State of the Art

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Posts tagged with New York

“Barbed Floss” at The Guild in Mumbai

August 10, 2013

Elizabeth Prendiville of Saffronart shares a note about the Guild Art Gallery’s latest group show, documenting the cultural ramifications of borders

Barbed Floss, Gallery View. The Guild

Barbed Floss, Gallery View. The Guild.

New York: Currently, the Guild Art Gallery in Mumbai is displaying an engaging group show entitled “Barbed Floss”. This exhibition consists of works by five artists from Bangladesh who have shown in a wide range of international institutions. “Barbed Floss” examines the concepts tied to cultural and literal barriers that cut through different parts of our contemporary world. Most specifically, the fifth largest border worldwide, the barbed wire fence separating Bangladesh and India.

Barbed Floss, Gallery View. The Guild

Barbed Floss, Gallery View. The Guild

The title “Barbed Floss” utilizes the literal and interpretive meanings of these two opposing terms. “Borders on land are made up of barbed wire fencing and high walls, extreme military security, extreme emotional insecurity. The word floss behaves as a thorough cleanser with a fine thread, which removes, cleanses and frees blockages”. Curated by Veeranganakumari Solanki this exhibition discusses the limitations, miscommunications and conflicts that come about in these neighbouring communities simply by the virtue of this physical divide.The Guild has chosen Tayeba Begum Lipi, Mahbubur Rahman, Promotesh Das Pulak, Molla Sagar and Anisuzzaman Sohel for this examination of cultural limitations. Each artist takes a unique approach to this subject matter. Some works reflect literal interpretations, others more theoretical and possible solutions for these issues. Personal, third person and political narratives can be seen through each individual work. This is their first time their work is being shown together in this format.

The Guild specializes in Indian Contemporary Art. Their programming stresses a commitment to artist/curator dialogue and encourages experimentation and conceptual creativity. The Guild was founded in 1997 as most recently has expanded its artist representation to international artists. “Barbed Floss” will run at the Guild Art Gallery through September 30, 2013.

For more information visit The Guild’s website.

From India East: Sculpture of Devotion

June 1, 2013

Emily Jane Cushing shares a note on the exhibition ‘From India East: Sculpture of Devotion’ at the Rubin Museum, New York

From India East

From India East: Sculpture of Devotion, the Rubin Museum of Art, New York

New York: The Rubin Museum of Art in New York is home to exhibits that show the artistic heritage of the Himalayan region, a vast and culturally varied area of the world which still remains relatively ambiguous. The collection consists of paintings, sculptures, textiles and other artifacts, and although the works of art range in date over two millennia, most reflect major periods and schools of Himalayan art from the twelfth century onward.

This week, the museum will be opening a year-long exhibition (May 31 2013 – July 7 2014) showing treasures of Asian art borrowed from the Brooklyn Museum as it renovates some of its Asian galleries. This major loan will allow the Rubin Museum to exhibit art from beyond the Himalayan region, including pieces from countries such as Japan, Cambodia, Burma, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.

The curators of the exhibition have selected a range of objects for this exhibition in a way that connects with the Rubin Museum’s own collection. Through this exhibition, they hope to trace “the origins of Buddhist and Hindu sculptural art in Asia to its roots, showing the stylistic evolution by both geographic distribution and time period”.

On Wednesday, July 17, 2013, the museum will host the talk ‘Exporting Enlightenment’ by Joan Cummins, Curator of Asian Art at Brooklyn Museum, which will focus on pieces from the exhibition to “seek out the commonalities between seemingly disparate images of Hindu and Buddhist deities. The sculptures reveal a network of exchange and appropriation that is far richer and more complex than the simple eastward vector of influence that we expect to find in the history of Asian art.”

For more information, have a look at the exhibition website.

Pakistani Artists at Pulse Art Fair 2013 in New York

May 26, 2013

Shradha Ramesh shares a note on the Pakistani artists showcased at this year’s Pulse Art Fair in New York.

New York: The 2013 Pulse Art Fair in New York, the thirteenth of its kind, exhibited an array of contemporary pieces from both established and new artists. This year, their South Asian collection included works by the Pakistani artists Adeela Suleman and Ambreen Butt.

Adeela Suleman, Pulse Art Fair 2013

Adeela Suleman, Untitled (The Boat), 2009, Pulse Art Fair 2013

Exhibited by the contemporary London and New York based Aicon Gallery were three pieces by Adeela Suleman. Suleman is known for her metal sculptural pieces which reflect her engagement with political and gender issues.

Ambreen Butt with Carroll and Son,

Ambreen Butt with Carroll and Son, I Am My Lost Diamond.

Ambreen Butt was exhibited in collaboration with Carroll and Son. Butt’s works are known to be inspired by unfortunate events in Pakistan. This work in particular was inspired by the 2010 bombings that occurred in Pakistan and is a small scale version of the original installation which consists of red coloured casts of fingers and toes.

Read more on the Pulse Art Fair website.

Imran Qureshi at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

May 11, 2013

Manjari Sihare shares some snippets of Imran Qureshi’s work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 

New York: The Imran Qureshi Roof Garden Commission at the Metropolitan Museum, New York is now on view.  Entitled The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi, the project represents the artist’s emotional response to violence occurring across the globe in recent decades and his earnest hope for regeneration and lasting peace in the aftermath of man-made disasters. Here are some snippets from the special Frieze Art Fair VIP Preview held on Friday, May 10th. Watch this space for more on this spectacular exhibit. For all New Yorkers and those visiting for the Frieze Fair,  this is a must-see!

Imran Qureshi Roof Garden Commission, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

All images are courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

‘Radical Terrain’ at the Rubin Museum of Art

January 17, 2013

Josheen Oberoi shares a note on the ongoing ‘Radical Terrain’ exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York

New York: In November 2011, the Rubin Museum of Art opened a three-part exhibition of modernist art from India. The thematic series, curated by the museum’s Assistant Curator Beth Citron, started with an exhibition titled Body Unbound focusing on figuration, followed by Approaching Abstraction. The final installment, Radical Terrain currently on view, opened in November 2012 and examines the genre of landscape in post independent India. Interestingly, this third exhibition also features contemporary artists, not all from India, whose praxis is centered within a broad definition of landscape. The resultant dialogue adds an incredible depth to the experience of viewing both the modernist and contemporary works on exhibit.

The museum also has an ongoing Artists on Art series which sees Assistant Curator Beth Citron in an informal conversation with international contemporary artists. Currently this series features the contemporary artists from the Radical Terrain exhibition. You can find the schedule for these talks here.

You can read Holland Cotter’s New York Times review of the exhibition here. It is a great, informative read as always.

Watch this space for more of our thoughts on the exhibition. Till then, enjoy a few images of the show and please go visit!

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