Modi, memories and Mumbai at India Art Fair

 New Delhi, Jan 30
Amid the maze of galleries representing modern and contemporary works, and art connoisseurs thronging the spacious venue of India Art Fair, a few artworks stand out for their theme, quirkiness and vision.

The exhibition is being held at NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, here.

Mumbai-based artist Viveek Sharma has paid an ode to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a painting titled "Sons of Same Soil". The artist has placed the image of Modi, Mahatama Gandhi and the people of India in such a way that it looks like the Indian flag.

A self-confessed Modi fan, Sharma admitted he has been following Modi's political development for the past 12 years, and he truly believes that Modi is the man who can transform India.

"I have used the metaphor of a chequerboard in the image that suggests how Modi patiently played the game of making it to the top. He has always evoked Gandhi in his speeches so I have taken the image that shows him blessing Modi," Sharma told IANS.

Sharma took two years to complete this painting.

The art of writing letter is almost lost. This is what artist Nandita Kumar's "Emotive Sounds of the Electric Writer" aims to revive at the fair.

For this, the artist asked various participants from different parts of the world to send handwritten letters. These letters are pasted on the walls of her stall and there is a machine that is mimicking these hand-written letters on a long-scroll of paper.

"The machine while typing often stops to think when given complex information. This thinking is recorded by the pen blotting into the paper and leaving a score like impression throughout the scroll," Kumar told IANS.

So, this long scroll with red ink on it and letters addressed to ex-lovers, mothers, chocolates and inner devils make for an interesting read.

And then we have artist T.V.Santhosh's "The Threshold Into a Dream" - a recreation of Mumbai's iconic Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus that looks at the implications of the First World War and post-colonial hangover.

This tilted instillation made of wood was made in two years and the intricate design of the station has been replicated to the perfection.

"There are multiple ways of looking at our complex history and the reason it is tilted is to tell the audience that there can be many issues and interesting facts beneath our history and we need to see through what is obvious and known," he added.

The India Art Fair concludes Sunday.