I personally like to collect specimens from nature. My favorite ones are seeds and shells. So when I came across the work of Rowan Mersh on Designboom, it caught my eye and really captured my imagination. He uses shells to weave fabric like artworks! Enough said, see the images below and they will transport you as well.

Images from Designboom

And around the same time, I also came across the new National Museum of Qatar by the genius architect Jean Nouvel. This building is goes ‘beyond’ everything we thought architecture can be… A great example of architecture as art, it looks like a building manifestation of Rowan’s artwork. The inspiration from nature is so apparent that one doesn’t really need any descriptive text to be in awe of the form, the structure, the color and the scale of the building. I think I will visit Qatar just to visit this museum (just as soon as COVID stops terrorizing us).

Images from JeanNouvel.com

I discovered Bapi Das at the last Kochi Biennale in 2018. Bapi’s work is genius. First because of his choice of medium. Discarding the typical medias of visual media, Bapi uses a needle and thread. He pulls threads from clothes like a dupatta and uses these threads to embroider and stich his artwork. Second, he manages to achieve this extreme level of detail using single threads that often a magnifying glass is needed to explore his work. And finally, and most importantly, he draws what he calls ‘dream like episodes’, that have their context in his daily life, his struggles, dreams and thoughts. One can very easily get lost in Bapi’s world while exploring deeper into his works.

Trajectory, The Shifting Imaginery

References:

Verve Magazine article on Bapi Das

The Wire article on Bapi Das

Working with clay has a special place in my heart, so do botanicals specially seeds. I came across Khageshwar Rout’s work through Project 88 Instagram. It combines my two loves and really speaks to me. I love the complexity and the depth within each piece. Enjoy them…

Study of Things Wood Apple

Study of Things Bone of a Cotton Seed

Study of Things Ridge Gourd Wild

Study of Things Ridge Gourd

Photos credit: Gallery 88

'The Sovereign Forest' by Amar Kanwar

'The Sovereign Forest' by Amar Kanwar

‘Stopover’ by Sheela Gowda

‘Stopover’ by Sheela Gowda

‘Three Simple Steps’ by Anant Joshi

‘Cloud of Kochi’ by Alfredo Jaar

'Untitled' by Subodh Gupta

Use of old crumbling docks for site-specific art

Old derelict warehouses as galleries for world-class contemporary art

Old derelict warehouses as galleries for world-class contemporary art

Old derelict warehouses as galleries for world-class contemporary art

Pepper House, another forgotten building in Fort Kochi, now a vibrant art space

I am due to attend the second Kochi-Muziris Biennale this coming weekend and thought that it was a great opportunity to go back to my notes on the first Biennale held in 2012:

"I loved the show (in 2012), thought it was very well curated, excellently sited in old historic buildings in the historic core of Kochi and was all about celebrating art. I loved the intertwining of art with the historic past of Kochi and its forgotten old buildings. I loved that the art was truly contemporary and site specific. I loved the juxtaposition of history and crumbling infrastructure with new age art employing multimedia technology.

Siting the biennale in old crumbling buildings in the historic core of a city was a masterstroke. I loved how the buildings (exhibition space) were left in their original state. Even when the first instinct would have been to patch them up and to quickly hide away the flaws behind several coats of paint.

The heat and humidity, the sound of the generator, and mosquitoes, all made the experience much more Indian. How wonderful (and democratic) that there was no attempt to air-condition the space, make it shine, make it comfortable for the elite patrons of art. The authenticity of the experience made the biennale specifically Indian with a strong focus on India's plurality of social structure, issues of development vs. displacement, the perception of heritage and other vestiges of the past.

It felt great to walk from one building to next, one space to next, even as one was sweating like crazy, while there was little or no breeze and strong relentless sun overhead.. all because you could not get enough of the ART.

It was interesting to note that many artworks reflected the theme of displacement, conflict and human rights violation due to development or over-development in India. It was wonderful to find contemporary art that was truly a reflection of the most pressing issues in our country today."

More updates soon on the Biennale this year...

Image courtesy of NYTimes.

'Pollen from Hazelnut' is an artwork installed by the sculptor Wolfgang Laib at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in January 2013. I was fortunate to have been a witness to this unbelievable piece of work and it has stayed with me all this while.

The installation is made with bright yellow pollen that the artist has carefully collected from the surroundings at his studio and home since the mid-1990s. In 2013, he finally laid it out as a rectangle on the gray concrete floor in the museum's atrium. I am captivated by the whole thought, the process, the dedication, the love, the artistry and the joy of the piece. Visually stunning, the piece exhibits components of smell, color and most importantly feelings and beliefs.

I can't remember the last time I had such a strong emotional reaction to a piece of art.

Below is a short video of Mr Laib and his process of creating 'Pollen from Hazelnut'. He calls his process 'a quite work', we love every moment of it and hope that you will love it too..

I love Manish Arora. I find him to be one of the most innovative trend-setter global-Indian designers today. He exhibits such bravery with his bursts of colors and wild bold prints. I like that he does not hold back and strays far beyond any ‘safe-zone’.

He exhibited the same bravado when he revamped his apartment in Paris and we love the result. He actually got a graffiti artist to spray paint his entrance ! And that was just the beginning. The loud pops of color, pexiglass furniture and his toy collections makes the apartment very original, uber-chic and avant-garde. (even the duct-tape on his boxes is neon orange !!) J’aime !

Images via article in NYTimes and Ozone Design Lifestyle.

The post would be incomplete without the wonderful-quirky-bashful-full of color video ‘Holi Holy’ by Manish Arora. The video celebrates the first time when the widows in Benaras played Holi (last year).