Vibha Galhotra – ALTER
December 14, 2013 – January 18, 2014, MK Search Art, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy
Curated by Lucie Fontaine
MK Search Art is please to announce a solo exhibition by Vibha Galhotra. The exhibition will open on December 14 from 6 to 8 pm and will remain on view until January 18. Among the most interesting voices of the Indian emerging art scene, Galhotra’s work spans several media, disciplines, and a broad spectrum of culture, and negotiations within personal, scientific and spiritual world.
For her solo exhibition at MK Search Art, entitled “ALTER,” Galhotra focuses her research on alterations that are ever more influencing the notions of time, spaces, relations and emotions. Deeply connected to nature, her practice addresses the idea of trans-culture within the dichotomy global versus local and its specificity in relationship to the concepts of displacement, nostalgia, identity, existence, construction and/or deconstruction; furthermore it analyzes the cultural condition in which we negotiate our position of human beings living in urban and natural environment that are constantly changing. Neo-Monster (2011), Absence Presence (Homage to our missing neighbors) (2010-11), Altering Boon (2010-11), Clock (2012), the series “Concrete Burden” (2013) and Untitled (2013) are among the works presented in the exhibition.
Neo-Monster consists of an inflatable fabric balloon, an air blower and a video. A traveling public project, it reflects upon aesthetic, environmental and political alteration within what the artist defines “the social fabric.” In doing so the artist takes an earthmover machine – a symbol of the many aggressions made by humans toward mother earth – and presents it as a gigantic toy that she used in the agricultural fields surrounding San Giovanni Valdarno and then exhibited in the space. Through this act the artist uses irony and playfulness as a tool in order to deliver a clear political and ethical message.
A series of kinetic tin-toys and staged photographs, Absence Presence (Homage to our missing neighbors) explores the kind of relationship with nature that frames our urban utopia. This utopia – embodied by the rise of megalopolis – discards nature from the environment and at the same time treasures it in emblems, photographs and other consumable items. The sparrow, which has almost disappeared from the world, haunts our nostalgia. Through a poetic act the artist displayed a plethora of small tin-toy birds in different sites in order to photograph them. These photographs are consequently presented in the exhibition space alongside an installation made by many of these sparrow tin-toys.
Another central piece in the exhibition is Altering Boon, which is consists of glass beads, steel and wood. According to the curator Veeranganakumari Solanki “these works are deeply inspired from her social existence and her concerns towards the fast growing urban development and depleting living environment. Altering Boon mirrors the Utopia of Pangaea, the hope of one continent, a world beyond constrains of borders and differences, all harmonizing like the shadows this piece generates.”
Vibha Galhotra was born in 1978 in Chandigarh, India and she currently lives and works in New Delhi. She had exhibited in biennales and institutional exhibitions internationally. She had presented her work in solo exhibitions at Exhibit 320 in New Delhi, the Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem NC, United States, Jack Shainman Gallery in New York, Project 88 in Mumbai, India, Anant Art Gallery in New Delhi and the MS University in Baroda, India among others. She was 2012 MK Search artist-in-residence in San Giovanni Valdarno. HYPERLINK “http://www.vibhagalhotra.co.in” www.vibhagalhotra.co.in
Based in San Giovanni Valdarno and New Delhi, MK Search Art was founded in 2010 by Roney Simon and Luciano Donatini. Its goal is to promote debates and a deeper understanding of contemporary Indian art not only within India and in relationship to Italy but also in close dialogue with the international community. With two identities – one commercial and one non-for-profit – MK Search Art has been organizing exhibitions, performances, conferences, books and presentations at art fairs. www.mksearchart.com
Vibha Galhotra, Absence Presence, 2011, print on D-bond, 30x40 cms
Vibha Galhotra, altering boon, 2011, steel, wood, glass, beeds
Vibha Galhotra, altering boon, 2011, steel, wood, glass, beeds
Vibha Galhotra, Untitled (from the series concrete burden), 2013, print on cement, 50x50 cms
Vibha Galhotra, Untitled (from the series concrete burden), 2013, print on cement, 50x50 cms
Vibha Galhotra, concrete burden 4, 2013, found tree branch, cement, 300x25x10 cms
Vibha Galhotra, concrete burden 4, 2013, found tree branch, cement, 300x25x10 cms
Vibha Galhotra, concrete burden 4, 2013, found tree branch, cement, 300x25x10 cms
Vibha Galhotra, Absence Presence, 2010- 2011, metel birds, digital print on dbond, variable dimensions
Vibha Galhotra, Absence Presence, 2010- 2011, metel birds, digital print on dbond, variable dimensions
Vibha Galhotra, untlitled (from the series between known and unknown), 2011, woo, metal
Vibha Galhotra, clock , 2012, Antique Clock, cement, swaroski and Sound