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9/5/2012

Shunya

Clark House Initiative, Bombay

Seven discussions are presented in this exhibition inviting a response. Shunya means 'void', it is used to define a mathematical concept of nothingness, adopted by Arabs as Sifr, and later as Zephirum by the mathematician Fibonacci. The title explains a beginning from a point of neutrality.

Having met at Clark House over the past year where they have exhibited and assisted in exhibitions, initiated by Nikhil Raunak and Prabhakar Pachpute, seven young artists come together in a city, willing to discuss their practice with an audience.

Nikhil Raunak began conversations with others starting last year, discussing which art program was right to persue, or if a residency in Italy was now necessary? Did his interest in portraiture and printmaking remain relevant to contemporary art practice? Were the faces of people conceptual, and the etching plates sculptural?

Prabhakar Pachpute while studying distant Baroda, often remembered the lives of his extended family those labouring in the cavernous coal mines in his hometown Chandrapur, Western Maharashtra. Chandrapur a town where the land caves in due to the extensive tunneling for coal, suffers from the curse of a natural resource, Prabhakar through his sculptural projections reminds Bellary, Koraput and Bastar of the devastation promises of development could bring to the people living in these places in the decades to come.

Hiralal Sen is one of India's first film makers, making his first short film in 1898, documenting India's first political film on reel in 1905 that covered a protest against the partition of Bengal on communal lines, seeds of hatred that later manifested as Direct Action Day, on the 16th of August 1946, that saw the deaths of many. Cinema became popular at the same time as printmaking was gaining popularity in India through the efforts of Raja Ravi Varma and his press that published prints of Hindu icons. Both cinema and presses in Lahore and Bombay pitched in to spread the word of the Independence movement. Rupali Patil graduated from MS University Baroda in printmaking, and now works predominantly with video. Her works often comment on suicides of farmers from the hinterland that surrounds her hometown Pune, a result of the hegemony that exists between politicians and moneylenders. Her practice is a philosophical take on the technical methods involving light and exposure common to both printmaking and cinema.

Sachin Bonde is well conversant in Gormati, the language of the Banjaras, nomadic tribes in India, though not a Banjara himself. He is well conversant in Hindi and other dialects present in his home district of Yavatmal, from the region Vidarbha in Maharashtra. He is not able to extend this flair for languages to English, however, and sees this hinder his career. His works seek to reclaim traditional symbols and motifs that have been appropriated to represent specific ideologies of political parties, parties that hold no relevance, that have not erased the decades of neglect of his region.

It has been some years since Poonam Jain graduated from Rachana Sansad in Bombay. Since then she has managed on the edge, surviving in the city, funding herself on the occasional commission. Living in a friend's studio in Virar, her soft sculptures probably make humor of the silent domestic disorder she faces each day. She is reluctant to return to Bangalore her hometown, waiting for the evidence of Hope.

The intricate designs of henna are often only seen after a thick layer of it has dried, applied by the artist, revealing a new skin. Imitating the shedding of skin by a snake, Amol Patil makes a shirt and and a set of videos, seeking to present his views on art that is performative, and satiates the intricacy and aesthetic often seen at his home in Parel. Experimenting with borrowed equipment - a handycam gifted by his brother, fevicol and acrylic leftover by students at Rachana Sansad, Amol often makes use of what he can find rather than procure.

Yogesh Barve often found himself in the guard's cabin at the end of the of a suburban Bombay train. His father works as a guard in the railways and whenever they have the opportunity to travel together Yogesh finds himself looking out into the city as he speeds away from it. Having changed schools when the last one he was in closed down, Barve came to Rachana Sansad and began working with video. Using a Nokia phone with camera, he recreated the element of speed in relation to the surrounding urbanscape by suspending the phone by an elastic band, or fixing it to a rotating stone spice crusher, creating for the audience a privilege he is often alone prive to! He presently is an intern at Clark House, and in a video critiques the space and the boredom that is inherent by spending long hours in it.

Coppertone is a part of an antiquities collection of 19th and early 20th century antiques that has been collected and housed at Clark House since the last three decades. Mostly sourced from Chor Bazaar, or the Thieves Market in Bombay, the objects map the history of the city. Its economic fortunes seen in the gilt work on Belgium glass mirrors and wooden fans; a former globality seen in the art deco cabinets; changes of economy and production seen in the porcelain idols of Hindu gods and goddesses made and imported from Japan and Germany in the early 20th century; Chinese bowls and vases that remind us of the opulence opium brought to the city through Hong Kong; as well as singular Osler wine glasses and gramophones. Mirroring the city's dual use of space, Clark House exhibitions are located among Coppertone's antiques, often constructing meaning throguh their hisories. Coppertone places the objects mentioned above on sale this fortnight.

Clark House Initiative is a collaborative curatorial practice interested in ideas of freedom.

Opening: 10 May 2012 6pm.

Ground Floor, Clark House
8 Nathalal Parekh Marg (Old Wodehouse Road)
opposite the Sahakari Bhandar and near Woodside Inn
Regal Cinema roundabout, Colaba, Bombay 400039.
Open all days 11am-7pm including Sundays.

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