Vistaar

September 2007 

Group show curated by Sushma Bahl

Presented by Gallery Seven Art at ‘The Stainless’, New Delhi

The phenomena of art as a way of life traversing through the sacred and the profane, is the essence underlying the unique collection of 20 original art work specially made by a select group of 40 creative individuals working together in pairs. Vistaar in its concept, approach, range and aesthetics’ takes forward the rationale of art as a complete human activity upheld by two of our great art historians and cultural experts A.K. Coomaraswamy and Rabindranath Tagore,where artist of all form and designs, be they painters or sculptors, designers of products, fashion or jewellery, visualisers of advertisements or installations, architects or new media practitioners, companies or group engaged in the business of artistic creations, craftsmen and others experts; in an expensive and inclusive range, collaborate to represent the vision, vitality and plurality of living arts of contemporary India is an ongoing continuum that threads the dual domains of classical civilization as its roots and new age concepts and technology as its fruits . The importance of dialogue, teamwork and an open door policy in assimilation of the ethnic and the modern is perceived as a necessity conducive to democracy. Its impact on the cultural development of multilingual societies with heterogeneous ethnicities and veritable worldviews such as India has been high lighted also by eminent modern thinkers including Amartya Sen. Searching the roots The intertwining of art and life at a high level of sophistication continues to be reflectede in the beautifully designed terracotta birds perched on thatched rooftops in rural Orrisa, painted interiors of Madhubani folk hamlets, Gond tribal men and women adorning elaborately embroidered clothes, the intricate jewellery in beads and silver worn by people of desert land, incredibly designed wooden toys for children from Uttar Pradesh, exquisitely produced house hold items from Gujarat, amazing temples carvings at Khajuraho, detailed cave paintings at Bhimbedkar, perfectly proportioned religious figuration in bronge from Karnataka, elaborate stone sculptures of damsels from Mahabalipuram, architectural marvels such as Taj Mahal at Agra, handmade illustrated manuscripts from Rajasthan and numerous other beautifully designed and immaculately produced high quality arts-facts; exemplifying the inextricable interlinking between arts and life in India since ancient times. This unique feature of holistic creativity and arts as a way of life continues to be reinterpreted in newer form and aesthetics in today’s globalised urban India honing the creator and the rasik (beholders’s) intellectual sensibilities to transcendental level…Read more

Sushma Bahl

Vistaar, A Return to tradition

Is Art making about invention and innovation or is it reflective of a state of being? Is this collaboration between artists and designers contrived or is it the result of a natural evolution of our sense of aesthetics? Considering the implications of these questions one unravels the intention, behind artistic practices of nation in the history of humankind. In examining this legacy, we formulate and comprehend our sense of aesthetics in current practices, defining and re-defining its ideals of pursuit…Read more

Gopika Nath