Overview
Time is a Thought … is it a creation of Human Consciousness
Time ceases to exist in the Absolute where past, present and future coexist simultaneously.
Our obsession with mapping and measuring time has led to seminal research on cosmology, astrology and art. So, for this exhibition, I have invited artists to lend their interpretation of time, explore historical, geological and cosmic time, investigate past traditions and beliefs, as well as old and new visual representations of the calendar as a measure of the passage of time. The exhibition examines, along with the passage of time, the aestheticization of time and the re- aestheticization of the image in contemporary arts as well as the influence of the folk and the local.
Their readings are culled from their own personal archive of memories, milestones in their life, or even an interpretation of the traditional almanacs like the Buddhist and Jain calendars or the Book of Hours that mark the twelve months that make up a year, divided into periods by seasons, festivals, prayers and auspicious days. The art reflects the multiplicity of our faiths as well as the passage of time, the aestheticization of the image in contemporary art and the influence of the folk and the local. They are of a commemorative nature – conveying abstractions that are divine, personal or historic.
Thus, the artists establish their consciousness in a sacred area free from the influence of Time, though they are acting in the present and reinforce the idea of using thoughtlessness or being in the present to go beyond the realm of time.
Time is an infinitely secretive and intimate unit of measurement, it is known to be relative, to dissolve, to flow and yet we as a civilization have been preoccupied with the precise measurement of time, down to the nanosecond. Before the advent of the clock and the calendar, ancient civilizations measured time with a sundial and the plotting of stars.
The artists have been invited to lend their interpretation of the almanac and explore historical time, geological time and cosmic time, and investigate past traditions and beliefs among other viewpoints, examining old and new visual representations of the calendar, as a measurement of the passage of time.
While the lithographic reproduction of gods and goddesses have become the insignia of one’s caste, status and religious beliefs, artists now pose questions and queries about the function of the calendar in our daily lives, where the chaos of time and the universe is neatly divided into the days of the week and the months in a year or a more complex layering of multiple faiths.
Works
Anindita Bhattacharya, Thick as Guilt, 2020
18 x 23 inchesDesmond Lazaro, Dymaxion map IV (after Buckminster Fuller), 2019
27.5 x 28.6 inchesDesmond Lazaro, Mapping the heavens, 2019
19 x 19 inchesGulammohammed Sheikh, Between Famine and Floods, 2019
22.5 x 30 inchesManisha Gera Baswani, Garbha Vriksha, 2019
11 x 9.5 inchesManisha Gera Baswani, Mannat, 2019
13 x 9.5 inchesManisha Gera Baswani, Kaal, 2019
13 x 9 inchesManisha Gera Baswani, Panchtatva, 2019
55 x 25 inchesRoshan Chhabria, Rahu kaal ख़राब समय, 2019
18 x 12 inchesRoshan Chhabria, What is the color of indian saree, 2019
18 x 12 inchesRoshan Chhabria, With dupatta, without dupatta, 2019
18 x 12 inchesRoshan Chhabria, A gift of love on her wedding, 2019
18 x 12 inchesRuby Jhunjhunwala, Layered Reality, 2019
10 x 5 x 1.5 inchesRuby Jhunjhunwala, Pebbles- untold stories, and Sitoliya 1, 2019
8 x 7 x 5 inchesRuby Jhunjhunwala, Sitoliya 2, 2019
Variable SizeTarshito N. Strippoli, Angelic Caress, 2005
9.8 x 7.4 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Divine Tree, 2005
9.4 x 7 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Peaceful warrior of love, 2004
9.8 x 7.2 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Splendid touch, 2004
9.8 x 7.4 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, The tree of freedom, 2004
13.7 x 8.6 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, The tree, the warrior, 2004
9.8 x 7.2 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Warrior of love, 2005
9.8 x 7.4 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Beauty, 2005
7 x 4.5 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Flowers, 2004
9 x 6.8 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Sublime Travel, 2004
9 x 7 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, The flight of unity, 2004
9.6 x 7.2 inchesTarshito N. Strippoli, Warrior of unity, 2004
7.4 x 4.7 inches
Venue
Threshold Art Gallery
C221, Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi, 110017