New York, NY, July 25, 2019 – DAG today announced its presentation of a major retrospective of Indian artist Madhvi Parekh,spanning more than five decades of the artist’s practice and bringing together over 65 of her worksfor the first time. Opening September 13, The Curious Seeker marks the debut of the artist’s work in the United States and follows the exhibition’s presentation at DAG’s spaces in Delhi and Mumbai. In conjunction with the exhibition and throughout its run, DAG will present a robust series of public talks, performances, and other educational and public programming, to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Madhvi Parekh has often been narrowly defined within the tradition of folk art in India, yet her practice defies categorization—reflecting her own distinct language, as well as wide-ranging influences that deserve further exploration,” said Kishore Singh, curator of the exhibition and Head of Exhibitions and Publications at DAG. “Bringing together worksfrom every decade of her practice, this retrospective finally places Parekh squarely within the pantheon of Indian modernism.”
Parekh is recognized by scholars as one of the most significant living Indian artists, who has established her own oeuvre and language in contrast to the artistic conventions of her time. With no formal education in art, her work initially evolved from childhood memories, popular folk stories, legends of her village, and the forms of painting that were part of her family’s everyday rituals, such as the traditional floor designs of rangoli. Inspired by her artist-husband Manu Parekh and artists such as Paul Klee and Joan Miró, Parekh began painting in 1964. Her paintings are unplanned, unfolding like a story where she adapts each work to the scale it demands and developing from a single point into vast narratives.
Apart from folk motifs, legends, and figures, Parekh also uses imaginary characters in figurative and abstracted orientations in her compositions, demonstrating her use of rhythm and repetition. In most of her works, she utilizes the familiar settings and motifs of Kalamkari, a traditional hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, and Pichwai, devotional pictures on cloth or paper, in which she enshrines the main character of the composition in the center and fills the minor or secondary ones in the borders.
Spanning five decades, The Curious Seeker offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore Parekh’s evolution as an artist, from her roots in folk tradition, to the myriad ways that she diverged from conventions to create her own distinctive style. The exhibition features iconic works by the artist that together represent every phase of her illustrious career, including rare drawings and paintings from the 1960s, influenced by the abstraction of Paul Klee, and significant examples of works that feature recurring themes and subjects across her practice, including the countryside of India, religious imagery, and anthropomorphic forms.
Highlights of the exhibition include:
Running Figure, 1972; Flying Figure,
1974: An example of Parekh’s early works, Running Figure and Flying Figure
demonstrate the influence of Klee and Miró with stunted, stubbed lines and dots that
create individual patterns, and simultaneously combine into a complete narrative.
Fantasy Under Sea, 1979; Head
B, 1976; Sea God, 1971: These three works are prime examples of the artist’s works of
the seventies, featuring bulbous, amorphous, changeable forms and shapes, and
ballooning creatures with human attributes. They come together to represent joyous
universes of living beings.
Playing with Animals, 1989:
Playing with Animals demonstrates the influence of the artist’s personal memories and
children in her practice. The work explores her happy childhood spent in the fields of
her village as part of the rhythm of life, encompassing nature and seasons, birds and
beasts, and her friends.
Untitled (Durga II), 2006:
Thisis part of a seriesin which the artist humanizes the goddess with the familiar folklore that surrounds her reflected playfully even as she creates a world of demons and the mythology of struggle between good and evil in a manner that points to its everyday presence in our lives
World of Magician, 2004: World
of Magician reveals Parekh’s recurring interest in dividing and compartmentalizing
her works in visually distinct chapters that come together to form larger
narratives.
The Last Supper, 2011:
Considered one of Parekh’s most significant works to date, the artist’s recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper responds to the masterpiece by bringing together Christian
genres of art with visual strategies from a range of different eras and religious cultures.
ACCOMPANYING PUBLICATIONS
Madhvi Parekh: The Curious Seeker
This exhaustive publication on the artist aims to understand, contextualise, and place her contributions within the larger context of Indian modern art. Published by DAG and edited by Kishore Singh, the publication includes essays by Gayatri Sinha, art editor, critic, and curator; Dr. Annapurna Garimella, designer and art historian; and Singh; as well as hundreds of high quality reproductions of the artist’s work. The publication is available for sale at the gallery.
Madhvi’s Magical Daydreams
This children’s book for ages 5 to 10 is authored by Madhvi Parekh and tells the story of her childhood and becoming an artist. Published by DAG, the book is available for sale at the gallery.
ABOUT MADHVI PAREKH
Madhvi Parekh is recognized as one of the most significant living artists in India. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Art; Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo; Jebiwool Art Museum, Seoul; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; and at major galleries in India, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Her work is included in institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Air India, Mumbai; Rade Museum, Hamburg; Bayreuth Museum,Bayreuth; Punjab University Museum, Chandigarh.
Together with her husband, renowned artist Manu Parekh,she is deeply engaged with supporting and fostering young artists, including helping to develop the Inlaks Fine Art Award, which is granted annually to young and emerging artists by the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation. A documentary film on Parekh and her husband Manu, Dwity, was made by the renowned actor and composer Suraj Purohit in 1992. Born and raised in a small village in Gujarat, India, Madhvi Parekh currently lives and works in Delhi.
ABOUT DAG
DAG was established as a private art gallery in 1993 in New Delhi, and over the past 25 years, has built a reputation for the quality of its collection that represents the expanse of Indian art practice. This extensive collection charts a historic continuum, from the early works of academic artiststrained in Bengal and Bombay, to modernistsfrom Baroda, Delhi and beyond, and includes artworks by some of India’s most celebrated artists, including Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, F. N. Souza, Avinash Chandra and Chittaprosad.
With the aim of taking Indian modernism to a wider audience, DAG now has gallery spaces in the historic Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, and the iconic Fuller Building in Manhattan, New York, in addition to its gallery in Delhi. It regularly participates in international fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong,Armory New York, Art Dubai, Masterpiece London, and India Art Fair.
The mandate of taking art to the people has led to museum-quality exhibition collaborations with stellar art institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai; The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi; the Punjab Lalit KalaAkademi, Chandigarh; and the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. The most recent and monumental collaboration has been with the Archaeological Survey of India—with the Drishyakala museum at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Red Fort being inaugurated by India’s Prime Minister on 23 January 2019.
With the democratization of Indian art as its core aim, DAG consistently hosts outreach programs for students of schools and colleges, and also runs pioneering programs for the visually impaired by allowing them to experience art through tactile aids.
