DECODING DEVOTIOn

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After Keigo Higashino’s critically acclaimed 2005 Japanese novel, Devotion of Suspect X, was translated and published in English in 2011, the word “devotion” seemed to be popping up just about everywhere — in book stores, book reviews in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. This can be attributed to the novel’s huge success, which was evident from its sale of two million copies in Japan alone.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in July 2011, the author said that in Japanese crime fiction, feelings of loyalty or devotion in human relations often act as classic catalysts for murder. However, that’s only in the world of literature. In the real wor-ld, many would perhaps attach a positive connotation to the term devotion as loyalty to a person, activity or cause. For many others, devotion is synonymous to religious worship or observance. But what does the word mean to artists?
As individuals who work around different themes — abstract and concrete — and can create magic with a stroke of their brush, do they see “devotion” as reverence, or is it a way of life for them?
It is with the aim to understand the underlying meanings of this word that Art Gallery Positive has brought together leading Indian contemporary artists in a show of art and jewellery titled Devotion: Collector’s Choice. This is the gallery’s seventh edition of its annual show based on the theme of devotion, with each edition highlighting a new facet of what the term means to an individual.
The current show, underway at the gallery in Lado Sarai, New Delhi, is based on the concept of alankar or adornment. In a country like India, where people worship a thousand gods, alankar becomes an essential element in showing reverence to one’s God. Hence, the show assumes a special significance in the context of Indian spirituality.
However, the director of the gallery Anu Bajaj says the term is not restricted to religious fervour. “For me, devotion encompasses a positive attitude to life in its varied spheres, be it commitment to a cause, belief, person, profession or society. The idea was to bring together art and jewellery , to focus on human love for jewellery — as embellishment, as precious possessions, as heirlooms or as medallions, where art, design and craft coalesce,” she says.
The participating artists include Satish Gujral, Shuvaprasanna, Neeraj Goswami, Paresh Maity, Dimpy Menon, Gurdeep Singh, Ramesh Gorjala, Seema Kohli, Shipra Bhattacharya, Thota Vaikuntam and Lalu Prasad Shaw.
Curator Sushma Bahl says, “The collection includes specially created and meticulously executed art works — some that have been set into hand crafted jewellery as a necklace, armband and earrings, while others as paintings for the wall or sculptures for the floor. These individual pieces of art and jewellery, each only in single edition for the show, assume particular significance in this age of mass production with repetitive patterns.”
According to Bajaj, some of the artists have never worked with jewellery before and this is their first experience of the medium. So how tedious was it to merge jewellery and art? “It was a challenge to work on this small scale and convert my work into a necklace and earrings. I usually work on a large scale. In fact, one of my recent works is about 14 feet high. However, I am as comfortable drawing a line with a needle, as I am painting with a broad brush. This show was a challenge, but not difficult,” says Gurdeep Singh, who features an untitled work.
Artist Shiva Bhattacharya’s series of paintings titled She is in tune with his work on fantasy — featuring a stylised woman, who is a spectator to the urban drama. Shuvaprasanna, on the other hand, represents the urban milieu of Kolkata, to which he belongs, and focuses his work on divinities, cityscapes and birds. “As an Indian citizen and a believer in the Hindu philosophy, there is an intrinsic sense of spirituality within me. As an artist, I see everything around me through the prism of devotion. Devotion to whatever I do is the only way of practice for me, both as a person and as an artist,” he says.
For someone like Seema Kohli, who explores the feminine power with her women-centric paintings, devotion is not about a form or figure, but reverence to her convictions and faith, which arise out of her sanskaras. For this show, the artist focuses on Krishna and has used His form on miniature pieces inlayed in the jewellery.
Satish Gujral’s bronze sculptures are renditions of his fascination with form, while Neeraj Goswami’s acrylics on canvas are about ethereal forms almost in a trance-like spiritual state. The jewellery on display range from inlay work to jali, theva and kundan, precious and semi-precious stones and gold and diamonds in varied designs, materials and techniques as befitting the aesthetics of each artist. These, together with the canvas paintings and sculptures, make a cohesive collection of contemporary art practices. A free limited edition catalogue documen-ting the exhibition is also available for the viewers.