Mumbai art gallery to reopen with show on nature, self

Every work in the exhibition speaks of an exploration of self in contemplation, whether in Nepal, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or the Lake District.

New Delhi: Mumbai-based art gallery Chemould Prescott Road is all set to reopen its doors after a ten-month closure to the much-anticipated solo show of artist Aditi Singh. In her body of work ‘Somethings Are Always Burning’, viewers will essentially find an eye seeking solitude and commune with nature – the world of colour, of light, of form, of shadow.

As per the gallery, these translations range from a mathematical precision of rings of a tree drawn in fine lines of ink and the blue of layers of glistening ice, of rising storms, to the patterns of petal and leaf; of rhythm in the fluid curve and plunging crests of mountain faces.

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In a journal entry from Leh she writes, “Why a certain landscape should profoundly tranquilize the mind, I am not sure, perhaps the eye imposes its own rhythm, one has to look creatively to see this mass of rock, water, tree, as more than shape, contour and pinnacle – but as beauty, as vibration, as a glow in the consciousness.”

Every work in the exhibition speaks of an exploration of self in contemplation, whether in Nepal, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or the Lake District. She says of these journeys, “The history of walking is an unwritten voyage whose fragments can be found in songs, stories, conversations, poems, books, and in almost everyone’s adventures.

One’s imagination has shaped and been shaped by spaces it passes through on two feet. Most of the time walking is merely practical, to make walking into an exploration, a ritual, a meditation, is to infuse the subject of walking, in some sense, with how we invest universal acts with particular meanings, from the spiritual to the sensual, from the revolutionary to the artistic.”

The richly layered drawings and paintings speak of light, splendour, growth, fragility, and tenacity – and the discipline of attentive observation. We answer a need to come into a relationship with wild places when we push our minds and bodies to places that are impossible to find indoors. These images are a glimpse of that world seen through the eyes of Aditi Singh.

“The past few months have been a time for reflection and renovation at the gallery. The engagement of the viewer, the artist and the work in person has been amiss and we look forward to returning to these interactions as we open our first show of 2021, as a part of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend.

“Aditi’s works have been part of Chemould’s shows in Mumbai and the global fairs through the last decade and while her solo shows extended to New York more often, we have not hosted her solo show here at Chemould since 2011,” says the gallery.The show previews on January 14, 2021.The show will run till the end of March.