The second edition of the contemporary ceramics group exhibition at Emami Art, Bhu–Tatva: Elements of Earth, showcases the works of 13 contemporary Indian and international artists including that of celebrated artist P.R. Daroz, who has held over 17 solo exhibitions in India and represented the country at illustrious art galleries across the globe. Conceptualised around various elements of the ceramic medium and its significant role in our culture and civilisation, it explores various processes and styles. The featuring artists include Anju Paliwal, Graham Hay, Khanjan Dalal, Mudita Bhandari, Neha Gawand Pullarwar, P.R. Daroz, Rakhee Kane, Sarban Chowdhury, Shilpi Sharma, Shitangshu G. Maurya, Souvik Das, Vipul Kumar and Falguni Bhatt from Pune, Hyderabad, Indore, Chandigarh and other regions. The exhibition is on till April 15.
Snapshots of Indrapramit Roy’s solo exhibition Soliloquy at Emami Art
A glimpse of the spectacular show on ceramics, a medium that is being reimagined with contemporary aesthetics.
Feted Indian artist Indrapramit Roy’s solo exhibition, Soliloquy, is a solitary conversation of the artist with himself. The 54 watercolours and prints on display are hypnotic, to say the least. On view till April 15, Soliloquy is the product of the pandemic and has three series — quarantine diary, quarantine drawings and cacti. Roy has used ordinary objects and phenomena like rippling water, clouds, unfinished building construction and cacti and turned them into extraordinary, powerful visual images. Unlike realistic paintings, his work aims to capture psychological and spatial transient moments. Adding to the texture are words or texts that run parallel to the visual image creating third meanings making the image-text dialogue one crucial aspect of the works in the exhibition. Roy is an artist, teacher and occasional writer who studied at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, and the Faculty of Fine Arts of M.S. University of Baroda and has an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art, London. He has shown widely in India and abroad and this show has travelled from Baroda to Delhi and is now in its third and final iteration at Emami Art.
“The works in Soliloquy were mostly done during a time when the whole world was in the throes of a cataclysmic contagion. A time that forced me to contemplate the human condition in the relative safety and isolation of my studio. The bombardment of terrible news punctuated with laughable political shenanigans, the steady stream of information mixed with disinformation created a peculiar mental state that veered from anxiety to panic and swung between clarity and clutter alternatively. I cannot paint ideas but only what is ‘paintable’. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why text plays such an important role in this body of work — creating a third text when seen together with the visuals,” said Indrapramit Roy.
“I am delighted that Emami Art ishosting Bhu-Tatva: Elements of Earth and Soliliquy. It’s very exciting because ceramics is being recognised as a medium that can be used for art. We have a very senior artist like P.R. Daroz in this show and for him to come and be seen more is a very big highlight for us. And what attracted me in Indrapramit Roy’s work is the intense gaze that transforms what is ordinary into something extraordinary and the evocative use of the watercolour medium,” said Richa Agarwal, CEO Emami Art (right).