Winter has arrived with a vengeance, heralding the culture season. Every art gallery in Ahmedabad has something on and the exhibits keep changing on a weekly basis. The Hutheesing Centre, for one, has been curating a series of group shows, the latest of which is Shaam-e-Art, featuring works by 25 artists from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Mumbai.
For the average viewer, a group show is more interesting in that it offers variety. It is like listening to a symphony orchestra or watching a ballet. Or a movie with an ensemble cast. There’s so much more to take in. The Hutheesing Visual Art Centre is a relatively large space and ideally suited to group shows. Shaam-e-Art offers up abstract art, landscapes, spiritual works, using mediums ranging from water color and charcoal on paper to acrylic on canvas. There are four sculptures using ceramic and fibre reinforced plastic as well.
One of the most striking works on display is a pair of abstract paintings by Siddharth Patel, titled Privileged and Underprivileged. Siddharth also runs a travel agency, but business was dull in the first year of the Covid pandemic, leaving him free to concentrate on his art. He’s been an abstract artist from his early years and believes you can see something new every time you look at an abstract painting, which is why you never get bored with it.
Another interesting pair of paintings is by Jesal Dalal, an architect-turned-interior-designer-turned-painter. Dalal’s two paintings are landscapes done in an impressionist style and have enormous depth. “Art is a dialogue between the artist and the canvas, the artist and himself and most importantly, the artist and the viewer,” she says.
Artist Gaurav Tapodhan has two powerful charcoal-on-paper works on display, titled Human-I and Human-II, depicting two torsos that look rough and yet strangely delicate. The way he has drawn the hair on his two subjects gives them distinct personalities. Another impressive pair of works is by Nayana Mewada, who has been inspired to paint Ahmedabad’s Dhal ni Pol and Bhadra Fort from her own perspective.
No Indian group art show would be complete without paintings of gods and goddesses from the Hindu pantheon. At the Shaam-e-Art show, this slot is filled by Frenali Patel, an Ahmedabad based art teacher. She has contributed two paintings of Ganesha, in bright pink and blue. They are appropriately positioned right at the entrance to the exhibition.
The Shaam-e-Art show in on till 5 December, from 4 to 8 pm at the Hutheesing Centre.
