BackAn encounter with faces
An encounter with faces
PremiumBy Aditi Chakravarty
A group of artists have now used the multifaceted mask as a canvas.
Masks painted by 300 artists across India are on display at the Select Citywalk mall, Saket, New Delhi, from this evening at an exhibition organized by the Nav Siddhartha Art Group. Curator Asurvedh, who uses only one name, started the artists’ group 22 years ago. He decided to use masks because the canvas, in this case, also holds a meaning. “I feel our face is the foremost medium of human expression. So masks—used either to hide expressions or portray them—are a powerful tool," says Asurvedh, who is also president of the Delhi-based Nav Siddhartha Art Group.
Aditi Chakravarty, an artist from Assam, did an abstract “face of nature". “If you stare long enough at a tree, you find a face in its bark too," says Chakravarty. Delhi-based artist Arpana Caur went with her signature scissors, drawing on references in ancient texts to Yamaraj, the god of death, cutting our thread of life when our time on earth is up. Asurvedh’s own mask is a continuation of his series on preserving monuments. “Through this mask I wanted to portray how nature disintegrates as well as binds old monuments together," says Asurvedh.
Meanwhile, walking through the exhibition at Saket is a thought-provoking, reflective experience. Not only do you look at artworks, but at 300 faces looking back at you.
The International Mask Exhibition is on till 29 April at Central Atrium, Select Citywalk mall.
komal.sharma@livemint.com
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