AN INVISIBLE BIND at SAMEKSHA GALLERY

Disclosure time.

We went to the inauguration of the exhibition “An Invisible Bind” because a very dear friend, Shalini Dam, is one of the participating artists.

So, yes, we went because of Shalini, to support and cheer her on, but the evening turned out to be so much more. Beyond seeing her fascinating ceramic work, boy oh boy, what a stunning gallery and what a fabulous exhibition this was, and excitingly, the inaugural show of the Sameksha Gallery.

Shalini is one of 5 artists exhibiting and the works on display range from ceramics to digital art to oils. All very interesting and breaking the mould of what one can think of as a “typical” art exhibition.

And as for the gallery space – wow!

It is large, airy, full of light and approached from above, so you look down through the glass above as you arrive.

Shalini is a ceramic artist at heart, and that is the body of work that I have known over the years:

She had 4 installations, in her “trademark” style – showing 2 concepts on the same piece of ceramic, by her clever use of layered viewpoints. As you walk around and in front of her work, your views change.

For me, one of the revelations of the evening was that Shalini is also a talented film-maker? filmographer? (is that even a word?) and she has a digital work on display. Shalini explained that she initially filmed outside her home in Himachal, and it was then recreated and digitised by NewArtX. Collaborative work at its best.

Voilà:

Other artists also incorporated digital work into their exhibits, and this installation by Vanita Gupta fascinated me, because you could see the works of art she included in her film, all while standing there watching it.

So here are the paintings and the screen…