Art roundup: Shows to catch in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai

An artwork by Sameera Rathod, on display at Mumbai's Chemould Prescott Road, till August 2, 2022.

Ceramic Wonders

The far wall at Gallery Sumukha has an interesting shadow play. Are they the shadows of puppets playing and jostling in the air? Squinting at the diffused shadows of joyful ceramic forms brought together for the solo show of G Reghu, it is obvious that the shadows are incidental. What’s more important is the display of the beautiful ceramic sculptures by the city’s veteran ceramic artist.

Carefully crafted and baked to near perfection with minimal colouring in a wood kiln, as the artist explains, after decades of experience it was easy and practical for him to make each of the sculptures dismantlable. So, the head of one could be looking straight or sideways, the legs could be crossed or uncrossed, according to the whims of the artist.

Depicting the rural lifestyle (the artist lives far(ish) from the city, next to the Art of Living) which Reghu says is what he knows, the ceramic forms make for a delightful interactive watch. The almost lifelike sculptures are in groups of women and children, men smoking beedis or pipes, and children and random people with stray dogs and pets.

G. Reghu's work depicts the rural lifestyle.

The idea of the show is to capture a life stilled by inactivity and consciousness, perhaps even the pandemic, but Reghu means business. The mentee of the late architect Laurie Baker shows his mettle in grouping some of his works in a manner that can be sold as a ‘whole’. Going by his past and current collectors, it won’t be surprising to see some of the groups here shown in private museums or art schools after the show is over.

What: Solo show of Ceramic Sculptures by G Reghu

Where: Gallery Sumukha, Bengaluru

Till: July 20

About the Artist: G. Reghu worked in Bharat Bhavan as a potter/artist for 15 years and has interacted with artists like M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza and K.G. Subramanyan. His oeuvre includes local materials and rural life motifs.

Sustainable Designs

What happens to buildings that are of no further use? Should they be demolished and wiped out of existence? Architect Samira Rathod of Samira Rathod Design Associates has been contemplating ‘dismantling’ and ‘reusing’ as concepts, and with those terms in mind, her exhibition ‘Dismantling Building = A Kit of Parts’ declares an interesting narrative.

What's on display are drawings and installations which are reutilized fragments in a contemporary setting. While the architect has been working on the concept for a while, this show is about furniture and the designs that can be conjured for a gallery show.

Rathod has termed the furniture as ‘usable’ and as ‘works of art’ making the acquisitions win-win. On display are lamps, tables and benches made from sustainable wood apart from installations of fragments (of buildings) in a contemporary setting. By the artist’s own admission, the show is also about ‘surprise elements’ of lighting, handles, knobs and such.

However, architect Rohan Shivkumar describes the show best in a curatorial note as ‘an act of excavation’. He writes, ‘In the process of excavation, buildings that emerged out of carefully designed affective intentions are reduced to their drawings, which in turn are further distilled into form and then shapes. These shapes have no relationships to the platonic solids that were considered as the units of architecture by the modernists. Samira’s process of excavation dismantles these too, to reveal fragments, shards, splinters and swirls. These shapes have no scale, no dimensions, no materialities. They exist as gestures in space- figures against the ground, solids in the void, forms in space.’

What: Dismantling Building = A Kit of Parts

Where: Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai

Till: August 2

About the Artist: Samira Rathod is the principal architect of Samira Rathod Design Associates. She has a furniture design and manufacturing wing called the Big Piano.

Artwork by Sameera Rathod

Organic Showing

Ranjani Shettar is ‘legendary’ in the art world. The Bengaluru-based artist has been a powerhouse whose works have been displayed in the MoMa and other important galleries in the world. If there is time to catch one show in New Delhi, then the aptly named 'Summer garden and rain clouds' is the one you should check out at the Talwar Gallery. The body of work includes sculptures, installation works, as well as new works on paper, dating from the last three years, “a period that witnessed an intensification of the artist’s already distinctly purposeful practice”.

The New York Times, writing on her 2014 show, had said that Shettar ‘…has always found formal sources for her abstract work in materials associated with the craft traditions of Karnataka, the southwestern state where she lives and works.’

For instance, in this show, the sculpture Turn Over has feather-like strips of metal on the wall with the undersides done up in silvery bidri which, incidentally, originated in the Bidar district of Karnataka.

According to the gallery, ‘"Summer garden and rain clouds" sees Shettar’s continued engagement with the expressive possibilities of wood, as well as her ability to extract the life latent within each piece she creates: the gentle curve of Elegy, poignant as a pieta, or the natural texture created by the knots, grain, even the cracks of Morning glory or Under the hood.’

The artist has a deep relationship with the materials she works with. For example, the wood is carved entirely by hand and aided by simple tools, the artist allows the materials to reveal their true nature. This is in line with what she has expressed, ‘Nature’s beauty is ever present, art helps to uncover, perceive and appreciate it.’ The fact that Shettar’s works are so opulent and yet humble in origin is the reason why this show is like visiting a masterclass.

What: Summer garden and rain clouds

Where: Talwar Gallery, New Delhi

Till: September 24

About the Artist: Ranjani Shettar is the first living Indian artist to have had a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City in 2017. One of her earlier works used discarded cars as a metaphor for consumerism.

Ranjani Shettar uses traditional Karnataka crafts in her works.