PARALLEL JOURNEYS / VIAJES PARALELOS

PARALLEL JOURNEYS / VIAJES PARALELOS
SUNAINA BHALLA & JORDI GISPERT
FROM 28/02/12 TO 8/03/12 Tue – Sun from 11am to 7pm.
Instituto Cervantes – Exhibition Gallery
In contemporary art, India and Spain are very distinct, yet they have two artists, two
towering individuals who influenced and touched the lives of people worldwide – Pablo
Picasso and Rabindrath Tagore. No single artist in India is unaware of Picasso, the
icon who gave the world a strong language of modernity. Meanwhile, in India, that
modernity was expressed chiefly through cinema (Satyaji Ray) and literature (Tagore),
rather than in fine art. Tagore has penetrated the Euro zone, though not necessarily in
the same intensity, with his idea of the universal human spirit. Tagore - the great
universal humanist, with his many facets of genius; a figure of literary excellence and
humanistic values; his commitment to modernity
Against this backdrop comes the journeys of two artists, Sunaina Bhalla, an
Indian artist who lives in Singapore for the moment and Jordi Gispert Pi an artist
from the region of Catalan in Spain.Both are thoughtful artists who are engaged
with their personal environment. Jordi comes to India for the first time with a
painting exhibition bringing „the largest painting” . Through the artworks the
signature style of Jordi is unfolded. Almost otherworldly magical figures which
center around the eco systems. Jordi says:"...The message of the art piece is to
provoke reflection and second thoughts about the current abuse of nature and the way
it is manipulated. The way trees have existed before humanity and the way trees exist
today after humanity. The assembly of the art piece allows for easy hanging against
any type of walls, and also allows for suspension from the ceiling. The viewing pleasure
of the art piece is maximized when the light reflects in 3 simultaneous modes..."
Sunaina on the other hand has been engaged with issues of gender in the recent
past. The body of her work seeks to foreground the increasing visibility of the
contemporary Indian woman. Sunaina wonders why Indian women feel the need
to pursue equality with men, when they have reserves of formidable strength
within and this is what the thematic of the show.
Parallel Journeys is an interesting trajectory of two diverse voices from two
different geographies expressing the emotions of two distinct artists
Dr Alka Pande
Curator
SUNAINA BHALLA is a contemporary artist of Indian origin, who currently lives and
works in Singapore. Born and educated in India, she moved to Tokyo in the late 90‟s
and has spent the last two decades in various parts of North and South Asia. The
cultural and societal influences reject in her style of work, which is an amalgamation of
the various art forms she has studied, formally and informally over the last 20 odd
years. Having completed her formal education as a textile designer specializing in print,
she chose to pursue an immersive education in Nihonga, when living in Japan and
spent 5 years working under Ohta-sensei of the Kyoshin-Do school, studying Sumie-e
and Nihonga – the traditional Japanese art forms of painting.
Her work is, in essence, a confluence of her experiences and observations in diverse
situations and contrasting cultures. Quite naturally her imagery revolves around the
societal impact of economic, political and religious issues prevalent today, and
represents her interpretation of social change in a rapidly shrinking world changing at
an incredibly fast pace.
Being an expatriate Indian with very deeply rooted sensibilities her views on the
volatility that is India on the world stage today is very evident in her work.
Sunaina‟s has exhibited in Japan, India, Singapore and Europe. Apart from being in the
permanent collections of the ESSEL Museum, Vienna and Mumbai Airports Authority,
India, her works are in various private collections globally. Her solo exhibition of the
themed series “The Rising Sun” was sponsored by The Japan Foundation as the art
representation for the 50 year celebration of Indo-Japan cultural ties. She is also one of
a select handful of non- Japanese artists who have been invited to exhibit their work in
Japan.
JORDI GISPERT PI is a contemporary artist student at the University of Barcelona.
Inspired by the counterculture, the symbolism and neohinduism adopts in his works the
ecosophic aesthetic.
He alternates studio work with orders from abroad, having exhibited his work in Spain,
France, Germany, Italy and the United States since 1980.
In an accelerated and eccentric age, the work that he presents moves away from
velocity and gestuality. It is slowly constructed. Patiently, the artist relishes the instant
with a meditative work, without past or future, and wants the observer to enjoy the
same experience, the experience of stopping time. The artwork does not want to
picture its historical age, but to reflect the ancient culture on earth to project itself
towards the future with the paradigms of profound ecology. These do not feed the
nostalgia of a gratuitous and unconscious lost paradise, but establish the possibility of
a garden designed and maintained by a clean technology.
The ideal of science is not destruction; this is represented by the spyglass, which
implies a more profound sight, that is, knowledge. In the twelve paintings of The
Longest Landscape in the World, changes of conception can be seen in the
approximation circles. The first ones introduce the traveller to the heart of nature, the
joyfulness of open fields. Later on abstractions appear that make reference to the
formation or protection of its singular cosmos. In paintings seventh, eighth and ninth,
ideas are thematically grouped, referring to drawing, writing and eroticism, respectively.
In the last terse, excepting the one dedicated to philosophy –treating upon the question
of the being-, there is a return to the beginning, looking for a structure of cyclic beauty.

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