February 2008

Showing the works of two artists Haren Vakil and Abhay Gaekwad from February 2 - 10, 2008 at Hacienda Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai

Stretching the Line
Haren Vakil's drawings on paper

Haren Vakil’s drawings are a series of humorous non sequiturs. Men have cracks in their egg-shaped bald heads with birds coming out of them. Birds have animal heads and human clothes, and bipeds have physical features of birds. A musical instrument sticks out of a human. On the one hand a building has a human head, on the other there’s machine and man as one entity.

The lines move without inhibition. The artist liberates our imagination in his land of the absurd. Jazz, Indian and Western classical music, everyday life, architecture, human beings, animals and birds feed his thoughts. Vakil translates the mental picture that conjures up spontaneously in his subconscious. He refrains from attaching any narrative or symbolical meaning to his “doodles”. The viewer may draw meaning out his images; see rhythm in the line, chaos, joy or cynicism in his compositions. But Vakil says once he sets the pen on paper he doesn’t know where it leads him and when it stops.

That said nothing comes out of nothing, and surely training, experience and aesthetic preferences seep into one’s own creations. Vakil is trained in architecture and his background as a draughtsman brings in tautness in the structured compositions. The details and neatness, however spontaneous, also come from this end. His pen enjoys the freedom but there’s a sure sense of when to abandon and when to adhere to a recognisable framework. In spirit his works are reminiscent of surrealists Hieronymus Bosch and Rene Magritte. Bosch’s works evoked consciousness of sin, malice and violence. From Vakil’s compositions one draws a sense of comical absurdity of life. That said even if his sequences are plainly implausible they have familiarity and certain reality that reaches out to the viewer.

Vakil has lived in Victoria, Canada for almost 35 years. British Columbia is noted for Native Art and home to several tall, carved totem poles with colourful imagery. There’s an affiliation between Vakil’s imagery and American Native Art in essence. At root in both is the primeval element. There is semblance also to images from Hindu mythology whether it’s multi-headed demons, or multi-limbed deities or the Nandi bull. But then emblems of the contemporary mingle with all this.

Vakil subconsciously binds various strands with his vivid imagination producing a unique visual language.

Jasmine Shah Varma, curator and writer on art

Dimension of all featured works: 10 x11 inches
Medium: Ink, acrylic, pen, brush on acid free paper

TerraKutta & Friends
Abhay Gaekwad's miniature terracotta sculptures

Abhay Gaekwad is a Baroda based artist who works in terracotta, watercolours and canvas. His love for nature and wildlife is depicted in his works. This exhibition showcases Abhay’s unique talent in sculpting animal forms in animated expressions, delightful postures and an array of textures. Abhay first made these playful sculptures for the MS University, Fine Arts Faculty Fun Fair, Baroda as a student. It was his way of participating in the fair while others were making pots and pans. He drew inspiration from his senior Jyotsna Bhatt who is acclaimed for making birds and animals in clay and ceramics. From the beginning he was keen to sculpt a variety of creatures. This collection includes starfish, dogs, cats, sheep, cows, roosters, owls, crocodiles, octopus, frogs and tortoise among other creatures. Each piece is hand-sculpted and treated uniquely to give individual character.

Dimension varying in the range of 4 to 6 inches x 2 inches x 3 to 4 inches
Medium: Terracotta