Sundaram Tagore brings Indian abstract wonders to Art Mumbai

Known all over the world for its interest and its tenacity to combine the finest voices in art across mediums ,materials and artistic practices in the world, Sundaram Tagore Gallery debuts at Art Mumbai with a host of stars across South Asian talents. But one must shine the light on two pioneers in abstraction ; the meditative tantric Guru Sohan Qadri and the brilliant Neha Vedpathak an Indo American artist who discovered her ‘plucking’ technique with Japanese paper in 2009, and has won several awards and been collected by world famous museums ever since. 

Unfinished detail

In an interview Vedpathak says she views her practice as a collaboration between herself and the material. She says she likes to ‘listen’ to the material and follow its lead. Her soothing yet eclectic blue toned work resists easy categorization and floats in an enigmatic space between painting, drawing, and installation. Closer scrutiny shows her art responds  to different histories of creation, from minimal abstraction to an art of an intriguing landscape. At once cohesively charismatic but filled with a layered identity she explores a space of possibilities that is born from boundless scope.

Loop 1

Loop is a mellifluous amalgam of form and fervour. Layered complexity or emphasis on fluidity of concept is inherent to my work and practice. I often approach a subject from multiple vantage points and to create space for nuance and contradictions to coexist. Most of us hold a very distinct understanding of our internal and external world. If the work can capture that psychological subtlety of perception it can be very compelling.

Unsteady stream

Using a rigorous self-developed technique, which she refers to as “plucking,” Vedpathak spends hours separating the paper’s fibers with a tiny pushpin. There is a distinctly spiritual aspect to her slow and disciplined process, which she likens to meditative chanting tuned to a slower pace.

The resulting works resemble swaths of lace fabric, which she paints and sews into striking abstract compositions. Part painting, part collage, Vedpathak’s sensuous, tactile constructions seemingly float while casting intricate shadows on the wall. She creates depth with nuanced shifts of color and by leaving small areas of the composition unplucked, which plays off the subtle transparency of the lace-effect.

Having lived in multiple locations, including Pune, India, where she was born, Chicago, Phoenix, and now Detroit, Vedpathak’s practice is deeply inspired by her physical environment and she often draws from the natural world. Recently, however, she has started to incorporate architectural elements of the cityscape that surrounds her, referencing the abandoned structures and peeling paint of a city in constant flux, where widespread urban decay is undergoing a slow renewal.

Vana

Tantric Guru, and abstract genius Sohan Qadri works are an odyssey to behold in the art of textural terrain on something as humble yet powerful as paper.Sundaram Tagore who has had dealt with Qadri more that two decades says he occupied a unique position in the history of late 20th century art. He was a modernist who developed an uncompromising non-objective visual language, while drawing inspiration from is age-old Indian roots as an initiated Tantric.Vana is a mesmerising  work that embodies the spiritual as well as the formal aesthetics of abstraction in tone and tenor.The threaded vertical indentations and the holes and symbolism have their own equivocal expression.

Tanhayee

Qadri, a master of minimalism, created luminous, vibrantly coloured paintings that combine formal brilliance with spiritual content intended to awaken in the viewer something beyond the aesthetic–beyond even the senses. Tanhayee done in shades of blue has deep timbre with its serrations. More important, originating in Tantric tradition, Qadri’s understanding and handling of paper and abstraction  brings an unexpected new dimension to the discourse on Western minimalism which art lovers have always been enchanted with.

Seed..book

Sohan Qadri’s trio of works in Mumbai  place him amongst India’s finest pioneers of abstraction.The third work Seed makes us think of the pages of a book and the meditative catalyst of the beginning. So much like abstract masters he kindles the idea of the seed being the most important for the genesis of the entire creation. The little miniature holes and the contours in the sheet of dyed paper all have their own intensity.Suddenly when you look at his works Himalayas, Hinduism and the universe all coalesce.dances in the spirit of the sublime and surreal, through the pinholes and folded edges of corrugated, dyed paper sheets that unfold the saga of a fine meditative practitioner, the sage and Guru Sohan Qadri.

END OF ARTICLE