Top of the class
Top of the class
In the constant struggle to find the hot new talent of the art world, curator Bhavna Kakar went straight to the source: her alma mater MS University of Baroda. At the school’s Faculty of Art final exhibition, where all graduating MA students present their work, out of some 200 pieces, Kakar found seven that caught her eye. As co-director of Art Konsult, a gallery in Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, Kakar decided to present the seven artists together at the gallery in a show representing the “Class of 2008".
She says that Baroda stands out in the art world because it pushes the students to experiment with different mediums. “At such an early stage in their careers, no one likes to experiment like this."
The show, therefore, has a broad range of mediums. Shreyas Karle experiments with large paper cones to identify emotions. Sandip Pisalkar has used an antique copper water heater and a spittoon to create a water cooler to play with the “historicity of objects". And B.V. Swetha works with textiles, cutting them apart and restitching them, in an attempt to work with the ideas of costuming and feminity.
Since choosing the artists at Baroda, Kakar says a number of them have been recognized for their talent beyond their university. Subodh Gupta, for instance, recently purchased one of Pisalkar’s sculptures. Pisalkar, Boshudhara Mukherjee, and Karle all won the Bodhi Art Scholarship for promising young talent every year. Karle also recently showed at the William Baars Project in Amsterdam. And Swetha participated in a textile show at Anupam Poddar’s Mumbai gallery, “The Loft".
Prices for the works range from Rs15,000 to Rs2.5lakh
To see the new breed of artists, visit the “Class of 2008" at Art Konsult, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi from 11 December to 10 January.
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