Global Icons of Indian Art at 'Dvaita' in Ahmedabad

Opening just a week before the Winter Solstice, Dvaita a show presented by Neena Naishadh and Urmila Kanoria promises to be among the best visual art shows of the calendar year in Ahmedabad. The show features ten of the most glorious names in the modern and contemporary art scene of India. What adds to the allure of the show is that these 10 artists are among the top 5 artist couples of the country. Curated by Neena Naishadh, the showcase is ardently striving to be a beacon for budding artists of Ahmedabad through enriching movie screening and stimulating discussions at various creative institutes of the city. The featuring artists are Anju & Atul Dodiya, Madhvi and Manu Parekh, Sharmila Samant and Tushar Joag, V. Anamika and N. Ramachandran and Vasundhara Tewari and Rameshwar Broota.

Words aren’t enough to describe their contribution towards the field of visual art, and here is a short description of the featuring line-up at Dvaita:

Anju and Atul Dodiya

The observant artist Anju’s paintings relentlessly talk about internal and external theatricals.  While Atul Dodiya is known for lending unique perspectives to real life events and subjects. He is internationally recognized with a Sotheby’s prize and a Raza Award for his contribution. Both are products of JJ School of Art, Mumbai.

Madhvi and Manu Parekh

Deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore, Manu Parekh is famously known for his paintings on the subject of ‘Varansi’. Parekh, a Padmashri laureate is the first artist from Gujarat to have a retrospective at National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi. By his side is Madhvi Parekh, an artist in her own standing, she depicts childhood memories of women, children from urban as well as rural setups on canvas.

Sharmila Samant and Tushar Joag

Joag is an artist who can predict, visualise and depict future global muddles through his art. The artist is with Sharmila Samant, an art academician whose installation art, as well as celluloid, has stencilled various exhibitions and biennale internationally. She too works for the community.

V Anamika and N Ramachandran

The Lalit Kala Akademi award laureate Anamika is a Chennai based contemporary artist whose body of work revolves around the theme of ‘I’. The Tamil Nadu based artist N Ramachandran is a veteran painter, installation maker and an experimenting artist. He has travelled across the globe and brings with him a oeuvre of global perspectives.

Vasundhara Tewari and Rameshwar Broota

Narrating an anecdotal relationship between self and society, Broota is Delhi based artist who creates marvel in monochrome. Broota is known for his mastery over depiction of male bodies. Vasundhara Tewari is an exponent of figurative paintings and narrates psycho-political reality of a woman’s physicality through her work. Watching their work together will be a visual treat.

Curator Neena Naishadh, who had come up with ‘A Dialogue Between Easel & Chisel’ exhibition at IIM-A last year featuring Amol Palekar and Amit Ambalal wanted to bestow Amdavadis with the concept of couple art this time. “I took more than ten months to fetch these artists together. And I feel so proud to show that artist couple who live together are so diversely styled in expressions and creations.” Inaugurating on December 15, 2017, the showcase will be open for public viewing from 16th to 25th of December. Apart from viewing the artworks Naishadh underlines importance of art interactions and that is the reason she took the pain to ensure the presence of all 10 artists. Also scheduled are talks and a movie screening to further engage the art connoisseurs.

Vasundhara Tewari and Rameshwar Broota shall present a slide show and interact with the audience on 16th December at Kanoria Centre for Arts. This session is scheduled at 4 in evening. Kamal Swarup’s ‘Atul’ will be screened at CEPT Auditorium on the same day at 6.30 pm; Dodiya will make himself available for interaction following the screening. On 18th Manu Parekh will be giving an exclusive discourse to the students of CN Vidhyalaya at 11:00 am.

Dvaita will be an opportunity to see works of these luminous individuals, and at the same time, the curator-ship ensures diversity of thoughts being presented through the popular works of these masters. All of these couples belong to distinct aesthetic zones and it will be interesting to see how their works interact with each other when brought inside the boundaries of a singular show.