Roopantar: five printmakers showcase creative dimensions and journeys of art
In this two-part photo essay, we feature a range of artworks from the India Habitat Centre, along with artist and curator insights on creativity.
Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 770 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.
New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre is hosting an exhibition by five printmakers this month, titled Roopantar (‘transformation’). It features the works of Dattatreya Apte, Kavita Nayar, Anandmoy Banerji, Sushanta Guha, and Moti Zharotia.
They are part of the collective called Multiple Encounters, comprising artists from different parts of India residing in the capital region since the early 1980s.
“The response for the exhibition has been fantastic. Anyone who visited was astounded by the range and expertise of the modern printmakers,” curator and art historian Dr Alka Pande tells YourStory.
“Art is the soul of society. In some ways, art is even a conscience keeper,” she adds.
Her current exhibition explores the processes and patterns of change that occur in our space, time, life, and experiences.
“There is also a section of the exhibition depicting the catalytic forces that inspired and guided these artists’ lives,” Pande describes.
The exhibition includes workshop sessions for young print artists, along with talks and open-house discussions.
An art connoisseur who was at the exhibition and had also visited US museums commented on the differences between US and Indian artworks in terms of scale, abstraction and decoration, Dattatreya Apte recalls.
“Art has impact if it raises questions in the minds of the audience,” he explains.
Such themes need to be expressed in a proper manner, otherwise audiences will forget the imagery soon after they leave the gallery premises. Creativity and advanced skills are needed in this regard.
“Success and failure for an artist are connected to inner exploration and the degree of satisfaction with the completion of a particular work,” Kavita Nayar explains.
When artwork is rewarded, it is icing on the cake.
“Even without the external reward, the journey towards the successful completion of the creative process has more meaning and is more rewarding,” she affirms.
“Art is self-expression as well as expression of external stimuli. It is a reflection of the time and space we live in, and a construction of our period,” Anandmoy Banerjee describes.
“Art is an imaginative board, and a flight to eternity,” he adds.
All the exhibiting artists call for more art appreciation in society.
“Art education should be taken up seriously by schools, so that artistic perspectives and practices are imbibed from childhood,” Banerjee advises.
He explains that art education is about culture and not just paintings. "It includes dance, theatre, ceramics, sculpture, and more,” he adds.
“Art experiences should start from childhood, like visiting local museums, monuments, bookshops, and local fairs,” Guha suggests.
This exposure helps young minds absorb things around them and appreciate their importance and beauty.
“The circulation of art images at large scale via textbooks, print media, and electronic media will expose the general public to new ideas,” he adds.
He urges people to regularly visit art galleries and museums. This helps them see diverse images, and understand different ways of doing things.
“They will start trying to understand art at their own level. Otherwise, they may just wonder and ask what it is,” he says.
“The more they see, the more they will enjoy and understand,” Guha signs off.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
Dattatreya Apte
Moti Zharotia
Sushant Guha
Anandmoy Banerjee
(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at the exhibition.)
Edited by Swetha Kannan