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Inside Keren SouzaKohn's home studio: Exploring her life and art

As we once again visited Keren SouzaKohn's lively home studio nestled amidst the lush green paddies and red roads of Saligao, our gaze fell on her colourful artworks reflecting life in Goa. Splashes of green, blue and intimate depictions of unhurried life in the coastal paradise uncovered vibrant portrayals of quiet village moments, the local folk and bustling markets. This immediately made us wonder about her artistic journey so far, and hence we embarked on yet another interview focusing on the life and art of Keren SouzaKohn.

Inside Keren SouzaKohn's home studio: Exploring her life and art

Amina Ahmed Kar: Of Artistry and Academia

Amina Ahmed Kar’s intellectual and creative pursuits were ever-evolving. Her dual legacy as an artist and academic is reflected in her oeuvre, which remains largely unexplored. As one of India's early abstract artists, she created works across various mediums. Call it the academic in her who would leave no leaf unturned or an artist in search of her creative expression, Kar’s body of work transformed endlessly.

Amina Ahmed Kar: Of Artistry and Academia

Chatting with GPT4.0

In trying to ascertain the quality of the images produced, we decided to chat with GPT-4.0. Please note that the artworks (The First Avatars) were painstakingly created after training a StyleGan model with portraits and various augmentations.

Ram Kumar: The Visual Metaphorist

Ram Kumar’s existence in the art world was much like a peaceful mountain, exuding a sense of serenity and enduring presence. The reticent artist wielded both the pen and brush but ultimately embraced the latter as his mightier sword of choice. Born in 1924 in Shimla, Kumar’s meditative surroundings deeply affected his sensibilities as an artist. He imbibed a sense of calm from the silent mountains and the clear blue skies that found expression in his paintings. His affinity with nature, the serene flow of slow-seeping rivers, the allure of solitary spaces, and the haunting charm of abandoned structures would all combine to establish him as the foremost significant abstract painter in the Modern Indian art world.

Manjit Bawa: the only pure abstract work recorded on canvas

The artwork shows a “free-floating form” signed and dated lower right, Manjit Bawa, 1977, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 53 inches, with impeccable provenance.

Manjit Bawa: the only pure abstract work recorded on canvas

An interview with Lalitha Lajmi

A ray of light enters Lajmi’s room and falls on a half-painted canvas. The artist’s room is dipped in evening hues as twilight knocks on the door. Brushes stacked in paint holders stand in awe-filled unison like silent spectators as unsuspecting Lajmi continues to paint into the night. Seated on a wooden chair propped up on two cushions, Lajmi’s creative spirit knows no rest. Lalitha Lajmi’s nocturnal artmaking which was first born out of necessity is now a habit she has woven into her creative process.

Inside S.H. Raza's last studio

A meditative quality fills the senses as one steps into Raza's creative sanctuary in Delhi. Walls of art adorn each corridor, doorway, and room, giving one a glimpse inside the artist's mind. The leitmotif of Bindu in Raza's art looks out from all his canvases. While old photographs and a typewriter tell stories from another time. This studio is an exhibition of Raza's intimate world as an artist and a dreamer.

Unearthing Bhanu Athaiya's artistic achievements

Bhanu Athaiya was the first woman artist to receive a gold medal from the J.J. School of Art for her work 'Lady in Repose', which was the first-ever abstract painting to be made by a member of the Progressive Artists' Group . This work which she addressed as Lying Lady in one of her handwritten letters along with The Nuns was painted as a part of her study at J.J. where Vasudeo S. Gaitonde was her mentor. In 1952, Gaitonde created the artwork 'Painting No.1' displayed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Unearthing Bhanu Athaiya's artistic achievements

Artificial Intelligence: Competitor or Creative Collaborator?

In the quest of identifying the most important new technologies transforming the art world and creative processes - we focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in particular. It is essential to understand how artists are weaving in technology into their practice while various art galleries and museums rewrite the rules of an exhibit. It is further important to analyse and gauge the potential of the blockchain as a suitable ecosystem in commercial art.

Artificial Intelligence: Competitor or Creative Collaborator?

M.F. Husain: The King of Hearts by Ashvin E. Rajagopalan

The only time I have seen M. F. Husain in person was at his exhibition in honour of singer M. S. Subbulakshmi at a gallery in Chennai (Madras) in 2004. Wearing no footwear, except for thick black socks, and wielding a massive paintbrush in one hand, Husain was surrounded by a group of Chennai’s socialites. I was patiently waiting behind them to meet Husain when he suddenly popped out and said, “Hello”. I was giddy with excitement and asked him to autograph the invitation card I had in my hand. He did so and quickly moved on to greet the next visitor. Husain was as excited to meet unknown gallery visitors as they were to meet him—the energy was amazing for a man who, at that time, was 91 years old. A year or so later, Husain left India, never to return.

M.F. Husain: The King of Hearts by Ashvin E. Rajagopalan

On Bhupen Khakhar's encaustic painting - Ranjit Hoskote

At first sight, this encaustic painting – rendered in heated beeswax, into which pigments of various colours have been mixed – seems to be worlds away from what most viewers know of Bhupen Khakhar’s work. There are no limp-limbed yet curiously wide-awake men from a broad middle class; no domestic interiors laid out for erotic encounter; no playful or picaresque encounters among figures whose ordinariness is belied by some eccentric bodily feature or undecipherable gesture. No figures at all, in fact.

On Bhupen Khakhar's encaustic painting - Ranjit Hoskote

Manjit Bawa: the lyrical painter

Once upon a time, a dreamer derived his painterly language from Indian mythological tales, legends, and fables rich in moral and spiritual lessons. Manjit Bawa (b. 1941) introduced fragments of his thoughts, ideas, and poetry into the rational world throughout his artistic oeuvre. Born in Dhuri, Punjab, Bawa's childlike fascination with music, spirituality, and philosophy breathed heavily on his canvas. Manjit Bawa's artworks are mystical musicals that strike a chord and capture a dream.

A historical rediscovery: the second PAG Catalogue, 1950

Stated below is the text of the second catalogue of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in collaboration with the Calcutta Group. Gobardhan Ash's works were exhibited in the joint show of the Calcutta Group and Progressive Artists’ Group alongside masters such as K.H. Ara, Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain, S.H. Raza, H.A. Gade, and S.K. Bakre at Calcutta in 1950. This document is indeed a historically prominent yet lesser-known artistic discovery in the world of modern Indian art.

A historical rediscovery: the second PAG Catalogue, 1950

Gobardhan Ash: the quiet master artist

A silent, dedicated artist content amidst the walls of paintings stacked in his Begampur mud house stirred a quiet revolution against the preconceived notions of artistic expression. No wonder Gobardhan Ash (b.1907) carved a niche for himself as an individualistic artist who fearlessly explored diverse artistic styles and techniques.

An introduction to the Weavers' Service Centre

Years ago, artists from various walks of life gravitated towards a creative anomaly near Mumbai's Opera House. The Weavers' Service Centre was established in the 1950s by Pupul Jayakar. Masters such as Prabhakar Barwe, Anand Mohan Naik, Gautam Waghela, Ramesh Vaghela, and Gopal Adivrekar designed textiles at the center for years to support themselves while exploring their identities as artists.

An introduction to the Weavers' Service Centre

Pages from Bhanu's handwritten notes

"My father, a multifaceted man, was far ahead of the times. His thirst for knowledge led him to explore avenues of learning beyond scholastic and academic boundaries. He would travel to Mumbai frequently to collect books on various subjects ranging from painting to photography and embroidery to film making. These books were imported from Britain by Englishmen who had big stores in Mumbai.

Gaitonde & Mohamedi at Bhulabhai Desai

Artists don’t exist in a vacuum. The feature looks at the works of two Indian artists who occupy a special niche in the art world. This feature looks at VS Gaitonde and Nasreen Mohamedi through different prisms.

VS Gaitonde's Paintings - Technique And Processes

Abstraction refers to non-representational art, Figurative art refers to something with reality - both definitions are broad and have to be in fact, as otherwise, it would be seemingly impossible to categorize many artworks. What's the connection between these definitions with Vasudeo Santo Gaitonde's art? The connection becomes clear thanks to a recent exhibit at the Prince of Wales Museum (now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay).

VS Gaitonde's Paintings - Technique And Processes

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde - A Tapestry

Gaitonde grew up in Nagpur, Maharashtra, and studied at the J. J. School of Art. In 1947, he was invited to join the Progressive Artists’ Group and went on to become one of its original members. He worked with various mediums and used a roller and palette knives to create his layered texture, which later became his signature style.

Two rare works by N.S. Bendre

Born in 1910 in Indore, N. S. Bendre trained at the State Art School in Indore in 1929. Bendre’s early works can be described as Impressionist and academic in style. He is well known for founding the Baroda Group of artists in 1956 as well as founding the Lalit Kala Akademi in Delhi.