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Highlighting the relationship between drawing and sculpture and the process that takes place in conceiving and realising a work of art, the first ever show of sculptures and drawings ‘Sculpsit: Between Thought and Action’ will open on October 4 at Sunaparanta Goa Centre of the Art, Altinho. The works included in the exhibition will show the trajectory between the first phase (the creation of the idea and thought) and its final form (as it comes to life). At the same time, the exhibition looks at the dialogue and complexities in the relation that emerges between artist and craftsman.
Curated by Miami-based curator Sasha Altaf the show will open at the hands of Bunty Chand, CEO, Asian Society India at 7 pm. The show which is in collaboration with The Guild Art Gallery Mumbai and produced by Sunaparanta patrons Dipti and Dattaraj Salgaocar, will include known artists - Akbar Padamsee, Anupam Sud, A Ramachandran, Baiju Parthan, Gieve Patel, Gigi Scaria, Himmat Shah, Jyoti Bhatt, K G Subramanyan, N N Rimzon, Navjot Altaf, Rajkumar Korram, Shantibai, Sudhir Patwardhan and T V Santhosh.
Explaining what Scupsit is, independent curator and art critic Sasha states, “Scupsit literally means ‘he (or she) sculpted it’... Up to the 1870s, book illustrations required two steps: the artist drawing the design on paper, and then an engraver translating it to wood or copper. Taking from this dialogic relationship between drawing to sculpture, the exhibition proposes to envision sculpture not as an (abstract) continuum but as a material envelope that grows organically from the original drawing, sketch, maquette or photograph... whereby the artist plays both the role of the artist and the engraver... emphasizing both change and transience, material and materiality, where the image (drawing / sketch / photograph) and the form (sculpture) reveal the complex interchanges and the ensuing interaction between the artists’ drawing and the translation of it in form - the sculpture.”
Among the participating artists, Baiju Parthan is a product of Goa College of Fine Arts. His diverse academic background includes botany, painting, comparative mythology and philosophy. The artist’s diverse practice pays attention to intermingling technology with its alternate states of reality, genetic engineering and religion along with notions of post-humanism.
Sudhir Patwardhan’s urbanist narratives explore inaccessible figures that are self-contained. The politics of home and self are realized in both his painting and sculpture works. His figurative reliefs conjure together the imagery of painting in a tactile scape.
Gigi Scaria’s sculptures explore relations between nature and human built scapes. Cities everyday look forward to a flourishing future but its prism reflects us to a different reality “ one filled with excess of environmental disasters and an exhaustion of natural resources.
Akbar Padamse’s bronze sculptures are portraits that are deep in thought. These works are drawn from his paintings of figures and heads. An existential dilemma may be the only true identity of these faces “ the artist’s way of self-reflecting.
Anupum Sud’s sculptures are based on emotive postures of the female figure that hold on to different spiritual experiences, reflecting upon their moods and desires. The artist symbolically depicts human figures through a feminist lens “ as she inter-relates her subjects found in etchings with the medium of sculpture.
T V Santhosh’s work re-imagines and resurrects obsolete objects that have become part of our nostalgia today - a bygone era and its residual imprints. The artist takes inspiration from cinema, news media, art history and popular culture - influencing his sculptural explorations of our present day crisis.
Rajkumar Kommar’s wooden carved pillar is based on the community of Bastar, Chhattisgarh. The pillar has humans holding onto each other for support “ together building a tall structure that exists in both their efforts and struggles. The sculpture has elements such as mahua flowers, yoga positions and sparrows.
Shantibai’s sculptures express a deep empathy for women and children. This columnar synoptic narrative is made up of many interlocking episodes, depicting agony of women in vulnerable situations.
Navjot Altaf draws from Indian history and craftsmanship, exploring social, political narratives through her sculptural works.
Himmat Shah captures life cycles and endless realms in its impermanent states. From rocks and caves to human lives, his works are inspired by his birthplace of Lothal - surrounded by the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
A painter and a printmaker, Jyoti Bhatt began to explore photo-documentation processes to capture the disappearance of craft from tribal communities. These narratives and motifs have influenced his works.
A writer, scholar, teacher and art historian, K G Subramanyan’s practice spans a spectrum of mediums from painting to pottery, weaving and glass painting. Being actively involved in the freedom struggle, his works have been concerned with social issues in post-independent India.
Deeply affected by the political upheaval in the 1970s, N N Rimzon’s works moved from narrative paintings to experimentation with conceptual sculpture works capturing socio-radical narratives.
A Ramachandran’s archetypal imagery is strongly influenced by the socio-political landscape of Kerala. The artist explores life and nature in rural India and its quest for permanence in multiple forms.
Gieve Patel’s mythical figure of the Graeco-Roman princess Daphne addresses themes of power, ambition and betrayal. The narrative follows the story of the daughter of a river god who transformed into a tree to escape Apollo.
