Israel to host Indian art exhibition

Tel Aviv: People of Israel will now be able to take a look at the thriving contemporary Indian art scene, with a painting exhibition of the works of 17 Indian artists scheduled to be held here in May. The exhibition would include both established, well-known artists and several young and emerging artists like Ravi Agarwal, Atul Bhalla, Sakshi Gupta, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta, Ranbir Kaleka, Rashmi Kaleka, Jitish Kallat, Bharti Kher, Riyas Komu, Raqs Media Collective, T.V. Santhosh, Gigi Scaria, Shanthamani M., Sudarshan Shetty, L.N. Tallur and Lochan Upadhyay. The exhibition titled "Critical Mass" would be held at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The works included in the exhibition are "anchored in the tumultuous social and political reality, and their multiple layers of meaning reflect different responses to the deep transformations that have been taking place in Indian society over the past two decades", a statement said. "The notion of matter and material serves as a principle metaphor for the physical and visual experiences of the contemporary dynamic life in Indian megalopolis," it said. One of the salient characteristics of the works is repetition, multiplicity and duplication of images or motifs that are densely arrayed together. This state of multiplicity echoes the visual texture and chaotic expanses of the Indian megalopolis, it said. "This overwhelming experience of density, ornamentation, noise, flow, and rich materiality is clearly reflected in the themes, materials, and visual aesthetics of the works featured in this exhibition." The works are in a wide range of media including photography, painting, video, sculpture, and installation. They have many themes -- tension between tradition and modernity, accelerated urbanisation and its impact on the environment, critique of consumer culture and globalization, religious tension and political conflicts, and gender-related issues. The exhibition would be accompanied by a Hebrew-English catalogue that includes essays on Indian culture and on the major socio-political changes taking place in the sub-continent. IANS