Cultural and historical milieu turns context for canvas
Art often becomes a medium to convey what’s happening around us, and this is precisely what drove four artists, namely Abhijit Pathak, Charanjeet Singh, Mangesh Rajguru and Meesha Holley, to create what they have now displayed at the ongoing group exhibition, Surroundings.
“Covid-19 has made everything go haywire — from our jobs to our lives. It’s then obvious for artists to also get influenced by what is happening around us. Hence, we thought of doing this show. The artists have expressed what they were witnessing, be it socially, culturally or politically,” says Vikram Singh, curator of the show.
Rajguru works around the idea of time zones, old versus new. Hailing from Maharashtra and based in Delhi, the artist explains how he brings two polar ideas on a single canvas in a humorous manner. “I’m exploring socio-cultural dynamics at play in our society, highlighting issues that plague humanity and need urgent intervention. The past is being presented in black and white while the current elements are in pop colours,” he says.
Pathak, a native of Bihar based in Delhi, is inspired by Barabar Caves, which date back to third century BC. “The caves were used by ascetics from the Ajivika sect, who believed in the philosophy that one’s destiny is predetermined. I spent a lot of time there taking photographs and recording the surrounding sounds.
That’s how I incorporated these elements in my works,” he explains.
While Charanjeet works on important elements such as baolis that were used to preserve water and farmers working in the fields, artist Meesha Holley takes a philosophical view and uses watergrams — images taken through a microscope — to capture subtle dialogues found in the environment.