Watercolours by Malavika Rajnarayan

Infiltrations   Watercolours on paper   9.5 in. X 12.5 in.   2009

Speak Space: A story of two painters

An excerpt from Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red ; Chapter 51

They tell a story in Bukhara that dates back to the time of Abdullah Khan. This Uzbek Khan was a suspicious ruler, and though he didn’t object to more than one artist’s brush contributing to the same illustration, he was opposed to painters copying from one another’s pages—because this made it impossible to determine which of the artists brazenly copying from one another was to blame for an error. More importantly, after a time, instead of pushing themselves to seek out God's memories within the darkness, pilfering miniaturists would lazily seek out whatever they saw over the shoulder of the artist beside them. For this reason, the Uzbek Khan joyously welcomed two great masters, one from Shiraz in the South, the other from Samarkand in the East, who'd fled from war and cruel shahs to the shelter of his court; however he forbade the two celebrated talents to look at each other's work, and separated them by giving them small workrooms on opposite ends of his palace, as far from each other as possible. Thus, for exactly thirty-seven years and four months, as if listening to a legend, these two great masters each listened to Abdullah Khan recount the magnificence of the other's never-to-be-seen work, how it differed from or was oddly similar to the other's. Meanwhile, they both lived dying of curiosity about each other's paintings. After the Uzbek Khan's life had run its long tortoiselike course, the two old artists ran to each other's rooms to see the paintings. Later still, sitting upon either edge of a large cushion, holding each other's books on their laps and looking at the pictures that they recognised from Abdullah Khan's fables, both the miniaturists were overcome with great disappointment because the illustrations they saw weren't nearly as spectacular as those they'd anticipated from the stories they'd heard, but instead appeared, much like all the pictures they'd seen in recent years, rather ordinary, pale and hazy. The two great masters didn't realize that the reason for this haziness was the blindness that had begun to descend upon them, nor did they realize it after both had gone completely blind, rather they attributed their haziness to having been duped by the Khan, and hence they died believing dreams were more beautiful than pictures.

Malavika Rajnarayan

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