down to spit in the corner, carefully; delivery boys, scared but trudging on, one of the few jobs still available. Every once in a while, the gust of wind catches strains of Mahabharata or an aggressive News Anchor.
Everyday, we hope that things will soon go back to the way they used to be and we can step out of the house, and walk wherever the breeze takes us. Until then, to borrow a metaphor from the philosopher Simon Critchley, we will all be adrift in our ghost ships.
This exhibition is a compilation of lockdown portraits of people on the streets of Delhi with some Pre- Pandemic illustrations for reference of the old Normal.
Prints of the presented works are for sale and the artist can be contacted for price and size at ahuja.ankur@gmail.com
Delhi based cinematographer, Ankur Ahuja is a self-taught artist.
Her work lies in the overlap between photography, cinematography, filmmaking and Illustration, deriving its best inspiration from the heart of visual documentation. It reflects upon the ironies of human existence and the mundane nature of life. It’s a chronicle of sociopolitical and cultural aspects of daily life. For the last few years she has been documenting Delhi through portraits of people on the streets. Part of that work was exhibited and sold at Goa Affordable Art Fest 2020.
She has been published as a writer and artist in the Graphic Anthology This Side That Side: Restorying Partition. Her story was well received and appreciated in publications such as Tehelka, Himal, and Dawn.
She also helped gestate Delhi Comic Arts Festival as Production Manager of the festival that brings together artists working with graphic novelists around the world together under one roof for exhibitions, talks, and interactions.
Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
29 June 2020, 12:00 am
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
PREMOLA GHOSE (1953-2019)
Premola Ghose worked for over four decades at the India International Centre where she held the post of Chief, Programme Division. A gold medallist in MA, History from University of Delhi, she lived history.
A self-taught artist, illustrator and author, the central core of her paintings are a ‘gang’ of animals. In 1998, the first two books written and illustrated by her were published: Gang Tales from Ranthambhor and The Bodhisattva and the Gang.
Since then she has written and illustrated a number of books including Tales of Historic Delhi (2011), The Magical Ride of Juley the Camel (2011) and Zero goes to Goa (2014). The Kangra Valley Train (Niyogi, 2016) written and illustrated by her with photographs by Ram Rahman; and Bula Comes to Montréal (Kala Bharati, Montreal 2017), among others.
Apart from her own books, Premola also illustrated books by other authors; and her illustrations have been published in leading magazines. She has painted a portfolio of paintings on Rajasthan which was commissioned by the Government of Rajasthan.
Premola has exhibited her paintings widely, as a solo artist and as part of group exhibitions in Delhi.
In 2001, Premola was decorated Dame in the civil merit honours list of the King of Spain.
An avid reader, inveterate traveller and raconteur with a vivid and colourful imagination, Premola was passionate and knowledgeable about food. She valued and loved the ordinary and commonplace. Plastic flowers, balloons and wind-up toys were a source of unending delight to her. A prolific writer, who also wrote book reviews, Premola’s travels took her to mofussil towns and heritage sites in India and across the world. Her many travel pieces published in leading newspapers and magazines were informed by her own journeys and her prodigious reading.
PREMOLA’S WONDERLAND
From the first time that Premola’s whimsical `gangsters’ were spotted as lively illustrations in a book, they brought along a wonderland that no other artist has quite been able to duplicate. Their bright presence lends a sense of innocent fun even to such solemn locales as the hallowed Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem or the India International Centre, Premola Ghose’s favourite hunting ground.
Like the well-beloved characters of a latter-day Panchatantra, Premola’s menagerie is composed of Puck-like creatures that say, `what fools these mortals be!’ as they peer into the human world. Placed in a variety of exotic locales from the Bosphorus to Iberia, they gently mock the ludicrous in human landscapes. As their bright gaze travels over terrible tyrants and murderous conquerors, languorous gin-drinkers in roadside cafes as well as lovable crackpots like Don Quixote, they are seldom overwhelmed by the grand historical pasts of classical European landscapes.
Although the eye of the viewer is first arrested by the playful compositions of these bright paintings, one is equally struck by the exquisite details of the floral borders, the complex geometric designs of the classic architecture woven in deftly: soaring domes, arches, spires and minarets of the Middle East and the blinding white of Greek houses against the deep blue of the surrounding sea. Premola’s brush strokes effortlessly spin these contrasts into her parables of modern times, which emerges from her deep interest in Mughal and Islamic art. She has an unerring sense of the vivid contrasts, a hallmark of both these traditions, just as her palette magically captures the sparkle of precious jewels.
Above all, is Premola’s delightful sense of mischief: she is a natural caricaturist and several viewers will be amused to find familiar faces deftly disguised in what can only be described as a loving record of the many countries she travelled to and left behind for all of us to share and savour.
Ira Pande
