I took part in a two-week intensive curation workshop at Gallery G, a successful private gallery in central Bangalore. The workshop was conducted by the gallery owner, Gita Maini, who had two-three sessions with us discussing what goes into planning an art show and the rest was up to us.
1) We decided to source art work ourselves from artists we knew, or could network with. Based on looking at some of their work, we came up with the concept of the the show. Based on this concept, we either selected existing work of the artists or asked them to create new work for the show.
2) I worked with the curation team in developing the concept note, the invite. I was also the 'Artist Facilitator', which meant I was in constant contact with all the artists, in terms of explaining the concept of the show, communicating with them and selecting their work, and finally working with them to write concept notes for each of their works.
Finally, I deciding what work went up where, in what order, and what set.
3) The recurring trend we found in a lot of the work was that of potraits. We further worked on the concept of portraits to make it more complex and interesting, and follow that wrote a concept note for the show which we passed on to the artists as a framework.
4)We selected works on 18 artists, some Srishti students, some students of Santiniketan, or some working professionals. We tried to keep variation in media, meaning and visual style of each work. Finally, we had works ranging from woodcut prints, digital collages, photographs, scultpures, installations, acrylic/watercolor paintings to performance art.
5) This is the e-invitation we designed, along with the press release with the concept note which we requested Ms. Maini to pass on to the press, and the gallery's regular mailing list.
"You are cordially invited to the 'Portrayed' exhibition preview and showing onThursday, 5th September 2013.
'Portrayed' is presented through a collaboration of Gallery G with the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. The preview will be followed by the showing of the artwork on the 5th at Gallery G, Lavelle Road, Bangalore.
“We borrow from what we see; borrow not take, for in what we create we find ourselves. This creation then becomes an amalgamation of ‘who we are’ and ‘what we think of everything else’. The portrait as an art form has always been an important means of artistic expression. Portraits can show us the viewers; the moods, styles and personalities and can give us insight into the mind of both the artist and the subject. In this web of crisscrossing thoughts we find each other akin. For depicting the self has always been a visual and expressionistic challenge, and have provoked discussions about human psychology and impact, right from Velasquez to Warhol, Rembrandt to Degas.
Through the relationship of our ability to look, see and think, a transient space is born, with it infinite possibilities of ever-morphing interactions. In this exhibition, we have compiled the work of a number of emerging artists, each with his or her own unique style in an effort to bring together people in the literal and artistic sense. Through the course of these interactions we hope to awaken and find that, what we represent through our art, in turn has us portrayed.”
The exhibition is the product of a curatorial workshop held in Srishti, with the help of Gallery G, which gives the students a platform to explore the curatorial environment and provides upcoming artists with an opportunity to showcase their work. The exhibition serves as a unique ground on which the youth, as two aspects of the art community interact, to understand and build creative connections between curators and artists.
The exhibition opens to the public after the preview on Thursday, 5 September 2013, and will remain on view till Monday, 9 September 2013.
Looking forward to seeing you for the preview evening on Thursday, 5 September 2013.
For any queries regarding the show please contact Lawrence on 9945465685. Please rsvp to gita@gallerygbangalore.com/9945465685 to confirm your presence at the preview."
6) For the opening of the show, we organized 'wine and cheese' evening.
For this, we had a lighting of the lamp ceremony and three performances.
For this, we had a lighting of the lamp ceremony and three performances.
Lighting of the lamp ceremony
Sandhya Viswanathan performing poetry slam.
Performance artist, Sohil Bhatia.
Sudeep Vasishta playing an electronic music set composed by him.
These are two examples of the labels we worked on.
