Alka Chadha Harpalani
“The love of colour is a fundamental part of the nature of every human being”
-Zolton Szarbo
An exhibition charged with aesthetic arrest of sensations in direct depictions and transformations- ‘Meanderings- Journeys of the mind’ was held in April 2023 under the banner of ‘Art Stream, Bangalore’ by six artists of myriad styles at Karnataka ChitrakalaParishath Bangalore. The Artists were Srinath Bidare, Alka Chadha Harpalani, Basavrajachar KR, Milna Sajee, Shankar Lohar and Mynu Y.
The show had noticeable footfall and bagged intriguing acuities vis-à-vis the exhibition from distinguished critics, writers, curators and artists. As per a renowned artist from Bangalore Ganapathi S Hegde, “Alka created various layers with yellows, blacks and whites and managed to create aesthetic bond between the elements, unraveling memories, images, unlocking a bunch of poems, showing the expansion of life and subtraction. Milna’s paintings are a picture of the feelings arising from silence, calmness of the mind, visions, energy and emotions. Srinath Bidare’s works are like listening to good music, where gentle colours in the frame, pulls the eye to discover secrets of tone and rhythm. Basavarajachar’s images capture worldly objects, human weakness, and black and white drawings enfolding old memories. Shankar Lohar’s works are adorned with sun and tree as the symbol of our culture. Mynu’s lithography and woodcuts have concern about the changing world through geometric forms like square, circle, and triangles.”
Recognized artist Ganapathi Agnihothri said, “One cannot imagine life without colour’ Everyone’s artwork is different- experimental, creative, soulful and definitely an art exhibition with characters. It is possible to see how line has become prime element in the artworks of Srinath, Basavaraj Achaar and Mynu. Alka’s artwork reflect experimental streak, add to a contemporary home recalling an event, experience or past. These artworks open up the possibilities to be seen in a different light. Psychological abstractions in Milna’s and Mynu’s artworks are remarkable. Shankar Lohar’s art is full of captivating lines, an attempt to simplify the use of element. Following Neil Gaiman’s saying one should ‘Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.’ And find another way.”
Kiran Bagade, the eminent art historian not only wrote a poetry for the show but also put his review across by saying, “To engage with the creative process and inveigle responses to ascertain the premise and logic leading to aesthetic salvation with the current art works on display, there were very many interesting interpretations and juxtapositioning of their personal convictions and narratives. Each of them had a much arrived sense of absolution and varying degrees of intense thoughts and triggers to process before rendering the works on display. For me personally, I rejuvenate and enrich in the universe of the creative enterprise, for there is the gateway to pick thoughts and provocateurs that make an artist who he or she is all about. I then set about putting my inferences and connect the dots with art on the display walls to construct my verbal narrative and weave a tapestry of their thoughts and mine. The redolence of abstractions is a very fundamental premise to engage thematically as a genre of art expression. Srinath Bidare delivers a delightful thump of multi terrain verse and inspired by rock formations. Nature to be discovered for its pristinity and beatific beauty from within the bowels of craters beneath, Srinath charms the earthy starkness and renders Nature and its divinity as ordained through his abstractions and insouciance with a grace rare and subtle. There are queries that lead to profusion of positivity with crevices of the canvas. The golden sheen is resplendent, clarified resolution of thoughts and influences that invoke settlement. The show “Meanderings” has a very humdinger connect and bonding with Alka’s personal experiences and episodes of substance that dwell in her mixed media works on display. A personalized perspective of her travels and keen eye for cultural and vibe of location are assiduous in their presence with symbiotic harness in her expressions. Straddling both worlds of digital intervention and motifs that embellish the aesthetic narrative is a very pleasant story board and colourful parables of mirth and acuity for settlement. Multi media has that humbling caress of making a point with a dash of genres in the mix, and Alka Chadha Harpalani deftly engages the viewer with untold stories to be discovered and connect the dots. A reflection of many moods, vibes and latitudes of beckoning nuggets, placed to emit and partake in the journeys of Alka. The Echoes of Silence- the arc of human condition with a cerebral prism is a microcosm of many worlds straddling to gain ascendancy of soul. Milna Sajee renders a humbling immersive expression encompassing the varied spirals that pose intermittent challenges of roller coaster thoughts and traipses of mood swings and thrushes that emancipate our innards and core. The abstracts are delicate slices of life that borders on melancholy with hints of multi colours that posit happiness in ebbs and flows of the human condition. Her innate connect with the theme is immersive as she is a professional psychologist. There are varying degrees of comfort metaphors for leadership of thought that recurringly emerge in all the works on display. Often it is said, mind is mouldable crucible and the thought ingredients determine the flow of ideation and versatility of mind. Milna Sajee demonstrates this reality and conviction with ease and aesthetic prudence. The featured works by Basavarajachar, Shankar Lohar and Mynu are quite interesting and layered.”
It’s easy to come to a conclusion on more recognizable, explainable features of an artwork like the physical proportions and dimensions than on imperceptible components such as mood, temperament, psychosomatic effect, and insinuations of thoughtful distortions. Appreciation of these hidden makings needs sensitive observations. A few images may seem ambiguous and meaningless to some people, but they can prove to be a contentment of senses, stimulus of imagination, and a world of lucidity or reverie for an artist. Among the dialogic connection of enhancement and cordiality, there are borrowed ingredients, expressional fluency and exploitation of the accidental in the exhibited artworks.
The roup show was inaugurated by distinguished senior artists SG Vasudev and ChandranathAcharya. The onlookers enjoyed the interplay of vibrant contrast of forms, asymmetrical arrangements; and vitality, agitating patterns, variation in tones, a torn paper; anything and everything which leads to sequence of sensations: impulse, frustration, excitement and constraint, release and so on.
