Times of Isolation and Art

With the new, never-before encountered situation circling the coronavirus we are completely encased in our own shells/cocoons to prevent the pandemic from not only entering our own realms but also in the effort to avoid becoming carriers and unwittingly help spread the pandemic. It has devastated the lives of many, changing lives beyond repair for many and yet it remains almost the same kind of ritual for others particularly those who have been in the confines for long times. I have heard some friends panic while some others take it in their stride. For me personally, since I have always been working from home, it hasn't changed much in my limited environment except that my daughter and husband have started attending classes and working from home respectively. The change, however, is the fact that I can't move around freely as I wish during the day and I am confined more inside the room and the kitchen. We have become like individual islands inside the home during the day and each home an island. The marked change, however, is the less traffic and sighting of people around. I can hear choppers every now and then and the siren of the ambulance frequently. The sirens give me a twinge in the gut when I think of the people in it and what they would be feeling at that moment though all the cases may necessarily not be Covid19.

Pondering continues all along on the concept of life and the home itself among others. The news of the rise in domestic abuse is also a matter that wrenches me. It is not something new though; I have always wondered how people can be so uncompromising, egoistic, violently sadistic and ridiculously savage knowing that our life could end in just seconds. It's all so transient. None of us know how long we may get to live and yet we act like immortals! I wish people would be willing to listen to and be more accommodating! 

As for home, isolation has deepened my sense of home as my native place and the space that I share with my family. It has always been so whenever I am away for a long time; feeling home-sick. I have friends and family who tease me over it but then that feeling has always been strong. I need my mother and daughter particularly to complete the feeling of home. It could be perhaps that they are the ones who understand me the most and who catch me at the slightest of a change in expression and gauge my disposition and vice versa.

Here's a couple of selected works from the past 3 weeks that I had posted on my Instagram. 

I have used Arteza and Daler&Rowney gouache on Moleskine for the first. Daler&Rowney FW and Ecoline ink on Strathmore Mixed Media sketchbook for "Rise", watercolour and gouache on A4 size card paper for "Be Aware" and added the text digitally.

 A trial at Therese Schwartze’s work. I have tried a different face and a slightly different expression. I love the way the lady and dog (Puck) look at each other. Staying home, pets seem to be great companions from a lot of shared photos these days. Here’s to all who have been diligently staying home!❤️

 “Rise”

"Be Aware"

We are in our own bubble now so that the situation can be contained. I see two extremes- one who isn’t bothered at all leaving caution to the air and the other in panic. They somehow miss the point and I do hope they don’t end up causing trouble to self and the others! Adhere the midway- be aware, follow precaution and not panic. Be kind. Be safe.

I was experimenting with watercolours and gouache on Moleskine as well and these I photographed, unlike earlier times. The third one is on Japanese Rice paper.

The gouache set of 24 colours from Arteza and a book by Geninne were my daughter's birthday gift for me.

How are you all coping with the situation?

Stay home! Stay safe! Take care! 

FOCAL POINT - Annual Art Book Fair - Sharjah Art Foundation

We set out to Focal Point on Friday evening eager to get our glances and grab some exciting stuff from the various curated tables set forth by Sharjah Art Foundation's annual art book fair. This year it was at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi Art Square. a 174-year old heritage site located in the heart of the city, within the Al Shuwaiheen Arts Area and opposite Sharjah port. Originally built in 1845 and renovated in the 1990s and then again in 2017, the former residence hosts artist studios, exhibition spaces, SAF exhibitions and Sharjah Biennials.

It was a pleasant evening, the winter slowly setting in except for the weekend traffic which took us one and a half hours to reach the almost specific point when our GPS unexpectedly took the liberty and took us on a bylane tour! Finally, we had to seek human intervention and got to the book fair. Since there wasn't a parking space my daughter and I almost flung ourselves out of the car as cars were lining up behind but thanks to the timely signal. 

When we stepped in, the sun had begun to set leaving a golden glow through the canvas roofs and the faint shadows dancing against the walls and the tables, the hip music, the colorful flags, the bustling crowd had a carnival effect on us. We instantly loved the setting, the ambience!

This second edition of Focal Point had over 150 independent publishers and artists presented across 55 booths and curated tables. Over three days from 14th to 16th, the visitors, am sure, must have discovered art books, art projects and journals, catalogues and monographs, comic stips, zines and booklets, picture books, bookmarks, pins, stickers and tote bags. The focus this year was on zines and comics. Focal Point was divided across five sections - Edit, Independent, UAE, SAF Publications and Magazines. Each one had a colour code for easy identification of its location in the brochure. SAF/Edit is the Sharjah Art Foundation's curated presentation of printed matter from across the world with a focus on the UAE and MENASA region. They had publishers like Arab Comics, Art 21, Asia Art Archive, Fantagraphics, Illusion Comics, Jabal Amman Publishers, Khoj, Minaa Zine, etc. Independent publishers included one of our favourites, Tara Books among others like Blaft Publishers, Africa Institute, Perimeter Books, Afterall, Tosh Fesh, Lendroit editions, Tok Tok Magazine, Lars Muller Publishers, Sharjah Architecture Triennial, etc. UAE publications included catalogues, zines, etc. from art institutions and galleries from across UAE like 1X1 Gallery, Art Jameel, Emirates Fine Arts Society, Green Art Gallery, Ishara Art Foundation, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah Museums, Tashkeel, The Third Line. etc. Magazines like Canvas, Selections and Tribe were present too.

Visitors also had the opportunity to participate in the workshops organized by SAF for kids and adults that were free but needed registration. They had workshops like zine-making, freehand drawing, bookmark making, How to draw manga and pen and ink illustrations. 

We got talking to representatives of many of the curated tables who were eager to explain it all and it was wonderful to get to know them and what they did. I did buy a couple of lovely pieces too. My daughter was particularly in love with the "Tamil Pulp Fiction" tote by Blaft Publishers. Dhwani, a graphic designer with Tara Publishers was lovely and lively talking in detail about each piece and she exuded the energy and love that she so cherished for each one of those works. I met a couple of awesome artists, one of whom I know for the last couple of years, whose comic book I ended up buying as it did have some awesome comic strips and some favourite people in it. 

We had been there on Friday and so we could hear the band, Sways N Edges, playing which really added to the ambience. Visitors on 16th would've heard Adiga; both local bands. After all the book hunting if the visitors happened to feel hungry or wanted to grab a snack the food and beverage vendors were at hand too.

It was a beautiful evening well-spent and we did return home without much hassle, heartily. It's actually wonderful to see Sharjah Art Foundation coming up with so many initiatives and projects as part of bringing in the community and the kind of awareness that they are creating not only among artists of the region but also among the masses. This needs to be emulated! Kudos to the whole team and the participants!

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. 

Please do not publish/post this article anywhere without the written permission of the author. Sharing this post with proper credits is ok.

Art Exhibitions, Preparation and Practice

Often I take up some personal pet projects and try to work on it, that helps me to feel that I have done some work, worthwhile. It needn't be anything fancy, just something to get into my zone. Come to think of it, I have a lot of such projects in mind. Right now I am preparing for a group show that is coming up in September and is to take place in Lalithakala Akademi Gallery in Kozhikode (famous as City of Spices once upon a time), Kerala. It's quite near to Mananchira Square where you come across the sculpture of Musui as Terra-Fly by the eminent K S Radhakrishnan. People of Kozhikode are ardent fans of art and literature; the real connoisseurs, so I have heard! Shall share the pictures of my works when the exhibition opens up. Here's a teaser for now.

Girl with a Halo - Cropped detail

Acrylics, 2x2 feet 

Back when I was in Dubai in April, my daughter and I took a trip to Dubai Public Library nearby. We both found that it was a great way to unwind and get into our zone. It was quite satisfying if it had not been for the heat! This particular sketch was made there referencing a book, Pen and Ink Book by Desarae Lee. It's a wonderful keepsake and I do have it in my wishlist. 

PITT pens on Moleskine

So this illustration was carried forward into this painting of a buck and that led to the other two and "I see you" happened with gouache. You can see my other gouache works HERE. However, they aren't going to be included in my show though. These are done on Moleskine as a means to get into my full-fledged zone, to prep me up. It helps me to focus before going into my actual work.

 I see you-1

  I see you-2

 I see you-3

Finally, I would like to share the postcards I had sent to the New Hampshire Institute of Art's International Mail Art Exhibition, "Errors, Fakes and Oddities" held from 8 Mar to 14 April 2019 at Sharon Arts Center Exhibition Gallery in Peterborough, NH. Grateful to Murali Cheeroth for sharing the 'Call-For' which otherwise I would have not known. All the works can be found Here.

These were done on Indian postcards using Winsor and Newton acrylic inks and Pigmented drawing pens. The gold ink isn't that visible here though.

As usual, linking it to the Awesome ladies at PPF!

Art in Gouache

It's been some time since I shared my own art. I was more occupied with the blog interviews and preparations for a group show. I am sharing a couple of art from my Moleskine. I had this gouache from Daler and Rowney and had last used it a year back so it was time to reuse it. By the way, I just love gouache. This one is watercolor and not acrylic.

I recently moved back to Dubai for my daughter's education since she wanted Humanities Arts and her preferred electives weren't available in my hometown. The transition happened quite unexpectedly but smoothly since my husband is still working there. Thank God!

Here goes my gouache works:

 Hope is what I give

At each dawn and dusk

The golden orb purifies the entirety

The only one that evades

To be purged is you. 

 Seeking the betrayer 

To avenge the wrongs

She journeyed within

Into her innermost being 

Breaking the walls

Unveiling the deepest sores

Cuts, bruises and endless scars

It was made by the most trusted-

She betrayed herself.

Immobile gaze

Wandering mind

Searching for lost terrains

Conquering hearts.♥️

Some of my other gouache works:

Lotus pond 

White flowers in a glass bottle

Linking it to the Awesome ladies at PPF! 

Alserkal Avenue Arts District - Part 3 (Final)

Alserkal Avenue, named after its founder is the brainchild of Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, was established in 2007 is situated in the industrial neighborhood of Al Quoz spreads across a space of 500,000 square feet which houses not only numerous galleries of international repute but also project spaces, residencies, non-profit artists' studios, concept stores, event facilities and even cafes' and food outlets. It was expanded in 2015 to give it the look of today. Situated in Dubai's industrial quarters, this Avenue is a cluster of architect-designed warehouses that aims to foster the creative spirit by bringing together collaborators from diverse artistic disciplines, encouraging open dialogue, sharing of ideas and collaborations to bring those ideas to life.

Read: PART ONE and PART TWO

An architect turned artist, Mike Arnold, has used his old school skill of architectural drawings into a finer passion to create freer, looser and impressionistic works of the ever-changing urban cityscapes of UAE by playing with light and reflection. It most certainly reminded me of the Impressionists and their unending love of the transformative power of light and ‘the moment’. I was fascinated by his works which these photos haven’t done justice to.

“There is no overriding theme to his work other than a life-long passion dedicated to light. His attempt to chase and capture light is what marries all his work and within that search, Arnold attempts to convey emotion to his viewers.”

A grey eeriness definitely wafted in the air as I strolled through the unpolished floor of Carbon12. Umbra, ‘Shadows’ for Latin, immediately seized my whole attention. I could feel a sense of tension, abandonment, eeriness and desolation. In the vicinity of the scenes depicted. I could sense Hopper-like feel somewhere there. What made more interesting was the way the paintings were made. I have always been a lover of glass paintings and I have used this technique in my very old works. To have made use of the reverse glass painting on plexiglass this Portugese painter, Gil Heitor Cortesão, has made an awesome rendition. It makes a ghostly atmosphere where feelings are let loose and forlorn just as the things that inhabit the assigned space.

“Before: a ghostly shadow-world, where absence dwells in cavernous or cell-like spaces, rhythmed by the background hum of continual vertical lines. Behind: the viewing space, bounded by the gallery walls and floor. Or is it?”

(from the concept note)

If photography is a “message without a code” in the words of Roland Barthes, How does one read a photobook? Asks the concept while welcoming the viewers. The Photobook Show at the Gulf Photo Plus was the only we saw that was entirely dedicated to photography. They have works from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, showcasing a unique sampling of more than 40 photobooks from 13 different countries. In Martin Parr’s seminal work on the topic, The Photobook: A History Vol I, II, and III, he argues that in the form of a photobook, photography enables a kind of interpretation that is otherwise not possible from a single contextless image. While a gallery or museum wall offers a public display of photography, a photobook facilitates a private and even intimate reading of a photographer’s work and indeed, their world, even if the message may be elusive at times. 

The most striking was the ‘Visual Narratives’ of Aisha Jemila Daniels which is a series of self-portraits conceived with the aim to illustrate the conflicting internal states that negotiate for control within us. This was the show my daughter liked the best.

“...the combination of remarkable images and good design in a book that is beautiful to open and pleasurable to leaf through is an ideal way of conveying a photographer’s ideas and statements.”

(from the concept note)

The exhibition is on until 31 Aug.

‘Intersections’ in Mojo Gallery presents a visual dialogue of 8 African-Arabian artists who are exploring the role of contemporary art as a voice in two ever-changing cultural landscapes of identities, beliefs, perceptions and values. Huge and some full-length works adorned the gallery walls in myriad colours that told the tale of the modern times – of war, loss, the conflict both internal and external, the confusion and the crisis and even an attempt at the evolution of a new order.

La Galerie Nationale is not a typical gallery per say. I had the feeling of entering a designer home/apartment adorned with decorative pieces, eclectic furniture and then a coulourful array of fun, vibrant and buoyant-child-like paintings. When I say child-like, it’s by no means offensive...the strokes have the spirit and energy of, may I say, a flamboyant child. Only here, the child is the famous Moroccan writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun. It is a celebration of colours and life-force that one sees here. I am talking about ‘Cultural Crossroads’ the first solo show in the Middle East and is the recognition of a friendship between Ben Jelloun and Guillaume Cuiry, director and curator of the gallery.

“Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.” 

The exhibition is on until 15 Sep.

Rubbles and ruins were dispersed across the floor, some sketches along the walls and a looped video on the far end of Green Art Gallery, ‘Demolishing buildings, buying waste’; recorded and analyzed the demolition of a building in Tehran and incorporated the ‘traces’ of the process as video, sculpture and drawings. The artist, Nazgol Ansarinia’s interest is in Tehran’s changing architectural landscape and its relationship to collective consciousness. To me, these works spoke of the tale of every developing city/urban space in the world; paradoxical cycle of construction and deconstruction.

“Every part of this city is associated with memories from different stages in my life. I think that’s what makes this fast speed of construction so destructive in a way. It’s taking away our collective memory and individual memory with it. Neighbourhoods are changing so fast that they are unrecognizable. You feel lost when you can’t relate to a space.” 

(from “The Artist and their City”, The Guardian / Tate, 2016) 

Ref:Alserkal Avenue