Two top knotch women artists known for their in-depth explorations, an abstract master who was a Neo tantra yogi and author who created sculptural paper dyes that celebrated meditative moorings. A Kerala artist who creates stellar landscapes and a stoneware and bronze sculptor who endorses the beauty of the human figure, these are a series of stand alone wonders at Art Mumbai Official’s debut.

Anjolie Ela Menon’s lingam and Anju Dodiya’s portraits became works to contemplate upon  at the Art Mumbai bouquet of an art gala. Anjolie Ela Menon’s Murano glass lingam at Apparao Galleries Booth, and Anju Dodiya’s mixed media laminate with painted fabric mounts at Vadehras, wove their own meanderings of cerebral conversations with verve. Along with those reflections was  famed author, abstractionist and seer Sohan Qadri’s paper dye ( Apparao Galleries) , KP Prasad’s Kerala landscapes, Satish Gupta’s robust bronze head ( Sanchit Art )  and  Rajesh Ram’s bronze  figure ( Palette Art Gallery ) that held their own.

Apparao’s suite of abstract wonders stems from Sharan Apparao’s curatorial history as one of India’s finest art gallerists with a historical edge. Anju Dodiya’s quartet at Vadehras creates a summary of autobiographical  annotations in art history in a melange of materials.Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna’s  astute articulations come through in their choice of artists at Palette. Sanchit Joshan’s resonance filled gallery unveiled art essence at its best.

Anjolie Ela Menon’s lingam

Murano glass and a lingam, the light filters through to create a series of design dynamics in Anjolie Ela Menon’s lingam that at once sifts the master from the rest. This lingam series  created as far back as 1998 at the glass blowing studio in Italy reflects the versatility and variety of genres that Anjolie traversed during her years as an artist of robust realms.

The transparency of the glass, the cosmic consciousness of the lingam and its many layers all come together to give us a spiritual echo that speaks in multiple moorings of an Indianesque ethos. Apparao had a series of shows of Anjolie’s glass works entitled Sacred Prism in the early years of 2000. This work brings back that memory of her finesse and her erudite aura as an artist of depth and dynamism. Anjolie’s understanding of Indian iconographic elements too stands the test of time in terms of her explorations into abstract territory. Her words ring true:

“The lingam or cosmic spheroid represents pure consciousness. It is serenely detached and self sufficient. Its erectness and translucent substance signify that it is consubstantial with the penetrating essence of the universe beyond manifestation.”

Sohan Qadri’s dyed paper symbolism

“When I start on a painting, first I empty my mind of all images. They dissolve into primordial space. Only emptiness, I feel, should communicate with emptiness of the canvas,” Sohan Qadri once said at his show in Sundaram Tagore Gallery NY. Though he started out painting in the impasto style using oil and acrylic on canvas and board, he discovered his spiritual medium in inks and dyes. He used Van Guelder paper – a heavy paper used for intaglio printing – and treats it to create a consistency ideal for ink and dye dispersion.

He  was perpetually seeking a medium where effort was superfluous. Deep states of being were not brought out by effort, according to him. But they were born of a state of mind. This work exemplifies his understanding and the gravitas that poured into the many patterns he evoked with individual techniques.

Instead of using subject matter drawn from the gritty urban world like many of his contemporaries, he searched for subject matter that inspired spiritual feelings and turned to an Eastern mode of expression full of bhava or mood. “I was focusing purely on colour and form without distraction from figure,” he said.

Qadri developed a methodology of painting that he would use for most of his life, dividing pure colors into three categories or parts: dark, warm or cool, and light. Dark colors form the earth element or lower level. Warm or cold colors denote energy, each of which possesses a different vibration and form the middle level, and light colors, the upper level. This allowed for a tripartite arrangement that could be organized in descending or ascending order.

Anju Dodiya’s winsome quartet  (Vadehras)

In a winsome quartet Anju Dodiya’s works celebrate the adage small is beautiful. Her faces are at once both  powerful as well as poignant in a pensive way, as she revels in the emotional theatre of her own private, inner world of allegories and allusions. She creates narratives that revolve around the eye and the mind in intuitive introspection. She creates monosyllabic conversations where the inevitable pauses are rumination.

Known for assembling imagery  from mythology as well as  autobiographical fiction, her repertoire now includes a series of  mixed media works on paper and laminate  mounted in fabric mounts, that have tensile tender emotions painted with  the wispy feather touch strokes of watercolour and tactile textures that reaffirm her place as one of India’s greatest contemporary figurative masters. Dawn Breaks and The Sharp Song both have their own cadences rippling into her passion for reading as well as her affinity for capturing elements of solitude. These four works look like four pages in a book of modernist metaphors. Enchanting however are the minimalist cadences that are added with the embellishment of fabric mounts that add a gateway to the emotive expression on the solitary faces in the centre. These faces are manifestations of mood, they capture the intricacies of her multifaceted approach. These four stylised female portraits create a rich, embodied space for feminine renderings.

Prasad KP’s landscapes of Kerala ( Palette)

The light shifts continuously in his native bound Kerala landscapes. Baroda dwelling artist  Prasad KP’s landscapes at the Palette Booth revel in resonance as well as the rhythms of lush tropicana and earth tones. As the day progresses, the relief patterns of his native land and  space constantly changes its appearance.

The architectural symbolism of the land  is both  alive and animated within its many nooks and crannies. Nevertheless, to breathe life into it, it requires a human presence and of course, light. Prasad takes many days to create his masterpieces that are created in keeping with the twilight shades of sunrise and sunset; the position of the sun, whose rays penetrate the terra firma, is different for each time of day and season, as is also the case in the famous pathways in the landscape , bathed in the light pouring through the shades of trees and facades of the forests in the hills of his native village.

As an artist Prasad aspires to create a universe within the spaces of his landscape he observes. On looking at his landscapes ,visitors can feel the existence of his universe and become aware of their own aliveness. Prasad’s  ideal is to get viewers to be attentive to his rumination.

Rajesh Ram’s sculpture ( Palette )

In an interview with me this year Rajesh Ram said: “ I’m constantly exploring the properties of the place of history amidst a fluidity and movement created with  heavy connotations of human reality  and the power of politics in the life of man .”

Rajesh’s human bronze figure at Palette Art Gallery ,contends with surpassing the limitations of the physical constraints of materiality while interrogating notions of perceived reality, power and strength within the history of politics, hybrid forms and the existence of man. The animated form of the human figure reflects his love for perfection and his passion for creating works that will remain in human memory.

Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of nature, history  and anatomy, Rajesh Ram  examines perceived material capabilities   in surprising ways from the haunts of history. The human sculpture with a flower on the head  represents  imaginative ,fascinating  forms, suggesting mathematical perfection to the fusion of  man as a metaphor, while the exterior surface reflects a shiny reflective armature ,in the polished patina resembling — metaphors for the human experience and where  real beauty in  humans can be found.

There is a seamless strain of  poetics within the juxtaposition of fragility and strength in the sculpted  forms that he  works with. Within the structure of sculptural vignette we see a  physical duality which unravels as a parallel to the very notions and paradoxes  of the human condition.This work is a natural evolution of Rajesh Ram’s  explorations of the physical nature of materials, the place of memory and the politics of  human behaviour.

IMAGES: Vadehra Art Gallery, Apparao Galleries &  Palette Art

END OF ARTICLE

When Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the incoming new president of the Venice Biennale, was once asked in an interview whether he was a fascist, the Italian rightwing journalist and public intellectual replied: “I am not a fascist. I am something else.”

After Buttafuoco was this week officially nominated to lead the oldest and largest cultural exhibition in the world, it is not just the artists, actors, architects, film-makers, dancers and musicians whose work will be shown at the coming biennales’ six events who are asking themselves what exactly that “something else” may be.

To the far-right party of Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, the former leader of the youth wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement party is an ideological ally in a battle against what it perceives to be an art establishment dominated by leftwingers. “Buttafuoco affirms a change of pace that the Meloni government wants to imprint in every cultural and social centre of the nation,” said the deputy parliamentary leader of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, rejoicing at the appointment.

Curators who have worked on previous iterations of the biennale, meanwhile, fear the 60-year-old’s appointment could follow a pattern familiar from Poland or Hungary, where rightwing populist governments have drafted in ideologically aligned polemicists.

It is possible that Buttafuoco, who will not take over from the current president, Roberto Cicutto, until March 2024, could surprise them both.

Born and raised in Catania, Sicily, Buttafuoco was a national leader of the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a party established by Giorgio Almirante, who was a minister in the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s government. As a journalist, he began working with rightwing magazines and the then MSI newspaper, Il Secolo d’Italia.

Since then, however, he has proved an eccentric type of conservative. For one, there is his 2015 conversion to Islam. “Call me Giafar al-Siqilli,” he wrote in one of his books, in honour of the emir of Sicily. Far from an act of provocation, Buttafuoco insisted his change of faith was a reconciliation with the history of his native region. “The identity of Sicily is Islamic,” he wrote. “Every market is a casbah, every club is a transfiguration of the archaic social code, and if the principle of long duration holds, it is the Saracen that endures still.”

While there are parallels between Buttafuoco’s political trajectory and that of Meloni, their relationship has not always been idyllic. In 2015, when Buttafuoco’s name emerged as a potential candidate for governor of Sicily in the rightwing coalition, Meloni used her veto as her party’s leader in the house to block his candidacy.

She cited his conversion as the reason for her objection: “Do we realise the cultural message, even before the political one, that we would give to the world?” she said at the time. “It’s as if a Christian were to be a candidate and elected in Istanbul.”

He has spoken out against the right to bear arms, a topic dear to the Italian right, and he has in the past accused the right of being too demagogic about migrants.

Buttafuoco has remained faithful to some traditional rightwing ideas, championing Italy’s historical cultural identity and opposing political correctness, but he does not couch them in populist terms. Among the publications that regularly publish his opinions are leftwing daily Il Fatto Quotidiano and the liberal daily La Repubblica, two publications fiercely critical of Meloni, as well as the centrist daily Il Foglio and financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Few of the previous holders of the post have been overtly political. During the 80s and 90s, the biennale was headed by a string of architects and film critics, but for the last 25 years its presidents have had a more technocratic feel: they were economists, bank managers and, in the case of Cicutto, appointed in 2020, a film producer.

Critics claim Buttafuoco’s managerial experience, including a five-year stint as president of the regional theatre Teatro Stabile di Catania and his current presidency of the Teatro Stabile d’Abruzzo, is limited.

The budgets he will have to handle with prudence during his tenure are considerable. The biennale has recently received a grant of €169m (£148m) from the Italian government and the European Union to carry out major repair works to the Arsenale exhibition space in Venice’s former shipyards and relocate its archive.

How much time that leaves for Buttafuoco to imprint any kind of ideological vision on the festival at all remains to be seen. While the biennale president appoints the artistic curators that set the themes of each of the festival’s disciplines, the national pavilions that attract most of the attention are curated autonomously.

One of the Italian right’s bugbears has been the conversion of the Italian-themed neoclassical palazzo inside the Giardini park into a central pavilion showcasing international artists, and the Italian pavilion’s relegation to the Arsenale venue. Some curators fear that Buttafuoco, spurred on by the Meloni administration’s infatuation with “Italian-ness”, could reverse that decision.

Others hope the new president will prove enough of a free thinker to resist a narrowing of the institution’s appeal. Francesco Rutelli, the former centre-left mayor of Rome and current president of Italy’s cinema association Anica, said the biennale’s historical strength was its role as an instrument of freedom. “I am certain that Buttafuoco, a free spirit, will be able to continue this and interpret it in the best way.”

Contacted by the Guardian for an interview, Buttafuoco said: “Not now. Let’s talk when the appointment, God willing, becomes official next March.”

“When they came into the world, their first words of welcome and comfort were in Salish. This was our gift to both of our children,” said Emma Noyes on Nov. 15 as a guest speaker at the University of Idaho for Native American Heritage Month.  

Noyes is an artist, author, researcher, and language activist, among many other things. In her speech, which took place in the UI Library, Noyes talked about the book she wrote and illustrated that was published in 2020, titled “Baby Speaks Salish.” 

Noyes, who is a part of the Colville Band of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, talked about how she grew up without the Salish language because her grandmother did not want her family to be discriminated against. As a part of that, Noyes did not grow up with her native language. 

“I grew up in a town where there were very few language speakers. I grew up with the gift of getting to hear the language spoken at our feasts and our Chinook dances. I got to hear elders in that context, but sometimes things would be translated and often they wouldn’t,” said Noyes. “It was generally acceptable that, of course, my generation didn’t know what people were talking about, or what they were saying. So in that, I would ask questions and I learned a few words here and there, but really, I missed out on the opportunity to learn from a lot of incredible first speakers.” Noyes said. 

Noyes also talked about what she was able to experience in her culture.  

“What I didn’t miss out on was gathering our traditional foods, hearing stories, the English version of those stories, and a lot of our cultural practices that can exist without language, but with language make so much more sense and are so much more rich,” said Noyes. 

To connect more with her heritage, and to give her children the opportunity to as well, Noyes is studying Salish and teaching her children their native language as well.  

“Baby Speaks Salish” started as a zine Noyes illustrated with a couple of words she was learning while pregnant with her first child. Her zine was picked up by a local publisher, Scablands Books, to be extended into a fuller book. 

Noyes talked about how she regularly writes and illustrates in daily journals. “Baby Speaks Salish” is reflective of Noyes’ 2D art style, with simple words that she wanted her children to grow up with.   

Noyes purposefully made “Baby Speaks Salish” to be interactive for children in other ways as well.  

“My work [“Baby Speaks Salish”] is in black and white,” Noyes said. “For early education purposes, it’s great to have materials that are in black and white because of how eye-catching it is to the earliest infant’s eyes.” Noyes said. 

People are also able to interact with “Baby Speaks Salish” by writing in it themselves. 

“I wanted the manual to be something that people could write more notes in or add more words to as they learn them and they could also color in and engage with the child with,” Noyes said. “Some of my other work has a lot of bright vibrant color, but very intentionally and very purposely, this does not,” Noyes said. 

“These bits of language, I think as I learn them it’s an opportunity to reconnect with their world or be able to heal from some of the great wounds of trying desperately to be able to protect the family and create safety, even if it meant to the detriment of being who you are,” Noyes said. “So the gifts of those, the past family and my family at present, that’s being able to grow and thrive with language learning. My future family that I imagine is going to have much more fluency than I ever will.” Noyes said. 

Georgia Swanson can be reached at [email protected]

CHICAGO (CBS) — When Jackson Pollock launched his famous “drip technique,” he took inspiration from Native American artists.

Now, during Native American Heritage Month, you can find some of the most influential Native art from that period at a gallery in Aurora.

CBS 2’s Sara Machi takes you to the Schingoethe Center.

In a sometimes quiet gallery on the Aurora University campus, Schingoethe Center Director Natasha Ritsma introduces a new visiting class to this first-of-its-kind exhibit.

More than 50 works from artists affiliated with the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe are considered the birthplace of contemporary Native art.

This traveling exhibition of modern Native American art from the mid-1940s through the 1970s —

“And very much in reaction to the very dark history of how Natives were treated in this country,” said the Director of the Schingoethe Center Natasha Ritsma.

Outlining the Native experience — in broad strokes.

“Getting to see the art in person is really a powerful experience for them,” said art history professor Libby Escobedo. “The show, in particular, has been really good because I think oftentimes there are holes in students’ knowledge of American history and this is really a chance to look at the Native American experience.” 

The works are bright, bold, and dramatic. A wide range of emotions from the artists.

“That is cool,” said freshman Sarah Wulff.

 “It’s interesting,” added  Christopher Tineo.

The center has a permanent exhibit on traditional native art, but this shines a spotlight on the history and heartbreaks of Native American life

Reimagined beadwork, references the Trail of Tears, through a modern style.

“Constantly I’m seeing new things in pieces,” Ritsma said.

“It’s kind of hard to specifically know what they are going for but that is kind of the beauty of it. Is that everyone takes their own interpretation of the peace,” said freshman Jaedon Vaughn.

It took organizers three years to get the exhibit here. It will be on display through December 15.

Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. A special exhibit at the Museum of Glass (MOG) in Tacoma, Washington, entitled Transitions: An Exploration of Glass by Northwest Native Carvers and Weavers featured the works of several American Indian artists.

According to the Museum display:

“Ancestors of the Salish Sea region continue to inspire and inform the next generations of artistic leaders and culture bearers. Translations represents a dialogue between familial generations, and continuing conversations about the evolution of indigenous art.”

In 2015, Native artists were invited to explore glass in a residency at MOG with expert glassblowers Dan and Raya Friday.

Open Thread

This is an open thread—all topics are welcome.