TRANSIT

(Where do we go from here)

Curated by Lina Vincent

Bikaner House, New Delhi

Preview: 7^th October 2021 |  2 to 7 p.m.

Chief guests: Jairam Ramesh and Prayag Shukla

The exhibition continues until 17^th October 2021

Poetry collaboration - Ajinkya | Poetly.in

Featuring works by:

ANOOP PANICKER I ASHISH KUSHWAHA I BHARTTI VERMA I HARSHA DURUGADDA I MANISHA AGRAWAL | NILESH SHILKAR I SAMIR MOHANTY I SARIKA BAJAJ | VENUGOPAL V. G. I VICTOR HAZRA

For details contact- +91 9004319443/ psmj@aprearthouse.com

Curator’s Note:

Human beings are bound by notions of belonging and ancestry proving their ties to land through written and oral histories, through documentation, and material attributes. As a race, humans leave residues of their interaction and conflict with the land, marking it with different aspects of ownership and control – whether they remain in one place, or shift and migrate. A part of this is of course the built world, the beautiful side of which stands as revered material culture, and the ugly side consisting of many, many layers of urban detritus. 

In a cycle of consumption and neglect, the earth has been intrinsically altered, and all but squeezed off its natural abundance; and as current climate crises demonstrates – we don’t have much time. The concept questions the relevance of human intervention, physically and metaphorically. It dwells on both, the incapacity of our cities and towns to contain anymore, and the inability of the earth to sustain her natural rhythms, and human existence, under constant pressure. 

How do artists navigate these questions, personally and collectively; how do they take responsibility, for a fragile and crumbling ecosystem? This moment in time, when the very possibility of movement is curtailed, and we are all boxed in – what does transit mean, and where do we go from here? Is it possible to heal and grow? 

About APRE Art House:

APRE Art House is a contemporary art gallery founded by Prerna Jain. It is the realization of her dream of creating an innovative platform for contemporary art in India and the world over. APRE Art House looks to build sustained connections with Indian and international artists and seeks to expand with a conscious understanding of contemporary cultural frameworks.

With an evolving representation of artists that comprises both experienced and emerging practitioners, APRE offers art lovers and collectors the opportunity to engage with a meticulously selected range of artworks in diverse mediums and styles. APRE aims to promote a plural arts culture through regular physical and virtual showcases while also developing public programming in the form of talks, workshops, screenings and other engagements to encourage audience interaction and dialogue. The vision of the gallery embraces a multidisciplinary approach and identifies with the recognition and documentation of heterogeneous practices in varied contexts.

About the Gallerist:

Prerna SM Jain has earned her Masters In Modern & Contemporary Art Market And Its’ History from Christie’s education, New York, and her Bachelors in Fine Arts from Rachana Sansad, Mumbai. She has worked at several art galleries and institutions, including Christie's auction house, New York. She has trained with Ted Seth Jacobs in France, at Florence Academy of Art, National Academy, and the Art Students League of New York. She is an art critic for several newspapers and art news platforms including, The Daily Star, New York Artnews, and Kashmir Reader, amongst others.

About the Curator:

Lina Vincent is an independent art historian and curator with two decades of experience in arts management. She is committed to socially engaged practices that reflect in the multi-disciplinary projects she has developed and participated in. The focus areas of her research include arts education, printmaking history and practice, the documentation of living traditions, and environmental consciousness in the arts.

She completed an Archival Museum Fellowship from the India Foundation for the Arts (2018-19), and runs the Goa Familia archival photography project with Serendipity Arts Foundation. She initiated and headed the Piramal Residency Artist Incubator Programme 2019-20 and is Associate Curator with ARTPORT_making waves, international curatorial collective operating at the intersection of art, climate change and sustainability. Lina has curated numerous exhibitions with galleries across India and contributes to publications on art history and contemporary cultural practices. Lina has a bachelor's degree in printmaking and a master's in Art History from Bangalore University (2001). 

About the Artists:

MANISHA AGRAWAL
Manisha Agrawal (b. 1989, Indore, India) completed her Bachelor and Master in Painting from the Government Fine Arts College in Indore. The artist has participated in group shows including GAAF, Museum of Goa, Goa, 2017, 2018, 2019; Nature | Deliberated, Art Centrix, Delhi, 2018; Perspects 2018, Gallery 88, Kolkata, 2018; Inchange of Space, Apparao Galleries, New Delhi and Gurgaon, 2018; Maitrey, Indo-Nepal Artist International exhibition, Lucknow, 2019; Aroh, Emami Art Open Call Mentorship Camp, 2020; Thinking Around Corners, (curated by Bhavna Kakar and Renu Modi), TAPIndia, 2021 and Believing the Unbelievable -The metaphor of the Ark, Apparao Galleries, 2021. Agrawal’s solo shows include Vanishing Beauty, Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, 2019; Shelter, Gallery white, TAPIndia, 2020. 

Manisha Agrawal actively engages with the idea of the Epoch of the Anthropocene. Her detailed botanical illustrations of endangered species and commonly seen flora and fauna serve as an archive of what could, one day, be extinct. The artist lives and works in her hometown Indore, whose proximity to several wildlife sanctuaries under threat of encroachment, brings about a sense of urgency in her work.

SARIKA BAJAJ

Sarika Bajaj (b.1976, Ghaziabad, India,) completed her Bachelor in Fine Arts in painting at Rachna Sansad, Mumba in 2009. The artist has participated in group exhibitions which include, Homage, AMAA, Mumbai 2018; Vocabularies, Art Positive, Delhi, 2018; A Thing of Beauty, The Loft, Mumbai, 2016; Kashish Art Festival, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, 2015; India’s Reflections, Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, Zurich, 2011. Sarika Bajaj has participated in the India Art Fair 2012, Kunst Art Fair, Zurich 2011, and Scope Basel 2011. Her solo show titled Flight was curated by Anupa Mehta at The Loft in 2017. 

Bajaj’s work highlights people’s relationship with nature, she juxtaposes bodily forms with flowers, birds, roots of trees, and branches. The artist believes in an intangible and interdependent bond that humankind has to the natural world. Her recent body of work includes the use of bird feathers, emphasizing the environmental threat the species face in a rapidly urbanized world. The artist attributes her use of feathers to the place birds have in mythology and the ritualistic use of feathers in Indigenous cultures around the world. 

HARSHA DURUGADDA
Harsha Durugadda (b. 1989, Hyderabad, India) holds a Master of Arts Diploma in Visual Communication from WLC College, New Delhi, 2011 and an MA in Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 2016. His solo exhibition titled ‘Whirling Out’ was shown at the Lalit Kala Academy in New Delhi in 2016. The artist has participated in several group exhibitions some of which include Nord Art, Büdelsdorf, Germany, 2018; Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, Australia 2016, 2017, 2018;  Translations, Emergent Art Space, Portland, USA 2015;  Cultural Coalitions, Plastic Propaganda, London, 2014; Sarai City, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, 2013; and Unbox Festival, Queens Gallery, British Council, New Delhi, 2012. Durugadda is the recipient of the Biafarin Award; NordArt, Germany, 2018; Rio Tinto Sculpture Award, Australia, 2017; and The Andrea Stretton Memorial Award, Australia.

Durugadda’s multidisciplinary practice includes sculpture, performance, installations, and sound. The artist encourages the audience to physically engage with his works in which found objects such as metal, stone, juliflora wood, and automobile tyres are often used. Durugadda pairs together atypical and unexpected objects and forms, pushing the boundaries of the identifiable creating works that are dynamic and enigmatic.

VICTOR HAZRA
Victor Hazra (b. 1988, Tripura, India) earned his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 2014, and Bachelor of Visual Arts in painting from the Govt. College of Art and Craft, Agartala in 2011. He has held several solo and group shows including D-IS-PLAY II at NIV Art Center, New Delhi, 2016; Eccentric at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, 2013; Gwanghwamun International Art Festival 2018, Korea; and the Pepper House Residency + Exhibition at Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, 2016-2017. He has been the recipient of several awards including the Junior artist scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, India, 2014-16; Sumangal Sen Memorial Merit Scholarship, 2008 and Tripura Rabindra Parishad, Agartala, 2008.

Hazra’s artworks contemplate the complex and precarious relationship between man and land.  The artist acts as a witness to the transfiguration of the metropolitan landscape and territory. He uses a coined phrase ‘land-escape’ to describe what he sees: miles of grey concrete, a sea of construction, and cities devoid of beauty. The absence of the natural world is obvious and Hazra laments its loss to the ‘vehemence of progress’. 

ASHISH KHUSHWAHA
Ashish Kushwaha (b.1987, Chattisgarh, India) earned his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting at the I.K.S.V.V in Khairagarh. His work has been exhibited widely in group shows across the country, recent solo shows include Title of show, Taj Falaknuma, Hyderabad 2019; Inheritance of Loss, India International Centre, New Delhi, 2018; Title, Icon Gallery, Hyderabad, 2014. Kushwaha has shown at Art Basel in Miami and New York in 2015 and is the recipient of the Prafulla Dahanukar Foundation Award in 2016 and 2018.

Kushwaha’s paintings lament the loss of the natural world. He grew up on the periphery of the Achanakmar Wildlife sanctuary and subsequently moved to Mumbai. The stark difference between a life in proximity to the natural world and one in a megapolis like Mumbai is possibly what made the artist choose one subject for the body of his work over the years. Kushwaha has consistently worked with ecological narratives emerging from the apocalyptic-like devastation of over-urbanization.

SAMIR MOHANTY
Samir Mohanty (b. 1989, Orissa, India) earned a BFA in  Painting from the Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneshwar, and an MFA in Painting from the Hyderabad Central University. His works have been exhibited in several groups shows including I Love Delhi, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (2020), Trace in Leaves and Flowers That Round Me Lie, Anant Art, New Delhi, Returning to the Earth, Italian Cultural Embassy (2017-2018), Pulses at the Piramal Art Museum, Mumbai (2012) and Art for Young Collectors, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, 2012. He was awarded the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Canada Grant in 2008 and 2011. 

Keeping nature as the protagonist in his works, Mohanty explores the intimate and often metaphysical relationship between the human body and the natural world. The artist situates the human body within nature, emphasizing this symbiotic relationship, as a reminder of the delicate balance between all life that shares this planet. He often uses dried and preserved twigs to create his sculptural works, alluding to the cycle of life and death. 

ANOOP PANICKER

Anoop Panicker (b.1961, Quilon Town, India) earned his graduate degree in Zoology at Kerala University, he has a B.A. in Fine Sculpture and an M.F.A. in creative sculpture from the M.S. University in Baroda. He has participated in several group shows that include, Questions and Dialogue, Baroda, 1987; India in Switzerland, Centre Genevois de Gravure Contemporain, Geneva, 1987; Recent trends in Contemporary Art, Vadhera Gallery, Delhi, 1995; Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Kerala, 2021. The artist’s solo shows include Geometry of Resilience, Mumbai, 2006, and Circumnavigations, Mumbai 2007. The artist has taught at NIFT Delhi, School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Ambedkar University, Delhi, College of Art, Delhi, and the Mahindra United World College, Pune.

Panicker’s works are reminiscent of a simpler past, a time without technology. The artist, through his figurative abstractions, denotes nostalgia about a rural past, of which the present is a mere remnant.

NILESH SHILKAR

Nilesh Shilkar (b. 1978 Ratnagiri, India) has a Bachelor of Fine Art in Drawing & Painting and a Masters in Fine Art in Painting from the Sir J.J. School of Art Mumbai. He has participated in several groups and solo shows including, Black & White, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2007; Minimal Expression, Icon Art Gallery, Hyderabad, 2009; Collateral Exhibition, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016; Honeycomb, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2018; Text as Text - II, Art and Soul, Mumbai, 2018; Belles Petites Choses, Ganges Art Gallery, Kolkata, 2019. The artist has shown at the Busan International Art Fair, South Korea in 2019 and has participated in the Piramal Art Residency in 2019 and 2020. 

Nilesh Shilkar experiments with a paper pricking technique which was born as a way of showing his visually impaired father his artwork. His Braille-like, punctured canvas looks beyond the two-dimensional nature of paper to draw on the humble medium's vast potential and versatility. Minimalist expressions on his vast, white spaces draw attention to his themes of ritual practices, nature, traditions, and scientific elements and principles. His works emphasize "Sparsh- Sanvedana" (Tactile Sensation), inviting human touch to further stimulate human emotion.

BHARTTI VERMA
Bhartti Verma (b. 1987, Delhi, India) acquired her Bachelors's and Masters's degrees in Painting from the College of Art, Delhi University. A solo exhibition of her works titled The Post Human Metropolis was held at Art Heritage Gallery in 2014. Some of her group shows include The Body, Shanghumugham Art Museum, Kerala, 2019 and Emerging Canvas V (Indo-Korea Group Show), Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai, 2018. The artist is the recipient of the Wade Asia young artist award in 2018, The H K Kejriwal Young Artist Award by Mahua Art Gallery & Kejriwal Foundation, Bangalore, 2016, and First Award for Painting, Kala Sahitya Parishad, New Delhi, 2014.

Verma’s paintings serve as a dialogue between the past and present. She immerses the viewer in a world of sublime fantasy, one that feels eerily abandoned. The artist creates a hypnotic dialogue between the objects and spaces of her childhood. Time seems to stand still in this alternate reality where Verma recreates an urban environment of her making. 

VENUGOPAL V G
Venugopal V.G. (b. 1976, Kerala, India) holds an MFA in Printmaking from the Chitrakala Institute of Advanced Studies, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore, and a BFA in Painting from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA), University of Mysore. Solo exhibitions of the artist's works include Factual Fictions, Gallery Veda, Chennai 2016, Monologues, Gallery Blue Spade, Bangalore, 2010. Venugopal has participated in numerous group shows including Reimagining: (Un)Reality and Space, YepArt, Bangalore; Art One at Avani, Calicut, Kerala, 2016; The Print Spotlight 2, Gallery 545, Bangalore, 2013; Between the Lines – Identity, Place and Power, National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore and Mumbai, 2013. He has been a recipient of the National Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship, New Delhi, 2000-01; and the National Scholarship, Department of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi, 2002.            

 Venugopal’s surrealist works critically engage with migration, urbanization and contemplate the future of our planet. His works center around the environmental impact of urbanism on city dwellers and investigate ideas of identity, belonging, and displacement. Although the artist’s works are largely based on his personal experience, he contextualizes ideas around migration as synonymous with mankind's history.