Exhibition of Indian

Contemporary Prints

Gandhi Centre
The Hague

Exhibition of Indian Contemporary Prints

Gandhi Centre The Hague,
Cultural wing of Embassy of India The Netherlands
Tesselsestr. 65-67, 2583 JH DEN HAAG
Tel: 070-3229576
Exhibition period:
Monday 18th till 25 May 2015
Open:
Monday To friday
10 Am to 5 pm

Exhibition of Indian Contemporary Prints

Participant Artists

Chhering Negi
Chandrashekhar Waghmare
Dattatreya Apate W
Anamika Prakash
Sogra Khurasani
Pravin Hatwar
lithography

etching

oodcut

etching

etching

etching

Curator:
Bhaskar Hande

Gandhi Centre

The Hague
Cultural Wing of Embassy of India The Netherlands


Indian printmaking: bringing fire from heaven to earth

About a century after the
Gutenberg Bible was printed in Mainz
in Germany, contemporary printmaking came to India in 1556. Originally
printmaking was used merely as a device to duplicate and for reproduction.
The introduction of the printing press
by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440
was one of the most revolutionary inventions for many ages to come. The
Western reproduced book became a
stunning entrance for common people who were taught to read, which
means that reading and writing could
take innumerous steps forward in education and social awareness for the
masses. Obviously Western missionaries in the wake of colonizing powers
could take advantage of that. But later
on these reproduction techniques as
a mass medium made it possible that
India, like other countries could gain
its independance.

An eminent article, The history of printmaking in India, published
by Safronart, states that there is
also evidence that mass duplication
dates even further back in India to the
time of the Indus Valley Civilization. For
instance, grants of land were originally
recorded by engraving the information
on copper plates and etchings on different surfaces like wood, bone, ivory
and shells have been documented as
an important craft of that time.

Intaglio printing was introduced in India by the Danish missionary, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg. He published a book titled The Evangelists
and the Acts of The Apostles, printed

in Tranqueber (a district in Tamil Nadu,

which was then a colony of Denmark).
The opening page of this book had an
etching printed in a shade of brown.
This became one of the first recorded
instances of colour printing in India.

However the first example of
an illustration printed by an Indian artist was part of the Bengali book, Onoodah Mongal (a compilation of tales of
Biddha and Soonder). The book was
published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacheryee and printed at the Ferris & Company Press, Calcutta, in 1816. There
are two engraved illustrations in this
book, which are accompanied by the
inscription Engraved by Ramachand
Roy. (Quote: Safronart article).

The British in India wanted to
introduce their education system and
encourage the talent of craft and design-oriented artists. This in turn provided them with a means to fulfill the
demand for Indian crafts in the foreign
market they supplied.

In the midst of 19th century
the British established the Art School
of Madras, School of Industrial Arts in
Calcutta, in 1854; the Sir J.J. School
of Arts in Bombay, in 1866; the Jeypore School of Industrial Art in Jaipur,
in 1866; and the Mayo School of Art in
Lahore, in 1875.
Raja Ravi Varma was the first artist
in India who used printmaking, as a
means for his art to reach the masses. He started his own lithographic
press: the Ravi Varma press in Ghatkopar, Bombay. He copied several of
his religious and secular paintings and
printed them as glossy oleographs.
(chromolithography).
There is a long impressive list of prominent Indian artists using printmaking
techniques, such as: woodblock/lino
printing, intaglio, lithography, seriography, computer printing more recently,

and mixed printing media over more

than 160 years.

The three Tagore brothers around 1919, Abanindranath,
Gagendranath and Samarendranath
(nephews of Rabindranath Tagore,
founders of the Bichitra Club, Chandra
Dey, Nadalal Bose and Kanwal Krishna. Baroda based Somnath Hore and
K.G. Subramanyan.
Another artist who has made an outstanding contribution to early Indian
printmaking is K. Laxma Goud. PrintmakerJyoti Bhatt, who also received
his training in Baroda, went on to study
at the Pratt Graphic Centre in New
York, where he mastered the various
techniques of intaglio printing.

In 1990, the Indian Printmakers Guild was established. Over the
years, it has been successful in building awareness about the medium and
creating appreciation for it. The members of the group include Ananda
Moy Banerji, Dattatraya Apte, Jayant
Gajera, K.R. Subbanna, Bula Bhattacharya, Jayant Gajera, Kavita Nayar,
Kanchan Chander, Moti Zharotia, Sushanta Guha, Sukhvinder Singh, Subba Ghosh, and Shukla Sawant. They
are all devoted printmakers, and apart
from being practicing artists, they run
several programs and workshops for
aspiring printmakers.

Nowadays, as we all must
admit how time flies; we fortunately
discover many established and young
Indian artists who follow the stream
of their early masters in Indian printmaking. Since 19th- century artists
were free to make their own choices
in life, they are free to travel and they
can discover the physical and technological resources of the society they
want to focus on. This affects the medium in which they work, in this case:
printmaking.

The artists choice for printmaking

nowaday as an artistic medium, deserves consistent admiration from art
critics, gallery owners and the consumers of art.

Arts and crafts belong to
each other, said the famous German
artist and etcher Albrecht Drer (14711528) once. Pablo Picasso, who closely worked together with his masterprinter in the famous printing atelier
Lacourire et Frlaut, on the Butte
Monmartre in Paris, once mentioned:
the image should be satisfying the
printing: perfect

The status of the artists in the
West and East has changed over the
centuries. Cultures meet, artistic concepts in image and technique merge
as well as friendly and professional
contacts between East and West.
Contemporary and innovative printmaking is still alive.
I dearly wish the artists who are representing their works in this exhibition, which has been expertly curated
with great affection and commitment
by mr. Bhaskar Hande, all the best.
That they will always stand upright
like great magicians, who like Prometheus, bringing fire from heaven to
earth
Rits de Koningh
Former director Council Of Dutch Artists Printers (CODA)

Chhering Negi

Born in 1985,the artist lives and works in

New Delhi
Nature in its trivialities makes curious appearances in most of the works I create.
The prime focus in the narrations I depict
is the organic form which also, becomes
characteristic to the works. It is the
mundane which fascinates me; rather the
mundane which is taken for granted and
is infused in with fantasy of the realm of
the imagined. The attempt perhaps is to
recognise the mundane which is made to
transcend into the heavenly pronouncing
its ethereal quality. True to its perceived
nature, landscapes remain ambiguous
concealing in its many layers the meaning of life. Inspired by this, I allow myself
to mull over layers drawing a parallel to
the many journeys one undertakes in the
course of ones existence. Nature is my
muse. It celebrates love where lovebirds
chirp, where rivers flow to their traceless
destinations, and above them stands
the proud high mountains with endless
blue skies. The landscapes lead one to an
unknown land, where celestial creatures
loiter around. These landscapes are ever
changing and defining part of nature. The
varied moods of nature captivate several
emotions which are expressed through
the textures. They are a witness to
several histories as well as mythologies.
The reading and understanding of the
many mythologies belonging to the Buddhist tradition also find expression in the
incorporation of cultural symbols in my
works as there is a patterned depiction
of motifs and symbols of the Thangka art.
My figures constantly unite with the wild.
I strive to give a new meaning, a new
interpretation to the religious allusions;
contemporarising what is perceived to be
strictly traditional. Ones identity keeps
evolving and progressing as per ones experience, but what is of utmost important
is to take along ones roots by building on

Ecthing on Paper, 2013, 28 x 20 inches

them with an attempt very genuine.

It is this confluence of roots and everevolving identity that projects itself as a
common thread across all the seemingly
varied work. As real as landscapes are,
what is also real is the presence of humankind. The relationship of many layers
that define a landscape is also similar to
the relationship defined by the interactions between different beings. Humans
often appear to be a reflection of their
surrounding landscapes; and so they are
depicted in their respective environs.
And here lies the holistic approach. This
approach expands to involve all mysteries
around me, striving to capture the essence of existence.

Lithograph on Paper, 2013, 28 x 20 inches

Lithograph on Paper, 2013, 28 x 20 inches

Ecthing on Paper, 2013, 28 x 20 inches

Lithograph on Paper, 2013, 28 x 20 inches

Etching 2013, 10 x 10 inches

My work basically is the outcome of

my instinctive response to my immediate environment. The imagery I use
reflects how I perceive social issues
and situations around me. My work
therefore is a comment on society at
large based on my personal experiences.
Since the nature of human interaction
and responses is vast and varied,I
dont stick to a just one subject.
This allows me to experiment with
diverse thoughts and themes. To give
a few examples, I represent social
problems and issues through animal
forms like dog, pig and the like. The
depiction of focus lights and camera
is the sign of peoples gaze on others
and their activities. I use these form
and eIements as a metaphor to communicate a certain mindset and social
biases.
Since some of my subjects are based
on self and its perceptions, I use
a frame or a special designated area
which is an individuals space to create my own stories.

Etching 2013, 6 x 6 inches

Chandrashekar Waghmare

Etching 2013, 10 x 10 inches

Born in , the artist lives and works in

Baroda, Gujarat

Etching 2013, 7 x 8 inches

Etching 2013, 10 x 10 inches

Etching 2013, 10 x 10 inches

Dattatreya Apte
Aptes commitment to paper and paper
pulp as a medium of expression is clearly
visible in his artistic practice. He says I
have chosen, adopted and moulded paper
pulp as the mother tongue for my creative
visual expression. My works have physical textures and dimensions. Surfaces
which invite me to look at, smell and feel
by moving hands over, intrigue my sensibilities and draw my interest and attention. To understand the structure, character of the material, colour, arrangement of
various elements, natural or altered with
human intervention become a starting
point for my work. The environment in
which you have lived or living, witnessed
the changes brought in by various factors,
for years together, through all seasons,
leave various abstract impressions. These
impressions linger on in my mind. They
oscillate like a pendulum of the eternal
clock of the life cycle. These impressions
prompt to concentrating my thoughts and
energies for creativity. My work is like impressions of the surfaces, of the field left
by a moving plough or of cracks created
by the scorching heat on the mud or of
foot prints on the wet sand left on the sea
shore or of the wounds created by the
savage axe on the tree trunk or of the dry
leaves of neem in the summer afternoon
or of traversing aimlessly on the roads of
an unknown city or ripples created in the
water. The paper pulp casts lifted from
the moulds either found, arranged or
created, leave the mark or echo in these.
The paper pulp also gives me enough
time to deal with various changes I intend
in the process of dyeing the pulp, casting
and giving final touches to the pulp casts.
Apte lives with his family in Delhi and
works out of his studio.

Wood Engraving 2013, 21 x 26.5 inches

Wood Engraving 2013, 21 x 26.5 inches

Anamika Prakash

Born In 1986, Anamika lives and works in

Baroda, Gujarat
I am a silent observant of life around and
its reflection on my own, my past and
present and my immediate surroundings.
I draw parallels with my experiences by
reflecting on this through the eyes of an
animated character.
Perhaps this is the split character I myself
want to adapt to give a rosy outlook to
things in a mocking way. The sensitivity,
innocence and the secret humour present in the role of a child is a great delight
for me to render in the execution of my
practice.

In some of my works, I have expressed

the hidden pain, insecurity, fear, crisis
etc. in an indirect manner. Deep down
my emotions are somewhere related
to those shown in my works. I tend to
express or execute these in a mocking
cute, humorous way because as per my
belief deep and painful thoughts can
also be said in a very simple way. I use
elements such as different types of toys,
cartoon characters, doll-like elements in
my works. To talk about my emotions, I
fantasy about these elements a lot and I
also want to create such kind of dreamy
pleasure in my works. Humour in my
works reflects both the dark and joyful sides of human nature.

Etching 2013, 6 x 12 inches

Etching 2013, 6 x 10 inches

Etching 2013, 10 x 10 inches

Soghra Khurasani

Born in 1983, the artist lives and works in

Baroda, Gujarat

Etching 2013, 8 x 13 inches

Etching 2013, 8 x 13 inches

I work in several forms of printmaking

through which I explore and express the
ideas of beauty and violence, using an
incredible attention to detail. My print
works include the use of the woodcut,
etching and digital technique. The subject
matter and political nature of the work is
influenced by my own personal experiences around gender, aesthetics, and
the role of women. Frequently painted
flowers has a wealth of meanings but
generally evokes a metaphorical sense
of bound and boundless insight into
spaces. Erupting volcano, tornado, crater
and thunders are fairly melancholic expression of geographic entities. It brings
with it the urgent need for sustenance
and care; and in their absence , the risk
of extinction. The melancholy lies in the
fact of human exploitation and violence
which has set this earth on its way to
an inevitable decline, and this course is
irreversible in nature.

Etching 2013, 8 x 13 inches

Etching 2013, 8 x 13 inches

Praveen Hatwar

Born in 1988 in Maharashtra, the artist

lives in works in Baroda, Gujarat
The popular culture and propagandists
insist on focussing on the conflicts
between the haves and the have-nots,
making the public question their own
inadequacies and also their adequacies.
The pressure to appear superhuman,in
society, actually ends up hollowing out
the individuals true identity. Also making
them question their self worth. Then we
are faced with a society full of individuals
who are all alike, hollow, seemingly helpless and in need of constant gratification.
We live and even thrive in this parasitic
mess of need, demand and supply
However, the animal kingdom and nature
functions on a much more evolved and
symbiotic ecology. I am affected by these
and many such deeper issues and these
form the foundation of my work. I merge
and juxtapose, mockingly and humourously, complex contrast co-existing in the
world. I use popular consumer products,
and place them along with insects and
animals, in a satirical, some times paradoxical expression of my observations.

Etching 2013, 9 x 10 inches

Etching 2013, 6 x 12 inches

Etching 2013, 9 x 10 inches

Etching 2013, 9 x 12 inches

Mixed Media Print on paper, 2012, 13 x 20 inches

Etching 2013, 10 x 12 inches