Contemporary Art – Style and Strike

January 31, 2023

“Unleashing the Art of Fashion: Exploring the World of Costume Design”- The Legacy of Bhanu Athaiya

Bhanu Athaiya, India’s first Oscar-winning costume designer, left an indelible mark on Indian cinema. Born in 1929 in Maharashtra, she began her career in film as a costume designer in the 1950s and went on to design costumes for over 100 films. Her attention to detail, innovative designs, and vibrant colors earned her a reputation as one of the leading costume designers in India. Athaiya’s work on the 1982 film “Gandhi” won her an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, making her the first Indian to win an Oscar. She used her platform to raise awareness about the importance of costume design in telling a story and bringing characters to life on screen.

Mumtaz and Dharmendra in Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969)
Photo Credits:- Prinseps

Saira Banu in Jhuk Gaya Aasman (1968)
Photo Credits : Prinseps

Throughout her career, Athaiya was known for her ability to blend tradition with modernity in her designs seamlessly. She often drew inspiration from Indian textiles and handicrafts but also incorporated Western influences to create unique and memorable costume designs. Athaiya’s contribution to Indian cinema has had a lasting impact. Her innovative designs and attention to detail inspired future generations of costume designers in India and around the world.

Vyjayantimala in Amrapali (1966)
Photo credits : Prinseps

Rekha in Muqaddar ka Sikandar
Photo Credits: Prinseps

Even today, her work continues to be celebrated and recognized for its excellence and if you want to admire her work than you can visit the exhibitionat the Bikaner house (till 2nd February) showcasing her work. From the beautiful artworks to the sketches and costumes that were actually worn in the flim by the actresses like sharmila tagore, Helen ,Mumtaz and Meena Kumari , everything that you need to know about her is presented in the exhibition. Bhanu Athaiya’s legacy as a trailblazer in Indian costume design will forever be remembered. Her passion and talent have left an indelible mark on Indian cinema, and her work will continue to inspire future generations of costume designers. Here is a glimpses of the exhibition:

August 1, 2022

Rajkumar Rao sets fire on the grand final ramp at the Indian couture week in Anamika Khanna`s outfit

Designer Anamika Khanna closed the Fashion Week with Actor Rajkumar Rao as the showstopper for the Grand finale show. Rajkumar Rao not just looked stunningly handsome but made sure to set the fire on the runway and drop the jaws in the audience. The Actor wore a black Sherwani with a statement neckpiece by
Birdhichand Ghanshyamdas Jewelers definitely added the extra hotness to his walk.

Actor Rajkumar Rao in Designer Anamika Khanna`s outfit for the Grand finale of ICW 2022h

*Actor* Rajkumar Rao *in Designer Anamika Khanna`s outfit for the Grand finale of ICW 2022*

The Designer Presented her Couture collection “An Experiment” for the finale show of FDCI Indian couture week 2022.

Stemming from an extreme need for change and pushing boundaries, this collection is an open field for experimentation.

Designer Anamika Khanna`s Collection “AN EXPERIMENT” for FDCI Indian Couture Week 2022

An awareness of the spectacular Indian silhouettes, textiles and sentiments, we move to amalgamate something old, something new.

Treating precious something that always was with reverence, notwithstanding that they may have aged, at the same time and approach of nonchalance to luxury.

The shapes are inspired by the “goddess” paired with deconstruction and pattern making techniques. There is also referencing the ever exuberant tribal India, approached with an eye of modernism. We are unafraid to align, non aligned perceptions.

The colour palette is varied starting with sombre blacks, delicate lace in ivory to powerful red and emeralds. Metallica plays an important role. Pearl takes centre stage.

July 31, 2022

Arjun Kapoor made everyone drop their jaws, Walking for Designer Kunal Rawal at FDCI making his collection extra special to us

Designer Kunal Rawal Presented his Collection “Dear Men” at FDCI Indian Couture week, Quoting :

“The men who love, The men who lose, The men who move on a path they choose Men, who are their own men This is our epic composition for them.”

The collection is designed to celebrate men and menswear in all its glory which we can see as Showstopper Arjun Kapoor dropped the Jaw of each and every person present in the audience. While walking down the Ramp he also blew a Kiss to Maliaka Arora creating a whole new romantic of Love in the Air.

The collection features a lot of new, playful silhouettes and many fun and unexpected embroideries. Every piece plays with textures and pulls the eye to intricate details. The designer has added a lot of functionality and usability to each ensemble as well, taking into account the fact that every man has different needs, depending on who they are, how they live, and how they move. This collection is our way of celebrating the evolution of men’s couture in India. Here is a Little Glimpse of the collection:

According to Designer Kunal Rawal: “To us, couture is wearable art, it should be functional and smart. That’s why we believe in crafting occasion wear that can cater to the whole spectrum of celebrations ranging from modern luxury to deep-rooted tradition. Truly versatile ensembles you can easily dress up or tone down, mix or match, or even wear to work. Who are we to tell you what to wear and when? Our role is to build in the possibilities in our designs to give you endless choices and combinations.”

This collection has been created to set the stage for meaningful interactions between the audience and our designs. The media landscape is changing every day, and we are beginning to see real diversity and true representation. For us, the fun is in creating pieces for a market as diverse as India with clothes for different shapes and sizes, and different moods, and yet have a signature come through.

July 31, 2022

Amit Aggarwal once again mesmerized the whole audience by turning the whole Stadium into the Runway for his couture show at FDCI Indian couture Week

We all are already stunned by the collection presented by all the designers in the Indian Couture Week but Designer Amit Aggarwal has taken a step ahead to take the whole show to a next level to present his collection “Pedesis”. According to the designer`s Instagram Q&A, he has given us a whole walkthrough of the collection a day before his show. “Pedesis is one of our most colorful collections yet! We`ve used different colors that cannot be imagined together in couture. After all, we dream through colors and make sense of the beauty of life through colors.” – Designer Amit Aggarwal

Here is a small walkthrough of the show:

The collection is a refreshing bookend to our part-miraculous, part-fantastical journey of a decade. But a constant thread of morphing forms and blurring the inescapable folds of time runs through it all. It is also a kaleidoscope ode to the fact that we are at an interesting bend in time where the digital space accommodates those whimsical aspects of ourselves not accessible in the physical world. Every silhouette shows that we carry the echo of the first human and hold the inception of the future – overlaid on the fine-grained realities of the present. This collection is a celebration of the fact that we are the glitch in time: warping forms, straddling realms, embracing eternity.

The Inspiration for his new collection in one word would be “Time”. “Although it`s a quantifiable entity, to me, time is a fascinating concept because of how truly blurred it is. We like to slot tribes as “ancient” and robots as “Future”. but in reality, all of us carry echoes of the first human and the promise of the future inside us. We’re all walking and talking manifestations of just how fluid time is.”- Designer Amit Aggarwal

If we talk about the Material used in the collection then, they always have to be married to the new-age materials with traditional techniques. To give us a specific example in Pedesis, they have contemporized the Ikat with handloom and Polymers. According to the designer himself, ” Couture allows you to experiment, to breathe, to let go and yet be meditative about it all.” Let’s just say that this collection made him sleepless the day before his show and the adrenaline rush was super high.

February 9, 2020February 9, 2020

The Fifties Show: Works of Indian Modernism

The Fifties Show revisits a momentous decade of newly-independent India that had just put its colonized past behind it to embrace triumphant modernism.

DAG’s new space at The Claridges, New Delhi, will see the opening of its latest exhibition, titled The Fifties Show. This exhibition encapsulates key highlights in Indian art over a decade of the 1950s, spotlighting how a newly-independent nation put its colonized past behind and embraced triumphant modernism.

Indian art in the twentieth century witnessed two important decades: The first one was the 1910s when the Bengal School saw the establishment of the “revivalist practice” that came to signify Indian modern art in general. Another was the 1950s when Indian artists of independent India embraced modernish that was free of their colonial history.

In 1950, the first copy of the Constitution of India, handcrafted and illustrated by Nandalal Bose and other Santiniketan artists, was dedicated to the republic, the Progressives were at the peak of their oeuvre, and younger artists were challenging their place with bold formats of art-making.

The 1950s was a period of hope and celebration, which saw the creation of works emblematic not just of the decade but of the context and subtexts of modernism itself. A period when the best and brightest in the Indian art world—such as Nandlal Bose, M F Husain, S H Raza, F N Souza, G R Santosh, K K Hebbar, Adi Davierwalla, Shanti Dave, Dhanraj Bhagat, etc—created some of their most significant masterpieces.

The exhibition will be on view from 1 February 2020 – 26^th March 2020

Here are a few glimpses of the paintings:-

About DAG

DAG (formerly known as the Delhi Art Gallery) was established in 1993 in New Delhi, and over the past 25 years, has built a reputation for the quality of its collection that represents the expanse of Indian art practice. This extensive collection charts a historic continuum, from the early works of academic artists trained in Bengal and Bombay, to modernists from Baroda, Delhi and beyond, and includes artworks by some of India’s most celebrated artists, including Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, F. N. Souza, Avinash Chandra, and Chittaprosad. With the aim of taking Indian modernism to a wider audience, DAG now has gallery spaces in the historic Kala Ghoda in Mumbai, and the iconic Fuller Building in Manhattan, New York, in addition to its gallery in Delhi. It regularly participates in international fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong, Armory New York, Art Dubai, Masterpiece London, and India Art Fair.

The mandate of taking art to the people has led to museum-quality exhibition collaborations with stellar art institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi, the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, Chandigarh, and the Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur. DAG’s first monumental public-private collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India—Drishyakala museum at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Red Fort—was inaugurated by India’s Prime Minister on 23 January 2019, has been widely feted, nationally and internationally and has an average footfall of 4,000 people every day.

With the democratization of Indian art as its core aim, DAG consistently hosts outreach programs for students of schools and colleges and also runs a pioneering program for the visually impaired by allowing them to experience art through tactile aids.

www.dagworld.com

February 9, 2020

Andy Warhol’s 1979 BMW Art Car to be showcased at India Art Fair 2020

India Art Fair, the leading platform for modern and contemporary art from South Asia, will return to New Delhi with an exclusive showcase of Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car by Presenting Partner BMW Group India. Combining Warhol’s characteristic pop-art style with movement and speed, the Art Car painted by the iconic American artist is predicted to be a popular addition to the fair program.

The 2020 fair marks the fifth anniversary of a creative partnership with BMW Group India who continues to remain a strong pillar for the arts in India. To celebrate the occasion, the fair will also host The Warhol Talk with Thomas Girst, Head of BMW Cultural Engagement and Jose Carlos Diaz, Chief Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum – a conversation about Andy Warhol’s fascinating life and career, including the making of his BMW Art Car in 1979.

In previous editions, BMW Group India has presented outstanding Art Cars created by prominent artists from across the world including Cesar Manrique, Sandro Chia, Jeff Koons, and David Hockney, all of which are permanently housed in the BMW Museum in Munich.

Commenting on the association with BMW Group India, Jagdip Jagpal, Fair Director, India Art Fair said, “We are incredibly pleased to be working with BMW Group India for the 5th year running. Their continued support, commitment, and patronage have enabled us to achieve our goal in positioning India Art Fair as South Asia’s leading platform to discover modern and contemporary art.

A full list of participating exhibitors for the 2020 edition of India Art Fair can be found at www.indiaartfair.in/exhibitors