"Full wall empty 27” by German artist Werner Degreif

A solo exhibition ‘Full wall empty 27” by German artist Werner Degreif is being held at ‘The Gallery, Amdavad ni gufa’ , Ahmedabad from 15^th to 20^th October. This exhibition is the fourth of a series of exhibition being held by Zone of Contemporary art, ZOCA. 

Werner Degreif

Werner Degreif has multiple talents as a musician, graphic artist and sculptor and currently stays in Mannheim, Germany. Having spent seven weeks as an artist in residence in Ahmedabad, India, Werner Degreif took 2 weeks imbibing the culture of the place before embarking on his artwork.

In his own words “ My father was an architect and maybe, I might have imbibed some of the sense of architecture from him” and so it seems as we look at how spaces depicting the character of Ahmedabad come alive within the close confines of the gallery. He specialized in site specific work which imparts  a certain amount of fluidity and poignancy to the work. The challenge of the space in the gallery was its length but the artist managed to find a creative solution to the linear space by arranging his work in a perspective form overlapping each other, unifying the work without creating division; keeping us unaware of the transition of frames and helping us experience an unified whole.

 “It seems the lines of your artwork done in Germany is more orderly, neat and emphasis seems to be on architectural elements rather than people… How has India influenced your artwork?” we asked to which he replied ”In Germany, it was difficult to draw people because of their reluctance to be portrayed and it was a pleasant surprise to find people in Ahmedabad greeting me with openness and joy while being portrayed.” And the same sense of calmness and joy pervades in the work too..

The inspiration for most of the artwork seemed to be from the city slums. More exposure to the city with its complexities encompassing the tradition and the modern, the poor and the rich, the indoor and the outdoor, the private and the public spaces could have broadened the canvas of the artwork. However, the raw energy of the lines and the focus on the portrayal of common people from city slums going about their day to day lives by itself bring forth an element of extraordinary to the daily everyday sights of the city!

- Gayatri Menon

(Photo Courtesy - Vipul Prajapati)

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Purvaa 2013 - A Group exhibition of Paintings & Sculptures

The works of 35 artists based in Ahmedabad and Baroda is being exhibited as ‘Purvaa 2013’ from 18^th to 20^th October 2013 at LP Hutheesing visual art centre in Ahmedabad  as part of a unique tribute to late Purvesh Patel by his friend Aditya Vikram. The 45 artworks exhibited include paintings, etching, lithography, paper cutting, mixed media as well as interactive exhibits and sculptures in various media.

Surrealistic images of human faces juxtaposed with a variety of images including merry go rounds, landscapes, mobiles etc. depicting the various moods and thoughts in human beings were found in the work of many artists. The dominant theme in the artwork including paintings,  graphic art as well as sculpture seemed to be the troubles, constraints and difficulties faced by human beings in the modern world and the meeting space between humans and the man made world. This included the works of Nemaram Jangid’s ‘Control of tension’ , ‘Struggle and risk’ and Purvi Parmar’s ‘Freedom’.

Various experimental artwork using unusual mediums such as backlit acrylic with LED lights as well as the use of chrome plated metal and coins on paintings  seemed to resolutely trying to break away from the constraints of two dimensional medium of painting and graphic art.  Experimental artworks also included the interactive artwork of David titled ‘girl with the gun’ in which the viewer became the participant by pumping air and finding the girl raising a rubber gun at the viewer.

Some of the other interesting work included the artwork ‘Train’ by Sandeep Suneriya which though simple in form was conceptually unusual in depicting two narratives within the 6 frame structure and the abstract work of Arpit Biloria ‘Intersectional void’ which celebrated the abstract beauty and raw juxtaposition of forms, leaving the work open for interpretation by viewers.

-Gayatri Menon

(Photo Courtesy - Namit Kadia)

DNA News Paper - 19 October 2013

List of Participating Artists

Anil Majmudar, Arpit Biloria, Alpesh Dave, Sandeep Suneriya, Sunil Darji, Hindol Brahmbhatt, Tushar Kamble, Manish Modi, Purvi Parmar, Debasish Dutta, Vijay Bagodi, Sonal Verma, Susmita, Kajal Shah, Bhavin Vaishnav, Pulkit Prajapati, Indrapramit Roy, Vijay Roy, Mitali Shah, Deviba Wala, Shaam Pahapalkar, Nemaram Jangid, Pankaj Vishwakarma, Possi Prasad, Rahul Mukherjee, David, Shaik Azghar Ali, Rakesh Patel, Roma Patel, Nilesh Suthar, Vishala Patel, Mehul Rathod, Kumar Chauhan, Jitu Oghani, Ramgopal Kumavat, Uday Mondal, Vipul Prajapati, Tapsi Nath, Govind Bishvas, Manish Doshi, Dilip Chobesia, Jayanti Rabadia, Devraj Goswami.

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