It’s Art innit

I felt I needed a dose of creativity since arriving back in Mumbai after Christmas. In London I went to a Turner exhibition at the Tate Gallery and a lovely Christmas Concert at St Martin in the fields (all in the same day). It reminded me that I love doing that sort of stuff. I feel bathed in the creative genius of others and it inspires me to go and do/make something myself. I’d booked a basic sewing class before Christmas which I’ve just finished. It really was a basic course, I didn’t actually ‘make’ anything apart from lots of samplers of different kinds of finishes…but that’s fine. I did learn a lot and even had a go at faggoting! (Look it up yourselves!)
But I wanted to go and SEE something. I’ve already been to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. It’s a beautiful building and the visit was going swimmingly and then I walked into the Natural History section which is basically several rooms full of taxidermied animals including a rhino, a tiger and lots of dusty faded birds in glass cases. Even in the land of Darjeeling this is not my cup of tea.

So I went to a photography exhibition a few weeks ago at the Jehangir Art Gallery downtown. It was only on for a few days and I had to go on the last day….BIG mistake.
The photographer was Uddhav Thackeray. He’s a politician; the head of the Shiva Sena party. The exhibition attracted a lot of attention, political visitors, VIP’s, just generally lots of people. It was not the calming, reflective experience I was hoping for…
There was security lining the steps to the entrance, there were tv vans outside the building and general mayhem inside the gallery.

I can’t comment on the photographs…I couldn’t really appreciate them. We were moved along so quickly it was like being at airport security (actually I wish airport security moved that fast!) I couldn’t see the logic in the way the photographs had been curated and none of them had a little blurb to put the piece into context…

I didn’t stay long.

I went for a wander round the building and found the Terrace Art Gallery for Photography and Visual Arts. There was a small exhibition by an Indian couple; Pavan and Rita Gupta, of photographs they’d taken on a trip to Rajasthan. A completely different affair!
Super photos of the Pushkar Mela; the annual camel fair, photos of the longest moustache and beard competitions and also photos of other areas in Rajasthan. Pavan and Rita were there to answer questions and were a pleasure to talk to. They are retired but they continue to photograph, exhibit and travel because they love it!
So after all the chaos downstairs, upstairs was a true oasis of calm, culture and general loveliness.
If you’re interested, here is the link to the Gupta’s website
http://www.pavanandritagupta.com

As for the other chap, you are more than welcome to look him up too…..

This is the Terrace gallery, nicely shaped like the hull of a ship.

Photograph (of a photograph property of Pavan and Rita Gupta ) of a splendidly moustachioed chap.