"Bham" !! The sound ricocheted around the enormous aircraft hangar type space - it was huge, 45m x 45m, the dingy walls were dotted with iron reinforcing bars - this was a studio used by film makers, but now it had been turned into a makeshift gallery for an exhibition by an artist who had left India at the beginning of his career and become famous in the West. This was his first major exhibition back in his country of origin.
"They're getting ready to fire the canon again", she said... I went over to watch. The canon was aimed at the confluence of two walls, which were already heavily layered with huge, solid clay coloured wax pellets and their detritus. A large clod was loaded into the canon and with a terrific retort it darted, like a missile, towards the wall, landing with a splatter of dark red, against the white background. It's fired every 15 minutes, so this picture-making changes and evolves through time. It reminded me strongly of the paan spitting, which is so much a part of Indian culture. Paan, a mixture of betel leaf and areca nut is chewed as a digestive, this produces a reddish spit which they aim at walls, anywhere and everywhere - the stair wells of even the smartest office blocks, are stained with red spit in a variety of patterns and auto rickshaw drivers can project a ball of spit, several feet, from the side of their mouths, as they drive along.
The other exhibits were variations of large spherical stainless steel discs, presenting a mirror-like surface which created patterns of reflection and distortion - under the large spotlights. It was reminiscent of the decoration of rural bhungas, the traditional round houses, in the remote district of Kutch in Western Gujarat. Mirrors are used in their interior and exterior decoration, to catch the light and please the eye. But here, the exhibits were shown in a different context, to be admired as high art, in this artificial setting.
"They're getting ready to fire the canon again", she said... I went over to watch. The canon was aimed at the confluence of two walls, which were already heavily layered with huge, solid clay coloured wax pellets and their detritus. A large clod was loaded into the canon and with a terrific retort it darted, like a missile, towards the wall, landing with a splatter of dark red, against the white background. It's fired every 15 minutes, so this picture-making changes and evolves through time. It reminded me strongly of the paan spitting, which is so much a part of Indian culture. Paan, a mixture of betel leaf and areca nut is chewed as a digestive, this produces a reddish spit which they aim at walls, anywhere and everywhere - the stair wells of even the smartest office blocks, are stained with red spit in a variety of patterns and auto rickshaw drivers can project a ball of spit, several feet, from the side of their mouths, as they drive along.
The other exhibits were variations of large spherical stainless steel discs, presenting a mirror-like surface which created patterns of reflection and distortion - under the large spotlights. It was reminiscent of the decoration of rural bhungas, the traditional round houses, in the remote district of Kutch in Western Gujarat. Mirrors are used in their interior and exterior decoration, to catch the light and please the eye. But here, the exhibits were shown in a different context, to be admired as high art, in this artificial setting.
No comments:
Post a Comment