Dark and light

Yes, black and white is beautiful, and an exclusive exhibition of only black and white works by 40 artists is being showcased in a city gallery this week. With artists like Akbar Padamsee, Ajay De, Gurucharan Singh, Laxman Aelay and others being part of this exhibition, it’s a good mix of styles.

All the artists have created fresh works especially for this exhibition. “Black and white is thought of as superior in many ways. It often looks better than colour. So I wanted to do this show but in small format. And I am glad that the idea excited many artists,” says Manvinder Dawer of Indian Fine Arts gallery. “There are a few artists who have worked in black and white earlier. And there are a few who I thought should try out creating art works in black and white because I was confident that they would create interesting works and they did,” he adds.

Ajay De has portrayed in the monsoon in his painting — a man pulling an autorickshaw with his umbrella. The monsoon atmosphere in his work comes out very differently in black and white. “Initially, it posed as a big challenge to work with black and white. Nobody easily accepted paintings in black and white; they considered it inferior to colours. And some people even refused to acknowledge some as paintings. But I had faith in my work and kept at it,” says De, adding, “Things have changed now and people are appreciative of black and white as well.”

Artist Laxman Aelay loves to show the play of light through black and white. He explains, “I have used a clay board and scratched it to get white linings. And my painting show the power of strength in the human body.”

The exhibition continues at India Fine Arts till April 7.