'DIAGONAL LINE' - Friendship Printmaking Camp, Guwahati (Feb.2011)

A friendship Printmaking Camp under 'Diagonal Line' is organised by a group of artists at Srimanta Shankaradeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati, Assam during February 6-9, 2011. It's a group formed by a bunch of like minded individuals from Bangalore, Goa and Guwahati who persue the medium of Printmaking. The entire programme was self- supported by the individual artists with the help of Kalakshetra and the artist community from Guwahati. 'Diagonal Line' which connects the artists from the southern India with the north-east, wishes to continue it's activities in other parts of the country as well with the sole purpose of exploring the Printmaking medium. We wish, the joy of working in a groups and bringing together the artists from different geographical and cultural backgrounds will go a long way in spreading the awareness about the medium and also to find new avenues to reach greater heights. In this journey 'Diagonal Line' seeks the support of all the sections of the art community.

Maneswar Brahma
Prasad K.J.
Harisha V.
Satish S.

Urmila V.G.

Venugopal V.G.

"Sethusamudram" Residency at Theertha International Artists' Collective, Sri Lanka

'Sethu Samudram', the art project that Theertha Internatioal Artists' Collective, Sri Lanka and No.1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore, India has developed collectively is envisioning to engage with and address this highly complex and variegated history and emotions surrounding the concept of Sethu Samudram, a mythical bridge that existed between India and Sri Lanka and foreground the links, similarities, and shared anxieties, emotions and histories between the two geographical areas.
The two countries, India and Sri Lanka, share more than just a geographical affinity; we have always been intertwined with history, mythology and a turbulent geopolitical situation.

The overall research area of the art project will cover a wide area of study that include society, politics, history, religion, mythology as relevant to Sri Lanka and India. The SETHU SAMUDRAM project would like to engage in the wider discussion of history navigating through the contemporary dynamics of art (involvement with, and discussion on ideological and methodological innovations of visual arts) within the region.

(*text from www.theertha.org)

"Commentaries in Print - An Exhibition of Woodcuts" at Gallerie Serendip

After a long wait we finally had our show of wood cuts under Trellis Artists' Circle at Gallerie Serendip in Bangalore. It was our primary and most important objective to show the works in Bangalore which was pending from almost 4 months. I feel it's worth a wait as the response was quite wonderful on the eventful day of 27th Nov.2010. Trellis Artists' Circle is grateful to Mr.Ravi Cavale for his support and encouragement.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloids/woodcuts-and-prints-706

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Entertainment+-+Lounge&sectid=31&con

recent watercolurs

In my recent works I've used the form of hanging t-shirts to make various visual statements in the urban context. As the t-shirt with words are becoming the symbol of urban youth and in that context my images addresses many issues related to the urban identity. The see-through forms project a perception of 'presence' as well as 'absence' of the visual simultaneously.
These are couple of my recent watercolurs....

vgvenu, nov.2010

Recent Activities...

Trellis Artists’ Circle (T.A.C.) initiated by ten individuals with a single thread of practice binding them together. It began as an informal collective for the enjoyment of the diverse forms of printmaking and as its first group activity we came together to create portfolio of limited edition woodcut prints.

The artists partcipated in the workshop:

Deepti Sharma, New Delhi
Harisha V, Bangalore

Lina Vincent Sunish, Bangalore

Prasad K.J, Tumkur
Sachin D. Naik, Goa
Satish S, Bangalore
Urmila V.G, Bangalore
Vaidehi Raja, Bangalore

V.G.Venugopal, Bangalore
Vijayasarathy C.N, Bangalore

We are extremely greatful to 'Gallery One' in Udaipur for displaying the works and thanks to Mr.Waswo who himself took the responsibility of a very creative display (refer pictures below).
Under Trellis Artists Circle, we are planning to have more diverse activities in future with a greater emphasis on various printmaking mediums.

'MONOLOGUES'

It is obvious that the crisis of personal identity is universal, any place is this world which inherits multi cultural and multi-social community faces this issue to quite a large extent. For every individual, traveling from the comfort of his/her home town and living in a completely different place, makes one feel insecure. One wants to belong and feel the city in one’s veins. Young artist like Venu has taken significant instances of a critical engagement with self imagery .The personal has become political; and the lived experiences is engaged in creating a dialog in a narrative context.
The artist’s younger contemporaries have subversive strategies with the language of painting; humor and wit are part of these stances. These artists have constantly pushed the limits of representation and the use of the body with these strategies. They emulate the conscious interplay of text and image, virtual and real in the zones of hyper-modernity. This show also brings into the focus aspects of autobiography and self –consciousness about the subjectivity. The uses of semiotic inter - textuality triggers the younger generation to relate to fantasy, consumerism and the ability to locate the self in the context of the nation state.
Bangalore has been an inspiration as an outsider for Venu. He felt misplaced; the body of works created for his first solo show in 2003 where the result of his approaches towards the multi-cultural, socio-economical situations of surrounding. Since then, articulating the process of fixing identities in this ever changing world became a major subject matter of his works. His preoccupation included the images extracted from ads, billboards, concrete structures, towering glass buildings, flyovers, pavement tiles etc. This thought process continued, although many other issues like water crisis, environmental concern came into the work later. In the recent water colour series titled 'couple', he has tried explore human sensibilities.
Venu is exploring introspective actions of humans in the drama of life and sexuality he portrays multiple aspects of humans and explores the paradox of their existence. The pressures of living and working in the urban context also involves the strategies of survival and negotiations between art and life.
His images are caught between complex situations and dilemmas of reality. They are self critical of our times, they are full of introspection. The figure is seen as part of the hinterland dream and reality, using domestic props, everyday objects like jackets for apples. He uses close-ups of fragmented hand gestures in action. The artist also explores the possibility of using stop motion animation as part of visual language and continues to nurture representation through drawing from life, in his recent short video. Venu’s figuration represents the here and now, and portrays an interpretation of everyday reality. The artist nurtures the fragile feelings of human emotions to construct meaningful imagery from his lived reality.

Suresh JayaramBangalore