A collective of contemporary artists have put forward their idea of devotion through a motley collection of artworks.
Is devotion a mere tool? Or a religious observation or worship? Or is it an instant mantra to quell one's innermost disquiet? Or even is it all a grand delusion and religious posturing?
Artists including H S Raza, Manu Parekh, Madhvi Parekh, Raghu Rai, Shahidul Alam, Jagannath Panda, Chintan Upadhaya, Tasleema Akhtar, Pushpamala N among others grapple with the philosophical questions in the art show titled "Devotion" beginning here today.
Organised by city-based Gallery Art Positive which is celebrating a decade of promoting art this year, the show is curated by art critic Ina Puri.
Other participating artists include Mona Rai, K G Subramanyan, Narayan Chandra Sinha, Rehem Chopra, Vibha Galhotra, Valey Shende, Vivek Villasini, Riaz Komu, Navjot Altaf, Shakeela, Serena, Chittovanu Mazumdar, Ravinder Reddy, Paresh Maity, Jayasri Burman and Anupam Sud.
"The art works in the show portray multidimensional elucidations of devotion and the way it transmutes individual entities. There are works that conjure up peace and spiritualism while others that invoke disquiet and action," says galley owner Anu Bajaj.
The exhibition brings in an interesting exercise to examine the modern intellectual's notion about devotion.
Curator Ira Puri explains, "Great literature, art and cinema have always flourished in times of turmoil and strife. If censorship has imposed laws to stop the common man from protesting, art has provided the perfect platform for him or her to express angst through art.
Picasso's Guernica became a symbol so did Chaplin's Modern Times, if realism is the ultimate muse and magic realism is the tool," says Puri.
Exhibited artworks depicts devotion the most basic and profound human emotion since the inception of civilisation, in multidimensional forms and renditions reflective of each individual entity and his or her leanings or preoccupations.
Some works conjure peace and spiritualism but others invoke disquiet and re-action- engaging in either case reflective of their creator's devotion to the subject in hand.
