Celebrate 20 years of Tao, with 66 artists this weekend
the best and brightest of those showcases. Tapestry of Time, which opens on Friday, features works by 66 artists. “Tao was started with a vision to make art accessible, and not only for a certain class or category of people,” says Kalpana Shah, 61, the gallery’s founder.
“With art, I’ve relied largely on my instinct. I would have an idea, the masters would happily go along, and some lovely shows have come out of it.”
She recalls Maun, a 2004 solo exhibition by Raza, which sprung from a concept of her making. “I told him I wanted the works to be silent and I wanted people to look at it in silence,” says Shah. The artist loved it, creating works in a muted palette of beige and off white, uncharacteristic for Raza, who’s known for vivid reds, yellows and greens.
It is that intuition, Kalpana says, that helped Tao thrive where others have floundered. Shah’s daughter Sanjana, 24, has been working with her for two years and will probably take over operations one day. “I can’t wait for the day when all I do for a show is attend it,” says Shah.
Among the works is Paper Planes, a 2017 watercolour and charcoal work by Anju Dodiya. The artist opens a solo show the following day at the Chemould Prescott Road gallery at Fort. The show, Breathing on Mirrors, marks Dodiya’s return to the gallery after eight years. “I used the mirror to draw from in my early works in 1990s and in 2007. My work then was about conversations with the fictional self. Now stories are more intense, so image of yourself gets blurry,” says Dodiya.