Six contemporary international artists showcase in India for the first time at Galerie Isa’s new exhibition, Lush Strokes, Phantom Forms
American painter Robert Ryman once said, ‘Abstract painting is just the beginning…all possibilities are open to it.’ Lush Strokes, Phantom Forms, a new exhibition at Galerie Isa, gives six international artists an opportunity to explore this thought further. It features the works of Mattias Bitzer, Andreas Eriksson, Secundino Hernández, Rachel Howard, Paul Fägerskiöld and Wolfgang Tillmans.
All the artists hail from different parts of the world and dabble in diverse mediums including art, sculpture, mixed media and photography.
ODE TO ABSTRACT ART
Pujan Gandhi, who has curated the show, got the idea for the title when he came to Mumbai for his summer internship at Gallery Chemould in 2007. He says, “This city is where I got my feet wet in the art world. At that time, the monsoon was on and I loved it. That’s how I came up with the title Lush Strokes, Phantom Forms.”
The show, which is the brainchild of Gandhi and Ashwin Thadani (the owner of Galerie Isa), has been in the making for a year-and-a-half. The former says, “When we started thinking about this exhibition, we were talking about abstraction because it’s something that is obtuse but intuitive and philosophical When artists create such works, they try to figure out their own process, which can also provide meaning and reflection to viewers.”
Secundino Hernández from Madrid displays elements of line, composition and colour in a few works, while in others they appear as fresh pigments. Pujan explains, “Secundino is probably the most abstract expressionist of the group. Sometimes you can make out pop references from the streets of Mumbai. The other extreme is palette painting where the palette is heaped before you start art work.”
MYRIAD MEDIUMS
Talking about Berlin-based Matthias Bitzer, Pujan says, “He is interested in perceptions of knowledge and manipulates them. In the process, he has come up with a mosaic of work titled Textures of Continuity that tricks the eye. It seems like various tiles with rigid lines are at play, but on a closer look, they appear flexible. Here, he has used a vibrant pallete that is in sync with Mumbai’s spirit.” In this show, German photographer Wolfgang Tillman traverses the route of the river Nile in his work Nile. He compares it to the structure of roots, thereby driving home the implications of global warming. British artist Rachel Howard has a tactile relationship with her canvases and talks about paint as though a sculptural material. For one of her creations Clear, Map, Grid, she derives inspiration from seismic topological elements.
Lush Strokes, Phantom Forms, opens today and continues till January 9, 2019 at Galerie Isa, Fort from 11 am-6 pm.
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