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Foreign hands, native vision

New Delhi sees its first exhibition of foreign artists living in India. RANA SIDDIQUI takes a look

INDIA ON CANVAS Naresh Kapuria, the curator.

The India International Centre Annexe is hosting a unique exhibition of paintings by non-Indian artists living in India, particularly Delhi. Put together by artist and curator Naresh Kapuria, the show, titled Different Strokes on Canvas, is presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The artists featuring in the exhibition are from Britain, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, The Netherlands, France and Bangladesh. All of them have made India their home.

Take for instance, Sterre Sharma, a trained artist from The Netherlands who has been living in India for more than two decades. She takes a keen interest in the street life of India and brings elements of it to her canvas by sketching puppeteers, acrobats, magicians and musicians, et al. Found in the current exhibition is Sterre's painting depicting the face of a Kathakali dancer, titled Kathakali Chamcha. The colourful headgear of the dancer gives way to countless spoons, and the upper portion is lined with the wrappers of a well-known mouth freshener and packets of popular potato wafer brands. The white paint on his nose is indicative of a clown trying to act as a Kathakali dancer, while he is actually a crying example of mindless advertising. Sterre is also known for transforming utility items into objects d'art through her foundation Kalakar Trust, which she has been running for more than a decade. The trust, located at Shadipur Depot, provides a platform to underprivileged artistes.

Another artist participating in the exhibition is Lily Raina, an India-born French artist. A doctorate in Arts from The Netherlands, she works with the widows of Vrindavan. She depicts them through a spectacular `dry point pencil technique', or metal point on paper, as it is commonly known. The widows make a heart-rending appearance in her works, some moving in groups, some meditating, some sitting alone, waiting for someone. Lord Krishna also forms an integral part of her miniature-style creations.

Artist John Edward, hailing from the U.K, brings to his works his fascination for the colours and life of Rajasthan. Formerly head of painting and sculpture at St. Martins School of Art, London, John's works are a riot of colours depicting arches, windows, drapes and other colourful elements characteristic of the State, in geometrical shapes tucked into each other.

Yuriko Lochan, who has been living in India for almost two decades and specialises in oil painting, exhibits her trademark serene, minimalist works inspired by nature.

Multifaceted

A collage of works by foreign artists living in India.

Rajaul Islam Lovelu and his wife Shahin Akhtar Lipi from Bangladesh are multi-faceted too. Rajaul's three-dimensional works in wood, cane, metal and terracotta draw inspiration from nature and stand apart because of the motif treatment. Shahin, also an art conservationist who has worked on historical themes with the use of colour fixing and balancing, portrays nature at its serene best.

There are others, like the husband and wife team of Viladmir Zaitsav and Natalia Kravtchenko from Russia. While Viladmir draws his inspiration from the legendary painter Roerick and hence paints the scenic beauty of Russia, Natalia, known for her bio-resonance therapy, aimed at understanding the healing effect of painting on the immune and nervous system, takes recourse to Buddhism. Her small works on Buddha are meditative, with the interplay of mystical hues. All these works put together not only provide a window to what these artists from foreign lands are portraying in their works, but also reveal an interesting facet. Most of these artists have taken recourse to Indian ways of making art. Hence, lots of colours, Indian themes and local culture make their way into their creations.

Comments Kapuria, "These artists find variety on the Indian land. They find it surprising that Indians worship different gods in the form of nature and animals. Most of them are fascinated by India's colours and its culture, and hence, they end up trying to incorporate all these in their works." The exhibition concludes on July 12.

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