ART | Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo: "Urban Narratives – A City's Story –"
ART | ESPACE LOUIS VUITTON TOKYO
Urban Narratives
At ESPACE LOUIS VUITTON TOKYO, the art space on the 7th floor of the Louis Vuitton Omotesando Building, the sixth exhibition, "Urban Narratives," is being held from Saturday, January 26th to Monday, May 6th (holiday). This exhibition features works by four emerging Indian artists led by curator Nanak Ganguly.
Text by Winsome Li (OPENERS)
Reflecting Social Realities Through Art from the Perspectives of Four Indian Artists
This group exhibition showcases works by four artists based in Kolkata, India: Adip Dutta, Snehasish Maity, Sekhar Roy, and Piyali Sadhukhan. Through a diverse range of genres, from canvases to multimedia installations and video, they express their free creativity.
First, Snehasish Maity. He confronts various social issues he has identified, translating ideas that cannot be fully expressed in two dimensions into three-dimensional works titled "Mask" and "Anna - Silent Voice." The installation "Mask" features a video of Indian streets playing inside "masks" made from plastic bottles. It represents the noise and crowds of Indian cities, or as Maity puts it, "our shared suffering." These bottles are used in large quantities in India due to their low cost, even if they contain harmful substances. "Anna - Silent Voice" is a striking, picture-like representation of Anna Hazare, often called the modern-day Gandhi and a social activist in India, created by stacking old newspapers.
Sekhar Roy's "Skyline" is a monumental installation depicting the cityscape of Kolkata during the British colonial era. At that time, under British rule, Kolkata saw a rapid increase in modern architecture, including skyscrapers. While seemingly a contemporary city, invisible social issues still persist. Roy expresses this reality through paintings within the installation, depicting the faces of Kolkata residents suffering from poverty.
The sole female artist among the four is Piyali Sadhukhan, who focuses on issues such as the decay of gender roles. As an Indian woman, Sadhukhan channels her feelings about gender discrimination in Indian society into her work. Her main piece is an installation featuring eight female figures arranged in a circle. The chests and spinal areas of the figures are obscured by a form of proliferation, symbolizing the "protection" afforded by society. The female figures connect to three paintings, depicting muscular female bodies. The female identity is hidden by this "camouflage of muscle," expressing her feminist desire for self-protection and freedom.
Adip Dutta's work diverges from social commentary. He is an artist who creates objects, with everyday items serving as motifs. Recognizing the aesthetic appeal of commonly used objects, he transforms them into delicate paintings or enlarged sculptures. The giant hair clip displayed outside the venue is an ordinary women's hair clip scaled up to monumental proportions, resembling an excavated fossil. His art directly explores the purity and aesthetics of "objects."
Experience the Narratives of Kolkata
These works strongly express the artists' thoughts about their home country. For curator Ganguly, this exhibition is densely packed with elements such as the deeply ingrained hierarchies in society, the resulting subjugation, the dogmas of prescribed thinking, gender inequality, violence, and the chaotic Indian life that arises from them, as well as the degradation stemming from discrimination. "When visitors come to this space and see the works, their own feelings become our message," says Ganguly. Within this space, constructed from an Indian perspective, visitors will find an atmosphere and fresh discoveries unique to the locale.
Urban Narratives
5-7-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Louis Vuitton Omotesando Building 7F
Dates | Saturday, January 26, 2013 - Monday, May 6, 2013 (Holiday)
Hours | 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Tel. 03-5766-1094
www.espacelouisvuittontokyo.com
Adip Dutta
Born in 1970. Received a Master of Visual Arts (MVA) from Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata and is currently a faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts at the same university. He has held five solo exhibitions, including "In pain I redeem love" at Art Dubai (2012) and "I have a face but a Face of what I am not" at Experimenter in Kolkata (2012). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as "Writing Visuals" at Harrington Street Art Centre in Kolkata and "Tell Tale; Fiction Falsehood & Fact" at Experimenter Art Gallery in Kolkata.
Snehasish Maity
Born in 1971. After obtaining a Master of Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, he was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the Government of India and received the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award from Canada in 1999. He has held three solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions both in India and abroad, including the "40th & 41st National Exhibition" (India), the "Osaka Print Biennial" (Japan), and the "Contemporary Indian Art Exhibition" at the Nehru Centre in London.
Sekhar Roy
Born in 1957. After graduating from the Government College of Art & Craft in Kolkata, he was awarded the Senior Fellowship by the Government of India in 2000. He has held solo exhibitions at numerous art galleries, including Gallery Space in New Delhi and galleries in Solingen, Germany. He has also held joint exhibitions at the Bagas Art Gallery in Dubai (2007) and NABC in Houston, USA (2006). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in India and abroad, such as "Visual Venture" at Emami Chisel in Kolkata and "Let's Go See Contemporary Indian Art" at the Scandinavian Gallery.
Piyali Sadhukhan
Born in 1979. After obtaining a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Visva-Bharati University in 2006, she was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the Government of India in 2007. She has participated in numerous projects, including the installation project "Design Delta: Exploring the Creation of Myths" based on a workshop held by Khoj Kolkata in 2012, the installation project "Boat" held in 2010, and "Logged" organized by Emami Chisel. She has also exhibited in numerous group shows.
