Open Window: Karishma D'Souza

Theen Tamasha has decided to extend its blog to friends from the artist community and share their work, thoughts and ideas through this section called Open Window. Our friend Karishma D'souza is a painter who has been living and working in Baroda after completing a postgraduate programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M. S. University of Baroda in 2006. Karishma's paintings deal with the everyday middle-class Indian life and her concerns regarding towns and cityscapes that are encroaching on the environment and changing existing landscapes. Her works reflect her compassionate approach into these inquiries as she imaginatively elaborates upon the human communion with nature.  

On a recent visit to her studio, she read to us a few selected poems by African American poets. Here is a link to Gwendolyn Brooks' The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel.  Listen to the audio clip that includes a little commentary by the poet before she reads this short piece. 

Theen Tamasha's Open Window shows you some images of Karishma D'souza's paintings that are currently on view at Hacienda gallery, Mumbai as a part of Card-o-logy, curated by Jasmine Shah Varma, an exhibition of original postcards by 61 contemporary Indian artists .

Titles of paintings (Top to bottom): Trepidation, The Village, Sleeper, Holiday, Evening, Untitled. 

Watercolours on paper. 2009

Showing this month!

Theen Tamasha - Kim Kyoungae, Malavika Rajnarayan and Sonatina Mendes are showing their paintings in Card-o-logy, an exhibition of original picture postcards by 60 artists, curated by Jasmine Shah Varma at Hacienda Gallery in Mumbai from the 4th of September 2009 to the 18th of September 2009.

Picture Postcards by Kim Kyoungae
Acrylic on paper - 5 in. X 7 in.

Picture Postcards by Malavika Rajnarayan

Watercolour on paper- 4 in. X 6 in.

Picture postcards by Sonatina Mendes

Watercolour on paper- 4 in. X 6 in. (First three images) 5 in. X 7 in. (Last three images)

Speak Space: Walking Lines and Talking Lines

Richard Long Dusty Boots Like Sahara 1988

Patrick Caulfield Letter 1967

I've always marvelled at the drawn line in miniature paintings and in calligraphy. But I get as excited by the line used by Richard Long and Patrick Caulfield.

Malavika Rajnarayan

Paintings

The following images are the recent works by Malavika Rajnarayan. Click on the images to view them larger.
More of the artist's works and information about the artist can be viewed on the introduction page of the blog and the website of Anant Art Gallery and of curator Jasmine Shah Varma.


"The Spoken"
Acrylic on canvas, 2008
5' X 2.5'

"The Heard"

Acrylic & Oil on canvas, 2008

5' X 2.5'

"The Seen"

Acrylic on canvas, 2008

5' X 2.5'

"Head"

Oil on canvas

2' X 2' , 2008

"Bride"

Oil on canvas

1' X 1', 2008

Speak Space: Impact of a chanced encounter

Sonatina Mendes and I made a short trip to Bombay with our artist friend Karishma Dsouza, to see an exhibition of contemporary art from Africa at the Sakshi Gallery.

The migration of African people to India dates back to the 7th century C.E, when the first Siddis arrived on the port of Bharuch in Gujarat. Although they adopted the language and culture of the surroundings, they retained certain aspects of their African cultural heritage, that are seen even today in their dance and drumming performances.

The exhibition —"Chance Encounters" at Sakshi gallery can be seen as a continuation of the cultural dialogue that can be traced from centuries ago, between Africa and India. Curated by Bisi Silva, the director and founder of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, this exhibition brings together 7 artists from different parts of Africa, each using a medium that is entirely different from the others and presenting to the Indian audience a powerful expression of their cultural identity. Okhai Ojeikere, Miriam Mihindou and Uche Iroha use photography to present powerful and evocative images that inquire into African identity and socio-political issues via the performed and the real scenarios. El Anatsui and Nnenna Okore chose objects and materials from their everyday existence to create sculptural installations, which on the one hand speak of the impact of consumerism and on the other hand make references to their own cultural traditions like weaving. Safaa Erruas' monochromatic line drawings and installations exemplify a feminine sensibility and investigate complex feelings of pain and pleasure in a minimalistic language. Berry Bickle uses documentation and personal records as a starting point in her work, which question social history and colonization.

Although the works from this exhibition can be viewed on the gallery's website, I do believe that, like most exhibitions, this too demands a physical tour around the gallery!

Malavika Rajnarayan

Speak Space: In-between the lines

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s first novel ‘Purple Hibiscus’  has impacted me by the tenderness with which it conveys a story about oppression. One can trace the preoccupations of this African writer, which revisit evocations of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, by her choosing to examine the personal histories of women and the political turmoil of her country - Nigeria.    

Set in the 1980s, the story unfolds the vulnerabilities of a teenage girl, Kambili, who is brought up under the dictates of her tyrannical father and how she discovers a completely new world of empowerment when she goes to spend a short vacation with her aunt who teaches at the university. Kambili’s voice seems to echo the voices of many young women around the world who seek emancipation from patriarchal strongholds. Her personal dreams and struggles become a metaphor for the larger socio-political dream that the author desires for her country; raking up issues of violence against women, lack of basic education and the denial of basic human rights like equality and freedom of speech. This book is about building strength and endurance; starting from within the confines of the family, percolating to the rest of the society. I found it particularly relevant to countries that are derailed by corrupt administration, where injustice is validated in the name of safe-guarding one’s religious principles or by imposing cultural/moral high-ground. 

Malavika Rajnarayan

Speak Space

An international conference titled “Archiving Art histories: Exigencies and Challenges in Pedagogy and Research” was held in Baroda from the 5th to the 7th of February.   The conference provided a platform for intellectual discourse, with art historians and artists presenting  lectures that provoked interesting responses from the participating audience.

Kim Kyoungae is currently working on small works, both on paper and canvas. On her last trip to Korea she found many things had changed. In these works she is attempting to connect  the present context of her homeland with her memories of the past, both real and imagined. The history of the sex slaves during the Japanese war  with Korea for thirty-six years till independence in 1945, is a period of  time she is also looking at through reading the stories of these women.  

Mark Cazalet, a British artist was on a residency program in Baroda at Rekha Rodwittiya & Surendran Nair’s personal studio in Sama. Kim Kyoungae, Malavika Rajnarayan and Sonatina Mendes all interacted extensively with him. 

On a recent trip to Ahmedabad along with Mark Cazalet, Karl Antao and Rekha Rodwittiya, Malavika Rajnarayan took some photographs on her cell phone at  different heritage sites that she visited. The photographs of intricate carvings in stone along with the patterns of light that the jalis formed in the interiors of the mosques, fascinated her because of her own interest in pattern. She found an echo of these architectural patterns on the following day, in the textile prints and embroidery at the Calico textile museum.

  

After a successful solo show in Mumbai with Hacienda Gallery that was curated by Jasmine Shah Varma, Sonatina Mendes is back to painting in her studio. She carries in her mind the jottings she had made from a critical self-assessment session and is now focused on the works that she is currently working on.