Works at One

Sakshi Sisodia: Corner for Dreams

2011-02-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

Over the past week Gallery One has been proud to have on display a work by Sakshi Sisodia. Sisodia's work portrays her struggles to reach out to what she feels is an enormity of bright light and life. Her paintings do not merely represent her visual experiences and emotions. They manifest an artistic fusion of her physically limited vision coupled with intensely imagined illusions.

Sakshi was born with very low vision due to albinism, and a congenital facial deformity known as cleft palate (which causes faulty speech). Together these physical challenges have led to a kind of dyslexia. But in spite of these limitations...and just because of Sisodia's grit, uncanny will power and indefatigable spirit...she completed graduation and received a Master of Visual Arts.

Sakshi completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2007, going on to earn a Master of Visual Arts in Creative Painting in the year 2010...both degrees from M.S. University, Baroda. She has also worked for one year in a Post Graduate program of Museology.

The painting Corner for Dreams says a lot about Sakshi's inner vision and quiet strength.

Bhupesh Kavadia: Story Teller

2011-01-24T03:41:00.000-08:00

Bhupesh Kavadia's sculptures often seem to resist the presumed "purity" associated with white marble. Born in 1969, Bhupesh tangles with complex social issues in his art, using unique approaches to infuse his work with meaning and subtext. As in the work above, Kavadia is known to irreverently cover his surfaces with printed text taken from news clippings and other media.

Gallery One is pleased to present a large work from the artist's series Story Teller.

As Kavadia himself explains:

This series is based on the concept of as how a narrator in a stage play comes in and around reaching the audience directly narrating some script and some storyline alongside other actors who are also performing different characters. This sort of direct contact with the audience via impactful dialogues inspired me to do this series. Hence these sculptures stand in front of the society as 'narrators' telling some or other stories of this era.

The narration starts with a poem:

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build the big bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks.

-Bob Dylan, from Masters of War

In this particular sculpture the narration speaks about ''Uncle Sam's War Mart'' as how in this highly civilized society the market for fatal and very destructive armaments is prepared with such a selling and marketing strategy as same as to sell a condom or a cola.

This segment of the narrative of Story Teller shows us a white profile with gold in its brain and what appears to be shrapnel piercing its skull. Sperm-like spires surround the head, suggesting hyper-masculinized pawns in a game of military chess. Story teller is speaking, like the soliloquy of a murdered man upon a darkened stage.

Gallery One is pleased to have this work on display. It is not for sale, as it has been previously sold.

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Sayed Irshad Ali: Shoe Men's Property 1 and 2

2011-01-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

Artist Sayed Irshad Ali begins the new year at Gallery One with an installation designed to reawaken our memory and increase our awareness. Shoe Men's Property 1 and 2 refers to the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. The political boundaries of each are created out of iron: one filled with "oil" and the other spilling mobile phone batteries out of its center...mobile phone batteries containing lithium, one of the rare minerals found in abundance in Afghanistan.

We are asked to be reminded of the rich resources of both countries: oil, gold, copper, lithium, cobalt and more, and contemplate the materialistic motives behind the invasions of these countries, and the lives lost in pursuit of wealth.

Iraq rests upon desert sands, while Afghanistan hangs on its side...the edges of its perimeter suggesting the peaks of the country's mountainous terrain.The small motorized "shoe boat" that circles aimlessly in the basin that represents Iraq refers to the shoe thrown at former US President George Bush by an Iraqi journalist. This shoe-throwing became a symbol of anger and frustration and a sense of exploitation among the Iraqi people. But the very white shoe in Shoe Men's Property symbolizes America as it circles the boundaries of its newly acquired "property".

Please view this superb video of Shoe Men's Property made by the artist...complete with the audio that accompanies the installation.

Sayed Irshad Ali talks about "Shoe Men's Property 1 and 2"

2010-12-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

Interview conducted with the artist while Shoe Men's Property 1 and 2 was under construction in December.

Coming Soon

2010-12-30T06:03:00.001-08:00

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A Christmas Tree at Gallery One

2010-12-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

Beginning on Monday the 20th, Gallery One will be going through some interior re-modification for the upcoming new year.

During that time we are once again pleased to hang a work by Shankar Kumawat in our window. This painting from the artist's series Silent Nights conjures up some of the peace and tranquility associated with the Christmas season.

Wishing everyone joyous holidays, and a Happy New Year.

Gallery One will return with new artists and new installations in 2011.

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Soghra Khurasani: Brave Heart

2010-12-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

Gallery One is pleased to present the work of Baroda-based artist Soghra Khurasani.

The installation Brave Heart is actually a combination of two works...the woodcut triptych of the same name, and a three minute video titled Do This, Do That.

In the video Khuarsani explores the idea of individual desire and freedom, and how those desires and freedoms are controlled and manipulated by forces beyond our control: government, family, religion, neighbors, friends, and loved ones. The video leaves us reflecting upon individual choice and societal obligation.

Coupled with the woodcut triptych Brave Heart, we are left to think of how this conflict between self desire and societal pressure affects our emotions. The heart is shown to be a fragile organ of veins, arteries, blood cells, and muscle. We can only hope our hearts are strong enough to make the proper choices in our day-to-day lives.

Above is the artist's video Do This, Do That...and below is a short and informal phone video made of the installation itself.

Height of Exploitation at Gallery One

2010-11-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

The sculpture Height of Exploitation by Parivesh Shrivastava and Vijay Yadav is certainly proving to be the biggest attention-getter at Gallery One in a long time (perhaps the most since Madame X.'s Disappearing Barber's Chair). It is wonderful to see how tourists and locals alike are stopping to look... and then take an even closer look. One of the major ideas behind Gallery One was to get art out of the "white cube" and put it closer to the street and the average person.

Above, proprietor and artist Rajesh Soni poses in front of the gallery, while in the post below you can read more about this work of art.

Parivesh Shrivastava and Vijay Yadav: Height of Exploitation

2010-11-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

(above: Height of Exploitation while on view in Jaipur)

Gallery One is pleased to present the work of Parivesh Shrivastava and Vijay Yadav, collaborative artists living and working in Jaipur. Parivesh, who hails from a family of traditional painters, has joined forces with sculptor Yadav in a recent series of works that comment upon consumerism and the invasion of western-style material values into traditional Indian culture. The artists mix a humorous satirical approach with serious issues.

Height of Exploitation is a life-sized cow, made of paper suspended upon invisible bamboo supports. But this is not an ordinary cow. The colourful bovine has had every inch of its "skin" covered with labels and advertisements for meat and dairy products. The two artists spent days downloading commercial graphics from the Internet that promote such things as Amul dairy products, McDonald's burgers, Burger King fast foods and Hormel canned meats. Surfacing the cow with these downloaded graphics makes a powerful statement about the modern tendency to see everything in exploitative and purely commercial terms.

A replica of a milking machine has been attached to the cow's udder, and even a "methane generator" has been rather irreverently inserted into the cow's behind. At the Gallery One installation we have added a stool and a traditional brass dhood charu (milk container) placed at a distance in the corner of the gallery. Perhaps this dhood charu suggests a counterpoint...a more kind, traditional, and humane way of viewing the life-sustaining possibilities of our inter-species relationships with domesticated animals.

Shrivastava and Yadav have made similar work using an image of a chicken as their springboard. In discussions while they visited us in Udaipur it seems their next projects will develop the commentary on consumerism even further. Gallery One is proud to be presenting Height of Exploitation, giving one of their iconic works its debut in Udaipur.

Shankar Kumawat: Four from the Series "Silent Nights"

2010-10-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row Gallery One is pleased to present work from Shankar Kumawat's series "Silent Nights".

Kumawat's imagery is taken from the tranquil stillness of a rural Rajasthani night. In spite of the series' idyllic name, the imagery can conjure tales of hard work, isolation, and the small and large dramas of village life.

It is this mixture of dark quietude with underlying narrative that makes this series haunting and evocative.

Shahid Parvez: Shower of Love

2010-09-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Shower of Love is Shahid Parvez's first installation at Gallery One. Shahid is a well-known artist in Udaipur, and his childlike paintings have captivated people from all over the world. Parvez returns us to times of innocence, to the very young ages when our lives were filled with much more magic and wonder.

A young girl holds a bird in this painting, petting it with affection. Above her a man crouches, strangely bird-like in his own form. Gold hearts rain down upon the girl (his daughter ? his young wife ?...or is this bird-man some kind of guardian spirit ?). We are left guessing, but feel the warmth of pervasive love. Hanging from the gallery's ceiling are fifty paper hearts that spin on their strings.

Parvez regularly exhibits at Dhoominal Art Centre in New Delhi, and has participated in exhibitions worldwide. We are happy to display Shower of Love at Gallery One.

The Trellis Woodcut Portfolio: Installation Views

2010-09-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Displaying the Trellis Woodcut Portfolio at Gallery One presented us with a challenge. Previously the gallery has shown only one work at a time (or at the most, two). With the Trellis Woodcut Portfolio we were confronted with the problem of how to creatively display ten different prints in our extremely small space while also making them visible from the window.

The idea was to relate the contemporary woodcuts to Rajasthan's tradition of wood block printmaking on cloth. Using a folding screen (a "trellis" if you will), we worked to make a display that asked a viewer to draw an analogy to the block printing methods of Rajasthan, while also incorporated imagery from the portfolio prints themselves.

The Trellis Woodcut Portfolio, Opened and Closed

2010-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

Woodcut Portfolio from the Trellis Artist's Circle

2010-09-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

Gallery One is proud to premiere a portfolio of woodcut prints made by the Trellis Artist's Circle in Bangalore. This portfolio, housed in a handsome box made from handmade paper, consists of ten woodcuts made by Deepti Sharma, Harisha V., Lina Vincent Sunish, Prasad K. J., Sachin D. Naik, Satish Shivarudraiah, Urmila V. G., Vaidehi Raja, V.G. Venugopal, and Vijay Sarathy C.N.

Trellis Artist's Circle (T.A.C.) was initiated by a group of individuals for whom printmaking formed a common bond. Beginning as a collective, the members of Trellis Artist's Circle share their talents and enthusiasm to create, promote, and explore the many facets of the fine art print.

Since Rajasthan has a long history of printing in the form of patterning cloth with the use of carved wooden blocks, Gallery One hopes this display will solicit comparisons and engender enthusiasm for a renewed and contemporary use of woodcut printing methods in the state.

The displayed portfolio is one of a limited edition of 25, out of which only 14 are for sale to the public.

We thank the people at Trellis, especially Lina Vincent Sunish and V. G. Venugopal for letting us exhibit this marvelous portfolio.

Sachin D. Naik

Satish Shivarudraiah

Harisha V.

Vijay Sarathy C. N.

Lina Vincent Sunish

Urmila V. G.

Vaidehi Raja

Prasad K. J.

Deepti Sharma

V. G. Venugopal

Janmashtami at Gallery One

2010-09-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

This Krishna Janmashtami we at Gallery One have installed a special tribute to the love of love and the love of fresh butter !

One of Waswo X. Waswo's photographs from the series New Myths hangs enlarged to super-size in the background, as a pile of blue mutkas will slowly build into a pyramid symbolic of the contests of human pyramids that celebrate Janmashtami throughout India on this day.

The mutka pyramid will be completed and crowned with a gold mutka on the day of Janmashtami...symbolizing not material wealth, but shining happiness in the rich enjoyment of life.

Rajesh Deb: Dream Lover

2010-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

Currently on View at Gallery One.

Rajesh Deb

Dream Lover

The young Bengali artist Rajesh Deb specializes in large scale woodcut prints made on either hardboard or canvas. Deb's works explore the world through symbolic imagery which is often coupled with strangely evocative writings that seem taken from the realm of fable and childhood. Indeed, Rajesh Deb is inspired by the "nonsense verse" of various Bengali Poets.

Dream Lover is a typical example of Deb's printmaking, utilizing red, gold and black paints in this woodcut on canvas.

Dream Lover belongs to a private collection and is not for sale.

Call for Artists

2010-07-31T04:02:00.000-07:00

This August we begin our second season at Rajesh Soni's Gallery One in Udaipur.

Gallery One features just ONE artist at a time, generally represented by just ONE work. Our space is only 8 x 10 feet, is never "open", but always viewable through our display window. Think of Gallery One as a large shop window just for innovative artists to use and make a statement.

We welcome installations, video, and traditional media. We look for work that addresses social concerns in innovative ways, but also like to keep our minds open to other possibilities. Young and creative artists are most welcome. It all depends upon your ideas and work, not your resume.

Exhibitions generally run for a period of two weeks.

If you have a proposal, an idea, or would like more information, please send an email to the exhibitions coordinator:

waswoxwaswo@yahoo.com

Chiman Dangi: Search for Energy

2010-03-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

Our latest work at Rajesh Soni's "Gallery One" in Udaipur is an installation by Rajasthani artist Chiman Dangi. It is a smaller replica of a much larger sculpture the artist recently made at the village of Sar outside of Jodhpur. Made primarily from cow shit, with a bit of plywood and jute used at the top, Chiman's "Gas Cylinder" addresses the wise use of local fuel. His artist statement is below.

Search for Energy

Around the globe, a major cause of discontent among people is the scarce availability of energy resources. Every country tries to sustain itself and meet the challenges of the developing world. In the 21^stcentury there is more and more likelihood that nations will go to war over energy resources.

The search is on for non-conventional, abundant, inexhaustible, non-polluting, cheap, and efficient sources of energy that can sustain the human race in the long run.

My sculptural creation is inspired by simple village folk. With a little help from technology, Biogas as a fuel can be a locally made alternative source of energy. It is cheap, not much polluting, sustainable and affordable.

This sculpture is created from dried cow dung cakes. It asks us to look for simple, uncomplicated, practical and innovative ways of using the world’s resources. If we think and work together, we can leave a better world for our children.

Anne Vilsbøll: Welcome to the Water Palace

2010-02-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

Our latest installation at Rajesh Soni's "Gallery One" in Udaipur is the work of well-known Danish artist Anne Vilsbøll. Her very personal take on Holi, and its relation to both fire and water, can be read in her artist's statement below.

Welcome to the Water Palace consists of painted sticks used for Holi fires and plastic water taps bought in the Udaipur market, plus two painted images on pieced-together old account papers. The peepul leaves were added in deference to local sensibilities (or some people's lack of sensibilities?), with apologies from the gallery to the artist.

Anne Vilsbøll: Welcome to the Water Palace

2010-02-24T08:27:00.001-08:00

Anne Vilsbøll: Artist Statement and Bio

2010-02-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Anne Vilsbøll

WELCOME TO THE WATER PALACE

thoughts on Holi, fire, and water

“After watching electricity cables burning, fumes

and fog everywhere, feeling the scratches of pigments on the skin, my dreams need water, plenty of water!

“The wooden sticks, sold on each and every corner remind me of my childhood game Micado. The plastic water taps in vivid colours are so very simply Indian, I like them a lot – although their brilliant colours fade in the sun! In my dreams the sticks and the taps got

combined and the sculpture “Holi” was made, symbolizing the tree and the precious water.

“During Holi the wood burns, but by help of water, the wood is reborn. By help of water, the fire disappears. Sometimes I have had the vision that we - our bodies being two thirds water - could extinguish the fire ourselves!

“Open your own spiritual body taps!”

The Danish artist Anne Vilsbøll came to Udaipur in 2000 to collaborate with miniature painters for her project “Welcome to the Water Palace” for the Danish Museum The Art Centre Silkeborg Bad.

She ended up purchasing a hotel in Udaipur in 2001, which today is the Artist – in – Residence house “Makanne.” The past ten years Anne Vilsbøll has worked on different projects in Udaipur for two to four months a year - many times during Holi festival. Attending Holi has had a major influence on her dreams.

www.annevilsboll.com
www.makanne.dk

Andrew Horsfall: Untitled

2010-02-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

British born sculptor Andrew Horsfall plays with a curvilinear rhythm that defies the solidity of the medium itself. Both sensual and mathematical, Horsfall walks a line between geometry and seduction... giving the viewer both a puzzle to me mastered, and an enticement to revel in this sculpture's polished surface.

Shankar Kumawat: "Wood"

2009-11-26T03:43:00.000-08:00

The diptych Wood is a painting in two parts. We can see it as “before” and “after”. Or perhaps a tale of two villages.

Kumawat's painting, which is from the series "Silent Nights", asks us to think about deforestation and the wise use of natural resources. But it also tells of village needs for cooking and warmth. Central to the painting is a plea for respect of beauty and the natural environment.

The unpainted teak frame (not visible on this blog) adds both irony and reality to the ideas expressed in paint and gold leaf.

Madame X.: Disappearing Barber's Chair - Final Night

2009-11-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

Night view of Gallery One on the last night of Madame X.'s Disappearing Barber's Chair.

Madame X.: Disappearing Barber's Chair - Day One

2009-11-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

A street view from the first day of the installation Disappearing Barber's Chair by Madame X.

Photos of the last day of the installation will follow.

Madame X.: Disappearing Barber's Chair

2009-11-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

The installation Disappearing Barber's Chair by Madame X. features the above photograph printed life size on industrial vinyl sheet. It is held in a metal frame, as is common with signboards. In front of this image sits a real barber's chair. It is an older variety, made of welded iron and cushioned with cheap vinyl cloth.

Each day of the installation the chair is covered with more and more shaving foam from locally purchased aerosol spray cans, until the chair "disappears".

In India the local barbershop serves as not just a place to get a shave. It is in fact a small community center, where the men of a neighborhood meet to talk, share local news, discuss politics and business, and also make new friends. As in much of the rest of the world, India’s small barbershops are under threat by the introduction of home shaving foams and razors.

These days it is difficult to find a small barbershop in large cities such as Bangalore, where men have followed the lead of television advertisements and now shave at home. This installation by Madame X. pays tribute to the small family barbershop, and asks us to think about the ways global markets can swallow local traditions and ways of life.

We hope to have actual installation views posted within a few days time.

Madhu Chitrakar: "Progress"

2009-10-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

The folk arts of Bengal include narrative scroll paintings that itinerant artists couple with song and storytelling. Traditionally such scroll paintings retell various myths and religious stories, or perhaps recount local history.

Madhu Chitrakar follows in this rich tradition, but reinvents the narrative scroll in a contemporary context. "Progress", which is the scroll currently exhibited at Gallery One (my apologies for the distorted view given above) is one such example. Just click on the image to enlarge and see the details.

The painting reads from left to right and gives a "naive" view of the destruction of natural beauty. But the artist is completely sophisticated in his awareness of environmental destruction caused by urban sprawl and touristic development.

Shankar Kumawat: two from the series "Silent Nights"

2009-10-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

This Diwali we inaugurate Gallery One, a new space owned by Rajesh Soni and curated by myself, Waswo X. Waswo.

Gallery One is probably Udaipur's smallest art gallery (the floor space measures less than 8 x 10 feet!). We are located on the road leading to Chandpole.

In spite of our small size, Gallery One hopes to serve up exciting and innovative displays that will encourage not only the appreciation of creative art in Rajasthan, but also address important social and cultural issues.

Our first exhibition is by local Udaipur artist Shankar Kumawat. Two paintings from the series Silent Nights evocatively comment on the issue of the importance of water in India's dry north, and the need to literally capture every drop.

Each painting measures 27.5 x 27.5 inches, and are water-based pigment plus gold leaf on board.

Rajesh Soni and I hope this inaugural exhibition will be the start of many exciting shows to come.