NGMA- Mumbai : Ideas and Images VI

It is fondly called the Mumbai Magazine Show. The National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (NGMA-M) brings it out annually, with the support of Bombay-wallah artists. The five-storied architecture of the NGMA-M unfolds like various departments in a magazine : usually one retrospective 'Artist's Profile' section that helps re-think the revered artists, then a section that upholds collectivism in art, and a section that vies to internalize the otherwise 'peripheral' visual arts, another that facilitates showcasing the choice of a set of art-public in the city (critics, celebrities, corporations, artists, this time the 5 major Galleries), and yet another that showcases leading young artists en theme. Critically, the show does not leave a composite impact. Neither do the curators intend such an impact.
Instead, each section has its highlights, and a section becomes the highlight of the Magazine. Cosmopolitan 'Bambai' thus cheers up to the spirit of a five-in-one cocktail (and the opening night blooms even without a millilitre of alcohol)! This year's Magazine, equally extensive, was opened by theatre doyen and art connoisseur Ibrahim Alkazi, on October 20. As the invitees auscultated to Mr. Alkazi's heart for the arts, few smart ones had already started eyeing the works featured.
The 'Art Gallery's choice' section seemed all set to make history ahead. With important works by Hussain, Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Prabhakar Barwe and Atul Dodiya, it almost resembled a fireworks display! A Krishen Khanna painting of the 1970s, though highly restored, commanded a collectors' gaze. It is learnt that this sizeable Khanna
painting is a new acquisition by the Sakshi Gallery, who took the painter's authentication on the restored work. The painting also intrigued critics, for its wavy, complicated structure with six human figures. This monochromatic specter is not about Christ being shrouded, but about the trauma of losing a loved and revered one.
K. K. Hebbar's mini-retrospective profile welcomed the viewer with his seminal work of a period when he had been highly influenced by Gauguin and Sher Gill ( 'Sunny South' - 1956). Hebbar's dancing line took many curves through his artistic career, and most of them were represented.
Curious were the two works dated 1946 and 48. A student of the JJ school of art, Hebbar could not evade the movement characterised by the presence of Jagannath Ahiwasi as a teacher of the 'Indian Drawing' class. Both these were family portraits (Artist's mother, his wife and daughter) turned into an miniaturish loyalty to the flat surface, the Indian decorative fervour... and yet, the work (esp. Mother) has
impulsive occurrences of the Western, Academic anatomical correctness.
Compare Hebbar's Sunny South, a detached composition of human figures, to his late (1993) painting of the Railway Porters! Proficiency in handling colour, line and texture is, through decades, impregnated with pathos for the subaltern. Indeed, many of the 25-odd oils showed Hebbar's engagement with the subaltern. Fisherfolk, village devotees, folk performers, revellers at a wedding ceremony... all these
essentially shared the Nehruvian ethos of upholding the subaltern for the traditions they enliven. Hebbar's Railway Porters, listening probably to a visually visually- challenged beggar's flute, go beyond this 'speaking for the subaltern' idea. They are the subaltern who can speak. They are not themselves engaged in an act... instead, they are consuming it. A sweeper there, cannot be a part of the group of porter men. The Orwellian ' some are more equal', works.
The Hebbar profile show was preceded by a collective quilt. Made of equal-sized canvases by female artists : Lalita Lajmi, Meera Devidayal, Anju Dodiya, Jin Sook Shinde, Dhruvi Acharya, Sejal Kshirsagar... 14, in all. Mostly Bombayites, most of them seemed to know how to paint their signature stuff! Some, like Devidayal and Jin
sook experimented. Had it not been Brinda Chudasama - Miller's effort to install them, the pieces would have looked quite odd against each other. A sheer absence of collective identity still dominates.
Pottery-artists from across the country, old and new, found their pedestals in the fourth section. Loaned from the collection of Sanggeta Jindal, Pheroza Godrej and Prafulla Dahanukar, it had artists like Jyotsna Bhatt, Angad Vohra, Brahmadev Pandit, Kiran Gujral... and mid-career or newer talents like G. Reghu, Vineet Kacker, Madhavi Subramanian, Vinod Daroz. It was also interesting to note who has
collected whom.
The next section, 'Diary of an Art-work', worked on the seeing and believing capacities of the viewer. The notes and visual documentation of the process behind the work displayed here, spoke less with diaries. Some fell in the trap of self-boasting, some lured themselves to process-based photo-collages, some others hid their process under the verbose carpet while writing a generic 'artists statement'. Some jotted words assuming it is the dictionary-publisher's problem if viewers do not understand what they mean; while there was a small sub-set, who photocopied the relevant dictionary entries to render the viewer baffled. Kaushik Mukhopadhyay subtly negated the wathch-while I work voyeur and questioned the curatorial brief, as Santosh More visualised the dilemma of 'being asked' to create. As a coordinator,
Brinda Miller seemed to have provided specific points that would suffice a viewer's urge to know whatever that goes into the process (this was also evident from some of the artist's notes; while many others mocked 'em! )... and despite this mockery, you'd see a pletohra of visual talent. Sandeep Paradkar's uneasy ochres talking directly to you of the odd-but-everyday occurances around Mumbai, A dialectic of
within-without :well-visualised by Santosh Kshirsagar, and Sunil Padwal, A story-labytinth by Himanshu Desai.. to top it all, there was a work just downstairs the NGMA-M dome : Archana Hande, who was inspired to do a Patua-chitra story-book for Urban young people, chose to show the films she made on 'Pata -chitrakars'! Process, thus, was more important than her product.
What the Mumbai Magazine Show lacks is editorial bias. Yet, a lot of activity happening around the show, the delight of re-finding known artists and locating the less-known, sets it apart from gossip and coffeetable Magazines.
- Abhijeet Tamhane.