Visual Arts

Visual Arts component of Mosaic Festival has over last 8 years presented some ground breaking art shows including artists from around the world.

"Clay works at TD Mosaic 2014" Virsa is pleased to present special clay arts workshops for children during the two day outdoor Mosaic Festival on 15 - 16 of August, 2014

Friday 15 Aug 5-7pm
Saturday 16 August 2-6 pm

Ishrat Suhrwardy is a resident artist at the Living Arts Centre and the recipient of the 2010-11 Marty award for 'Visual Artist of the Year'. She has been teaching clay art in Pakistan and Canada for a long time while her own work has been exhibited internationally. Ceramics inspires her because of its unlimited possibilities for expression and her passion for this art has made her a sought after instructor and exhibitor.

Luc Bihan is a Toronto based clay and ceramic artist who runs a school teaching children and adults the intricacies of sculpture and Clay works. Luc has presented art classes at many events like the CNE. His ability to develop love for the medium in his student is infectious and allows him to become a centre of attraction for both young and old.

Exhibitions ; TD Mosaic festival presents two spectacular exhibitions of works by local and international artists.

1. Tribal Art: 25 July to 3 August 2014 at Promenade Gallery - 943b Lakeshore Rd East. CCAI is pleased to bring the "Inspired Artists of Mississauga" (IAM), an exhibition of paintings of indigenous women of India. This exhibition offers a unique view into the fascinating world of the tribal women of India through the eyes of eleven emerging artists from Mississauga, celebrating the rich tribal culture, elaborate costumes, unique jewelry, and living history. The exhibition is an opportunity to learn about the diversity of India, while appreciating the creativity of the Artists. IAM is an informal group of 11 Artists, who are connected through the common love of Art. A mixture of new, amateur and professional Artists, living in Mississauga and surrounding areas, got together with a mission of expressing their world view through their Art. Artist are : Abraham Zachariah, Angella Harjani Singh, Betty Kapur, Deepali Rana, Geeta Krishnamoorthy, Kiran Kudva, Kumkum Ramchandani, Monica Jain, Ritika Malkani, Savita Balagopal, and Vaishali Mokashi.


2. Stroke of Master: Canadian Community Arts Initiative is pleased to present an Exhibition - Stroke of Masters - original signed prints by contemporary master painters from the Indian Sub-continent. Curated by Asma Arshad Mahmood and Anu Vittal, VIRSA is the visual art component of the TD Mosaic Festival 2014. - Mosaic is the largest South Asian Arts festival of North America celebrating its 9 years of success in the community with an attendance of over 70,000 people during 10 day long festival. "Stroke of Masters": is a unique exhibition of original signed prints by some of famous contemporary artists such as - MF. Husain, Reza, Vaikuntam, Jamini Roy, Jatin Das, Jogen Chowdhry, Mansaram, Youngo Verma and Manjit Bawa.
   
   Based on the collections of works by Canadian collectors and specifically in Ontario, this exhibition will provide an insight into the fine art practice of Masters of Art from India.The exhibition will serve as a benchmark to the development and contemporary contribution to international art from India. This month long event will help educate young audiences in the array of contemporary movements in art from India, encourage new buyers to start their own art collections and enable seniors to take pride in the works of their contemporaries.
   
   The exhibition will open on Monday 11th of August at 7:00pm at Promenade Gallery and will go on till Sept 1st,Labor Day.

Master Strokes: An Exhibition of Master Painters of India

By Ali Adil Khan

Indian art has gained considerable global recognition and importance in the last 25 years. This in large part has been made possible by a small group of visionary artists who decided to explore a new idiom for Indian art post independence in 1947, breaking away from the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal School of Art.

While European modernism was the most distinctive influence on this "progressive group", its members worked in noticeably different styles, from expressionism to abstraction.

Jamini Roy, F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, Tayeb Mehta, S.H. Raza, Ram Kumar and Akbar Padamsee were the stalwarts who paved the way for next generation of artists who made their mark within and outside of India. Other artists who followed their footsteps and featured in this exhibition, Manjit Bawa, Krishna Reddy, Jogen Chowdhury, Laxma Goud, Jitin Das, Anupam Sud and Thota Venkuntam have all carried their depth of thought, the beauty of form and colour, and the boldness of their concepts to new heights. All of these artists although well versed and trained in modern art and western art practices, sought inspiration from within India - its rich culture, diverse people, religious and spiritual beliefs, and geography.

Jamini Roy (1887-1972) was one of the towering figures of modern Indian art. After graduating from the Government College of Arts in Kolkata, in 1903, where Abanindranath Tagore was vice principal, Jamini Roy realized that he needed to draw inspiration, not from Western traditions, but from his own culture, the living folk and tribal art for inspiration. He was most influenced by the Kalighat Painting which was a style of art with bold sweeping brush-strokes. His new style was a reaction against the Bengal School and Western tradition. His underlying quest was threefold: to capture the essence of simplicity embodied in the life of the folk people; to make art accessible to a wider section of people; and to give Indian art its own identity.

M.F. Husain (1915-2011) applied the formal lessons of European modernist like Cezanne and Matisse to depict scenes from epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana. His strong narrative paintings, often followed themes or were inspired by national or religious heroes like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Hazrat Ali or those from Bollywood films and its actors and legends like Madhuri Dixit and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam. Husain was able to portray and connect with the working class of people in India through his paintings and persona. He has left a large body of work within and outside of India and has been a role model and inspiration for future generation of artists.

Manjit Bawa (1941-2008) adopted a new form of contemporary art, yet it was Indian in every way. His signature mark became the portrayal of simplicity and spirituality. His work sets him apart from his contemporaries as it could be easily distinguished by his vivid application of colours, elements of Pahari style, and are deeply symbolic of Indian mythology. Bawa's paintings are aesthetically pleasing, displaying a sense of calm and peace even in its composition. He has depicted the relation of man, nature and animal in a very subtle, meditative and self-reflective way. Figures like Bulleh Shah and Ranjha from popular Sufi legends also populate his works.

Krishna Reddy (b. 1925) is a master print-maker. After Shantiniketan, he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and worked under sculptors Ossip Zadkine and Marino Marini in Milan and then engraving and print-making under Stanley William Hayter in Paris. Considered a master in intaglio printmaking, Krishna Reddy has been guest professor at many top-ranking universities in the USA. Reddy's technique and style have distinguished him as one of the best printmakers of the world. His prints are abstract as he creates subtle grid-like designs on his plates with intricate textures. The myriad complex colour that he introduces in prints are marked by a contemplative approach to the infinite mysteries of nature.

Akbar Padamsee (B. 1928) was admitted to Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, directly into third year due to his proves and advanced drawing and painting skills. He was still studying fine art at the school, when the Progressive Artists' Group invited him to join the group. In late 1950, Raza invited Padamsee to accompany him to Paris. Later artist Krishna Reddy introduced him to Hayter and Padamsee started working in his studio. Padamsee is a prolific and versatile artist. His work is introspective and his "Metascapes" or his "Mirror Images" are abstract images formed from the search for a formal logic. His subjects include landscapes, nudes and human heads.

Jogen Chowdhury (b. 1939) lives and works in Santiniketan. He studied art at the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata and then went to Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He developed his very distinct and individual style after his return from Paris which comprises of lines and its tactile characteristic to enhance colours. A master of lines, Chowdhury makes the curves depict the character of his figures. By careful distortion of the form he imparts the air of caricature in his figures.

Laxma Goud (b. 1940) works in variety of mediums including etching, gouache, pastel, ceramics, sculpture, and glass. He is best known for his early drawings that depict eroticism in a rural context, and also for the originality and quality of his etchings and aquatints.

Jitin Das (b. 1941) has been painting for 50 years. He has held over 68 one-man exhibitions in India and abroad and has participated in numerous national and international shows and artist camps. He has also done several murals and sculpture installations. He works in oil, watercolour, ink, graphics and conte.

Anupam Sud (b. 1941) a Delhi based artist, studied at the College of Art, Delhi and later studied printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. At Slade she developed an intense interest in exploring human figures through the medium of etching. Sud's etchings are made with the use of zinc plates, a difficult medium that requires both patience and precision.

Thota Venkuntam (b. 1942) paintings capture simple lifestyle of villagers like the paddy fields, toddy pots on shoulders of men, the household chores, temple rituals etc. His drawings range from stark charcoal on paper, transparent washes and pencil drawings. If Husain is known as the Picasso of India, Thota can be known as the Botero of India.

Master Strokes attempts at merely introducing the works of these great masters through this inaugural exhibition of their etchings and prints. This is literally a drop in the ocean. A tribute to their relentless struggle and dedication to carve out a place for themselves and Indian art on the global stage.

Indian art has arrived and made its mark globally with major retrospectives of Souza, Husain, Jamini and others taking place at V&A, Tate Modern and the Guggenheim.

Source: The Wikipedia and the internet

Ali Adil Khan is the founder and director of South Asian Gallery of Art in Toronto. He has served on the board of Canadian Community Arts Initiative (CCAI) from 2008-2013 and South Asian Visual Arts Collective (SAVAC) from 2004-2007. He has been invited to speak at the 14th Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto and the Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM).

Feature Artist

TD Mosaic 2014 is pleased to present world renowned contemporary Canadian artist of Pakistani origin, Rashid Rana, artist talk co-presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Agha Khan Museum, Toronto. Followed by a short documentary about his recent exhibition at Mohata Palace in Karachi, Rashid Rana will present an artist talk on Wednesday 13th of August at the Great Hall at 300 City Centre Drive.

Widely considered to be the leading Pakistani artist of his generation, Rashid Rana first came to prominence in South Asia alongside artists such as Subodh Gupta, before gaining wider, international exposure after the millennium. In his photography, sculpture and digital printmaking, Rana transposes imagery from one time and place to another, through manipulation, repetition and rearrangement. His early photomontages - originally made by painstakingly reconfiguring tiny squares of imagery into micro-mosaics by hand, latterly by using computer software - superimposed hardcore pornography on to the silhouette of the burqa (Veil, 2004) and turned hundreds of graphic slaughterhouse snapshots into facsimiles of Persian rugs (Red Carpet, 2007). Rana's telescoping of politics, civilizations and time also appears in three-dimensions, in works from the series Desperately Seeking Paradise (2007-2011), which splice Lahore's humble streets and houses with the architectural promise of skyscrapers and the slick lines of Minimalism. The new wall-sized Crowds are similarly tumultuous composites formed of innumerable multitudes of human protest and unrest. Another continuing body of work, produced under the heading Language, crosses the cultural rubicon between historical and contemporary art, obliterating iconic works by Jacques Louis David and Gerhard Richter with data streams made up of horizontal strips of miniature interlocking bytes of visual information.

Rashid Rana was born in Lahore, Pakistan where he currently lives and works. He trained as a painter at the National College of Arts in Lahore and at the Massachusetts College of Fine Arts in Boston. He is the founding faculty member and head of the Fine Art department at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. Recent solo exhibitions include a major mid-career retrospective of 70 works, entitled Labyrinth of Reflections at Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi (2013), as well as surveys at Cornerhouse, Manchester (2011) and Musee Guimet, Paris (2010). Participation in major group exhibitions includes the Kiev Biennial (2012); Fotomuseum Winterthur, Whitechapel Gallery and Saatchi Gallery, London (2010); the Asia Society, New York (2009), the fifth Asia Pacific Triennale, Queensland Gallery of Art, Brisbane (2006) and the Singapore Biennial (2006).

ART GALLERY OF MISSISSAUGA      

Coinciding with the MOSAIC Festival is a phenomenal exhibition presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga from July 24 - October 19, 2014,The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989.

The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989 is presented in Ontario, Canada, by the Art Gallery of Mississauga. The exhibition is organized by The Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, and curated by Jessica Moss and Ram Rahman.

Sahmat has been at the heart of what co-curator Ram Rahman likens to "India's culture wars." Animated by the urgent belief that art can propel change and that culture can reach across boundaries, Sahmat has created space for an expansive group of artists and collaborators to present powerful works of art that defend freedom of expression and battle intolerance within India's often divisive political landscape.

The Sahmat Collective is made possible by The Smart Family Foundation; Helen Zell; the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund; The Joyce Foundation; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by Larry and Marilyn Fields; Barbara Fosco, The Fosco Family Foundation; and the University of Chicago's Committee on Southern Asian Studies.

The AGM leg of the exhibition is sponsored by RBC and Armstrong Fine Art Services.

The MOSAIC Festival is proud to support the Art Gallery of Mississauga in the promotion and select programming for this initiative.

EVENTS AND PROGRAMMES

The AGM will present a series of events and programmes that take a close look at the various themes of the show, including Artist in Focus | Rashid Rana artist talk and film screening, Presented by TD Mosaic 2014, co-presented by the Art Gallery of Mississauga, and the Aga Khan Museum on Wednesday, August 13 at the Mississauga Civic Centre Great Hall.

See artgalleryofmississauga.com for more information and a full schedule of events.