Exploring the Avian World with Sreya Gupta

Sreya Gupta’s art is a captivating exploration of some of the world’s most remarkable bird species, brought to life through floral symbolism and a harmonious blend of colors. Her fascination with the natural world has been a driving force in her artistic journey, and it’s evident in every brushstroke.

Each composition is a window into the unique characteristics and vibrant plumage of these avian wonders. Through her work, Sreya aims not only to offer a visual treat but also an educational experience, shedding light on the diverse and wonderful world of birds. Each artwork introduces a specific bird species, embracing life and beauty through a kaleidoscope of colors and floral symbolism. It’s an attempt to bridge the gap between humanity and nature, creating visuals that leave a lasting impression.

The Artist Behind the Art

Sreya Gupta’s artistic journey has been nothing short of remarkable. She possesses a diverse educational background, ranging from a diploma in Visual Art to a Master’s degree in Gem and Jewelry Design. Her artistry extends beyond canvas, as she is also a professional Jewellery Designer and Gemologist.

Her distinctive style is characterized by a bold color palette, meticulous attention to detail in her subjects, and the botanical backdrop that accompanies her creations. Nature serves as an infinite well of inspiration for her, allowing her to explore various mediums and styles. Landscapes, birds, and butterflies are among her favorite subjects.

Furthermore, Sreya’s art carries a vital message of bird conservation. Her works vividly portray unique bird species, set against lush green foliage and vibrant flowers, emphasizing the importance of preserving these incredible creatures.

Awards and Exhibitions

Sreya Gupta’s talent has been recognized and celebrated through various awards and exhibitions. Her accolades include the prestigious Ankan Ratna and Ankan Bivakar on Painting, as well as a National Scholarship from the Centre of Cultural Resource and Training. She has also participated in numerous art exhibitions, both in India and internationally, showcasing her versatile talent to a global audience.

We are thrilled to represent Sreya Gupta at Visions Arts, and we invite you to explore her enchanting world of artistry, where every stroke tells a story of nature’s wonders. Stay tuned for her captivating creations, which will soon be available at VisionsArts.com. Join us in celebrating the beauty and vibrancy of our natural world through the eyes of this talented artist.

#SreyaGuptaArt #VisionsArts #NatureInspiredArt #BirdConservation #ArtisticJourney #ComingSoon #ArtLovers #ArtistSpotlight #indianart

The post Introducing Sreya Gupta: A Journey Through Nature’s Palette first appeared on Indian Art News.

Art can transform a space, adding personality, style, and even a sense of luxury. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just starting out, there are a few things to keep in mind when choosing art for your home.

Size and Scale
Consider the size and scale of the art. The art should be proportional to the size of the space and the other furniture in the room. A small painting in a large room will get lost, while a large painting in a small room will overwhelm.

Colors and Textures
Think about the colors and textures of the art. The art should complement the overall color scheme of the room, but it can also be used to add a pop of color or contrast. For example, a bright painting can add energy to a neutral-toned room, while a calming painting can create a relaxing oasis.

Style
Pay attention to the style of the art. The art should be in keeping with the overall style of the home, whether it’s traditional, modern, or eclectic. If you have a traditional home, you might want to choose art with classic lines and muted colors. If you have a modern home, you might want to choose art with bold colors and geometric shapes.

Consider the message of the art. The art should be something that you love and that you find meaningful. If you’re drawn to a particular piece of art, it’s likely that it will have a positive impact on your home.

Once you’ve chosen the right art, it’s important to hang it properly. Here are a few tips:

Hang the art at eye level. This is the most common and flattering way to hang art. If you’re hanging a grouping of art, create a balanced composition. The art should be evenly spaced and the sizes should be in proportion to each other.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to hanging art. Try different arrangements until you find one that you love.

With these tips in mind, you can choose the right art for your home and hang it in a way that makes it look its best. Art can be a great way to add personality, style, and beauty to your space. So don’t be afraid to experiment and find the art that speaks to you.

Here are some additional tips for hanging art on your walls:

Consider the light in the room. You want to hang the art where it will be well-lit, but not too exposed to direct sunlight.
Use a level to make sure the art is hung straight.
If you’re hanging a painting, use a wire or a sawtooth hanger to secure it to the wall.
If you’re hanging a framed print, use a frame hanger to secure it to the wall.
With a little planning and effort, you can easily add art to your home that will bring beauty and style to your space.

The post Art: The Key to a Beautiful and Elegant Home first appeared on Indian Art News.

Earthenware, in the Indian subcontinent, dates back many thousand years to the Indus Valley civilisation. So abundant, ubiquitous and disposable has been the clay pot that rarely has it been considered to be anything special. And yet, when freed from the restraints of functionality, the humble earthenware can rise to the elevated heights of fine art.

Focusing a spotlight on this position that ceramics have achieved in India—thanks to artistes who have broken the mould that has defined their practice for centuries—is Breaking Ground, the first Indian Ceramics Triennale, on till November 18 at the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) in Jaipur, in collaboration with the Contemporary Clay Foundation.

“Globally, there is a great understanding of Indian terracotta, but not of contemporary ceramics art,” says Anjani Khanna, director, Contemporary Clay Foundation. “The idea behind the triennale was to present ceramics in a different context; to show the achievements that have been made, and to push the boundaries of the practice.”

A recurring event of this scale—the first chapter of the triennale has 35 Indian and 12 international artiste projects, 10 collaborations, 12 speakers, a symposium, film screenings and workshops for adults and children—“is also the kind of platform that has the scope to engage and carry a lot of people with it,” she adds.

Pooja Sood, director general of JKK, says the venue is perfect for the country’s first triennale on ceramics. “Jaipur has always been associated with design and pottery, especially blue pottery,” she says, “while JKK has become a state-of-the-art gallery after undergoing a three-year renovation.”

The venue has made it possible for ceramic artistes, often restricted by space, to create works of art that would be difficult to display in regular galleries. “Ceramics are a medium, and the triennale has made it possible to showcase what all can be done with it, including performance arts and installations. Regular galleries are scared to show ceramics on a large scale for the simple reason that they might break. Some artistes have even created their artworks on-site.”

The limited scale, restrictions and display requirements are things Reyaz Badaruddin, a ceramic artiste and part of the six-member team that conceived the triennale, has experienced. “In other exhibitions and galleries, there have been restrictions such as excluding works that contain even a small portion of material that is strictly not ceramics,” he says. “There would be display requirements such as placing the artworks on pedestals.”

Limitations such as these would restrict artistes from pushing the boundaries of their creativity, which in turn meant ceramics would stay confined to the realm of making functional objects such as tableware, and variations thereof. Education, too, restricted ceramics to functional forms. “It was only after I studied for my masters degree at Cardiff School of Art & Design that my work changed a lot. Earlier, it was entirely functional; there was no story that I was telling, or comment that I was making. I never questioned myself, and asked why I was making what I was making,” says Badaruddin.

Badaruddin’s work at the triennale A Cup of Tea was created to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ray Meeker, the celebrated co-founder of Golden Bridge Pottery, who moved from the US to Puducherry in 1970. “We would always meet over tea, and the artwork brings together memories and friendships,” says Badaruddin. In addition to his own collection, he asked 14 other ceramicists to make a cup for him. Each cup is unique, and together they tell stories of shared moments, past, present and future.

Moving into layers that don’t always immediately meet the eye is ceramicist Vineet Kacker, also a member of the team behind conceiving the triennale. Most of his works, inspired by the landscapes and iconography of the Himalayas and Eastern spirituality, can be viewed at various levels, with the deeper layers raising questions within the viewer. While his abstract works draw inspiration from a sense of self, he also invests the clay—“a material that has an immediacy that is very seductive,” he says—with acts of writing and stamping, all of which help communicate with the viewer.

“In our culture, we fall to believing in certain iconography very directly,” says Kacker. “Rarely do we engage with what it really stands for. We don’t ask why these things are being treated as a sacred object. My works are more about leading the viewer into deeper questions.” For instance, his ‘vish/amrit’ teapot has two spouts, indicating that both energies—negative and positive—are possible, and can manifest into opposites.

Kacker’s work at the triennale, called Endless Landscapes, includes ceramics and photographs, and uses mirrors to reflect the tableaux in an infinite way. “It echoes the endlessness of the Himalayas, and draws the viewer into becoming a part of the landscape.”

Kacker believes that the very fact that the triennale has taken shape is indication of the fact that ceramic art has reached a certain level of maturity in the country, with a diversity in the way artistes are using the medium. “It throws open doors to what is possible with the medium,” he says. “With technology, today, the most basic of materials can lend itself to challenge the notions we have of it.” He highlights the use of technology with the example of an artwork by Ingrid Murphy from the UK. A dog by Murphy, a replica of decorative porcelain dogs once popular in the UK, has a QR code instead of a face. Viewers can scan the code on their smartphones and access an online archive of photographs of porcelain dogs sitting on mantles across various geographies.

Badaruddin says that although pottery is very old in India, ceramics as an art form is very new. “There are very few art schools that teach ceramics, and there aren’t many artistes practising seriously. However, in the recent past, people have been going abroad, and there is a lot of exposure to what is happening in other places,” he says.

The triennale is also a reflection of the fact that globally ceramics are witnessing a resurgence. Highlighting this was the presence of British ceramicist Kate Malone, who was one of the judges of BBC television programme The Great Pottery Throwdown. Malone, along with three of her assistants, recreated her studio at the triennale for 10 days to replicating its ethos and atmosphere.

Khanna, of the Contemporary Clay Foundation, says that while in countries such as Japan and China, ceramics and porcelain were elevated to a position of fine art, thanks to their Zen traditions and tea drinking ceremonies, in India the potter has had an ambiguous position in society. While he is a creator, what he creates is considered to be rather cheap and abundant, and, therefore, less prized. Materials like metals, because of their relative rarity, difficulty of excavation and purification, and consequent cost, have been more valued.

Within the world of art, too, ceramics and ceramicists have been pretty much left to themselves, with very few curators seeking them out for shows and exhibitions. However, she points to rather practical reasons why ceramics have seen a surge in the recent past. “Artistes have been able to establish their studios much more easily than in the past, often because it is simply much easier to have a kiln,” she says. “It took me 10 years to set up my studio in Alibaug after I bought land there in 1999.” Today, artistes have the options of buying kilns, importing them or getting someone to make one for them. Even factors such as improved packaging and transporting infrastructure and support means artistes are able to showcase their works in different places more easily now than in the past.

“As artistes we were never really encouraged,” says Badaruddin. “We had only always dreamt of doing something on this scale.”

(This story appears in the 26 October, 2018 issue of Forbes India.

BY JASODHARA BANERJEE Forbes India Staff
PUBLISHED: Oct 14, 2018

http://www.forbesindia.com/article/recliner/feat-of-clay/51537/1

The post Feat of clay first appeared on Indian Art News.

Manu Parekh at the National Gallery. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

In a cavernous wing of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, a man perched on a scissor lift is maneuvering a spotlight attached to the ceiling, to make the beam fall perfectly on a painting on the adjoining wall. The artist of the work sits at a distance, his gaze fixed on the lighting man. Manu Parekh, one of India’s most celebrated modern artists, is overseeing the hanging of his new show at the gallery, a retrospective covering 60 years of his life, which is accompanied by a new book, Manu Parekh: Sixty Years Of Selected Works (Aleph Book Co.).

Parekh, born in Ahmedabad, is most noted for his Banaras series, in which he depicts the colorful and zany “city of light” that never fails to inspire him. The retrospective offers a unique opportunity to explore the artist’s lesser-known, and perhaps unfairly overshadowed works. In an interview, Parekh, who is approaching 80, talks about his life, art, the market and Indian art education. Edited excerpts:

‘Flower From Heaven’ (1995). Photo: Courtesy the artist.
Click here for enlarge
Your flower vases are sometimes reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh or even Ambrosius Bosschaert. To what extent has Western art influenced your work?

See, the moment you do modern art in India, there will be a Western influence. The challenge is how to Indianize this Western element. You have to paint the reality you know and see. I found Paul Klee and (Pablo) Picasso very inspiring.

You have worked in theatre and then as a design consultant in the Indian handloom industry for 25 years. How did that influence your art?

All my life, theatre, and craft have helped me immensely. I look at Banaras with a theatrical eye and approach it like set designing. Secondly, my Heads series, I look at it as an actor. When I’m painting heads, I’m actually painting expressions and situations, because if something’s happening in front of you, only then will there be a reaction on your face. My job in handicrafts took me to many villages where the organic sensibility of rural life deeply affected me.

Did you ever feel you were sanitizing or romanticizing Varanasi, for apart from its spirituality, it’s also one of India’s dirtiest cities?

Filth is everywhere in India, even more so in religious places. That was never my concern, as it’s a political issue which doesn’t interest me at all. I was more concerned about the spirituality and life.

What’s your view on abstraction? If a viewer first has to read an essay to approach a work of art, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of art, which is about “looking” and not “reading”?

Look, if you listen to a classical raga, and you like it, that’s fine. But if you want to talk about it, you’ll need some training and education. Similarly, in art, you can’t just stand in front of the work and be given everything—it’s the same in literature, you have to know the nuances.

But a personal connection with an abstract work is still possible without any knowledge.

Oh, yes, and it should be. Look at Shivalinga—it’s completely abstract. But behind it, there is content. Abstraction for abstraction’s sake doesn’t interest me.

‘Painting is like chanting a mantra, sitting for hours to put the paint on canvas. There is a spiritual satisfaction in the repetition.’


Any views on art education in India?

It’s a bleak situation. We had wonderful teachers, but those teaching today are not practicing artists anymore—they’re interested in their own careers and don’t want to teach. Now even in art education, you need a PhD to be an art professor.

Does a work which sells in the market influence what you paint next?

No, otherwise there would be no work like this (pointing to an abstract work with animal heads). You can only do all this if you don’t keep an audience in mind.

What inspired the animal heads series?

It’s all about violence. I went to Africa once and saw a kill; it was an unforgettable experience. A deer was chased and killed by two cheetahs. The scene left an imprint and reminded me of the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, and I started painting the animal heads when I returned.

Is there a difference between exhibiting in India and abroad?

I would say outside India there is more consciousness, but I have no complaints here. In such a large country with so much poverty, “modern art” is quite understandably not a priority for anyone. Also, Indian culture is replete with images; after all, painting is an image. The common Indian man remains contented in that world of images, of his religion, tradition, culture, family, etc.

Are you a believer and, if so, does it inform your art?

Yes, I am. I got the biggest clarity about faith in Varanasi. Man lives on the basis of belief, be it political, religious or whatever.

Is painting a spiritual act for you then?

There is a level of spirituality in painting, isn’t there? It’s like chanting a mantra, sitting for hours to put the paint on canvas. There is a spiritual satisfaction in the repetition.

Manu Parekh: 60 Years Of Selected Works is on till 24 September, 11am-6.30pm, at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Click here for details.

First Published: Fri, Sep 01 2017. 12 52 PM IST
Credits – Tanuj Kumar
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mlKXKtiwuUIER1CGsPq99L/Manu-Parekh-going-beyond-Banaras.html

The post Manu Parekh: going beyond Banaras first appeared on Indian Art News.

 A triptych from the Indian Civilization Series displayed at the museum. Photographs: Courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum.

The post Spot Light | Finishing line first appeared on Indian Art News.