Interacting with art and the city

PEEP – Presenting End to End Practices – an art initiative by Dhi Art Gallery is in its second edition. It is unlike any art workshop. It aims to help the young and promising artists reflect on their journey so far and chart out their future as they go forward in their artistic pursuit, explains Bhargavi Gundala, Gallery Director.

Eight artists were selected from the many applications – Shouvik Das from Kolkata, Azmeera Hathiram from Hyderabad, Bharat Dodiya from Baroda, Suresh Naik Mule and Kalpit from Goa, Rutva Gujjar and Mansi Bhagat from Baroda and Krishna Fulwala.

Line Vincent, the art curator interacted with the artists over two days, art professor from HCU, BV Suresh will be mentoring the group, and going by the theme of the year – Art and City- the group will be taken around the city of Hyderabad introducing them to the city, its history, culture, the architecture…the artists will also be meeting art historian Jagadish Mittal as a part of their residency.

Evidently the programme is not just about the artists creating their works within the confines of the gallery, but exploring the city, interacting with the masters, and, also sharing their own journey, their experience of art, inspiration and discussing their body of art.

Shouvik Das specialised in ceramics for his masters. At the gallery he is working with terracotta clay and is recreating a rocky terrain – a familiar sight during his rock-climbing escapades. He is intrigued by the changing character of the surroundings, which used to especially strike him during his daily routine of travelling from Tolly Gunge to Park Street for college. All these experiences find an expression in his sculptures.

Rutva Gujjar from Baroda is a travel enthusiast and for her maps, and directions, are an integral part of finding her way around. Her work in mixed media is but a representation of her love for places and maps and she has used monochrome, which she feels gives more intensity to her works.

Mansi Bhagat, another young artist, who has come to Hyderabad as a part of PEEP initiative is into installations. Her work is inspired by natural biomorphic elements like the fungus which we cannot see. Unique and distinct in character are the images, which she creates by intricately weaving her observations into the works using industrial elements on rice paper, which she later frames.

Krishna Fulwala dabbles in architectural documentation. And he chooses historical structures and iconography from traditional paintings and recreates the dimensions of space with ornamental elements adding allure to his canvas. Krishna hopes to include his experiences of the city of Nizams in his future works.

Bharat Dodiya comes from a farming family in Sourashtra, before going to Baroda to pursue masters in art. His works continue to reflect nature, and socio-political aspects of rural India. They also on closer observation make a statement on the environment and human dependence on nature.

Yet another interesting work at the residency is by Kalpit, who has recently shown his works at Goethe Zentrum. Originally from Goa, his works feature local Goan elements. He used tea wash on his canvas that gives an earthy, closer to land kind of feel to the image, especially with the traditional basket from his land placed on a rock in the foreground.

Sagar Suresh Naik Mule too is from Goa and studied at the Hyderabad Central University. He uses the local mud and cow dung creating a rural narrative, and represents the vanishing practices and culture from rural India. "I do not sign my paintings, rather add a bit of myself in all my paintings," says the artist.

Extremely creative, responsible to society and nature, expressive of emotions, and a zeal to create their own identity – defines the artists, who have a long and promising road ahead in the field of art. "We aspire to help them find their direction and realise their purpose," adds Bhargavi, who feels it is also important to showcase the city to the cultural ambassadors, who will surely take their experiences along.