Art knows no boundaries. And the current boom in the Indian art scene has arguably liberated the artist from the canvas and the sculpted form. In Vistaar, where the ?products? on show have been made by pairs ? usually artists and designers ? using both words in a broad sense. So there are nine pairs who have collaborated to come with this rather unique collection ? where everything from paintings to fabric to installations to sculpture, shawls and sofas find place. Artist Seema Kohli?s painting of a lotus has been interpreted in blow glass by Prateek and Gautam of Klove, while artist Sumedh Rajendran has worked with graphic designer Prasad Raghavan to give urbanscapes a new medium. Designer Manish Arora has worked with Gagan Vij to create a garden umbrella, artist Satish Gujral after initial hesitation worked with daughter Alpana on a necklace line. Designer Arjun Khanna and artist Chintan Upadhyay have created bikes. Sunil Gawde has worked with MNC Borosil, while Bose Krishnamachari has worked with Art D?Nox.
?We conceived of the show about two years ago,? says curator Sushma Bahl, referring to presenter Aparajita Jain. ?She wanted to do a high quality production, and the idea of bringing artists working in different mediums working together seemed a good one.? Bahl explains that the tradition of artists specialising in different forms is not new to our land, citing examples of temple architecture or the Mughal karkhana traditions where such collaborations were de rigeur.
The show will be on at Delhi?s Mira Gallery from September 12 to 19, before travelling to Mumbai. And each pair of artists has made more than one of the artwork, up to six. ?The first pair ? Gunjan Gupta and Anamika Khanna, started working around nine months ago,? informs Bahl. Selecting the right pair was far from easy, she says, but admits that seeing the project to its completion was an even more difficult task! While some artists expressed a desire to work with specific people, for others she had to suggest names. Not all pairs worked out, she admits. The scale has been a challenge ? Vineet Kakkar traveled repeatedly to meet Akbar Padamsee in Mumbai, Khanna and Upadhyay worked in Jaipur. Often the individuals paired were in different cities, and at least in one case did not ever meet ? Sujata Bajaj and Abraham and Thakore.
While the works are ?limited edition?, two products in the same series are not identical, says Jain. Bahl beams at the final result, saying that as far as the artists were concerned, 1+1 often made 11 as the artists brought new interpretations, especially as they had been free to choose their themes.
And the collaborators are a satisfied lot too. ?We wanted to project urban paranoia that is so prevalent today,? says Rajendran. He and Raghavan have produced two massive works ? six feet long and nine feet high, spending nearly two months to do them. ?This is the first time that I am collaborating on a project of this sort, and it has been a learning experience,? he says. ?It was easy as I was told my work would be transferred,? says Kohli, who says it was initially supposed to have been on a bowl, but once Klove saw it, they decided to retain the lotus shape. Agrees Prateek Jain, who says ?somewhere our sensibilities matched, especially as the lotus in intrinsic to our work too.? Textile expert Gopika Nath says her effort was to create a seamless piece as she collaborated with Murti Ahuja to marry art and craft.
Given the highly eclectic results, establishing the dialogue between various forms will be easier in the future.