Auteur of arts

Renowned curator and art critic Geeta Kapur spoke to Deepali Meena about the criticality of an independent path of exploration through contemporary artworks

Geeta Kapur believes that the power and aura of being a curator comes from a certain kind of intellectual thinking in order to produce a concept of artist (observing and critically analyising the works of art) and work around it. In the era of modern art, Kapur came up with the ideology to present art by honouring and celebrating the 50th year of Chemould (Prescott Road) Gallery.

In September 1963, Shireen Gandhy’s parents, the late Keeku and Korshed, started Gallery Chemould to give a voice to individual artists. India’s contemporary fine art series curated by Kapur in the past years will categorise both the difficulties and satisfaction of making peace with aesthetics. “An exhibition tests our disposition to confront or surrender, to activate our cognitive functions or celebrate states of immersion” said Kapur during a book launch of the exhibition catalogue Aesthetic Bind. As one of the seminal voices of a post-1968 tradition of Leftist art criticism in India, she said,  “I can’t say I inherited my critical approach. But I do have confidence on my research and critical writing.”

In 2013, Chemould Prescott Road celebrated its 50th year, for which Geeta Kapur curated a series of five simultaneous exhibitions in Mumbai under the over-arching title: Aesthetic Bind which prompted her to write a book about the same. In the book Kapur aesthetics as “indistinguishable from the turbulent unconscious and the ground of subjective struggle.” And by the word bind she meant bondage, compulsion and dilemma. The book revolves around Kapur’s critical analyses of around 52 contemporary artists ranging from sculptures, portraits, watercolour paintings, photographs and sketches based on their skills and techniques.

“The book is divided into five sections which will provide a brief of the realm of autonomy and freedom which was driven by the need for a renewed form of subjective knowing that has come to be centrally placed in the contemporary discourse, including that of the political ethics,” mentioned Kapur.

Subject of death

This section is dedicated to the 10th death anniversary of Bhupen Khakhar, who was a well-known name in Indian contemporary art circuit, and specially supported by Chemould during his initial times. It gives the reader a brief understanding about the reality of death that comes unannounced. Many artists depicted the concept through their aesthetics paintings, like Slow surrender to mortality by Gieve Patel and Sudhir Patwardhan, Bullet shot in the stomach by Bhupen Khakhar, Known to Unknown by Srinivasa Prasad.

Citizen Artist

This section of the book outlines the concept of a citizen that implies both “subjection” to the state and a subject position. The artist or citizen artist’s work was to focus on India’s deprived and deserted citizens, which includes an identifiable working class, minorities, tribal, nomadic and Dalit communities. 

Rashid Rana, who was one of the citizen artists, illustrated the concept of “nation state” through his painting titled What lies between flesh and Blood three. Arun Kumar’s Country and city: Everyday Strangers depicts workers standing on footpaths in urban states to find temporary employment. Pushpamala N illustrated the leading role of women in French Revolution through a powerful picture of a lady with French flag in one hand and a rifle in another.

Phantomata

Each painting and photograph in this series depicts truth of a painting through digital projection. The Enlightening Army of the Empire by Tushar Joag presents a comic army which is made up of lights. This work was first conceived during the American invasion of Iraq. Man threading a needle is an oil painting on board and its video projection by Ranbir Kaleka shows a working class man in a vest concentrating on his minute task. A Landscape near the commonwealth Games Village by Pratul Dash throws light on the pollution of the river Yamuna and environmental neglect of the area.

Cabinet closet

It is a personalised art historical archive inspired by the concept of Wunderkammer (Room of/for wonder which has plethora of artwoks kept in cabinets) from the 16th century which appears as a prototype of the museum — crammed with artistsic objects like paintings, sculptures, and maps from floor to ceiling. Into Exile by Paula Sengupta stresses upon the painful exile of Tibetans. Mithu Sen’s Mou (Museum of unbelongings) displays objects like impermanent toys and unusual belongings related to history of vernacular culture.

Floating world

Cosmology, a revolving earth, oceanic flows and cartographic representations of the globe’s topography, which includes subjects like migration, transmission and transcultural traffic, are covered in this section. Blue and Gold by Desmond Lazaro is one of the iconic images in the Indian pantheon, depicting the universal principle of unity in multiplicity. Mappamundi by Gulammohammed Sheikh deals with the theme of walking the world, using both geography and cartography. Kapur concluded the session with the statement, “Artist curator is a different category and you must respect that category.”