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HIMMAT SHAH Born on 22nd July 1933 Himmat Shah has run great risks. He has risked much more by using a medium which is exhaustible and a technique which demands sensitive and careful handling. By remaining true to his commitment to an art that ignores the strategies of the art market & the materialism of the art industry. Confined to his studio Garhi, he appears a figure of adolescent unease, but, listening to him, one begins to discern the depth of the truth he utters. Shah remains a committed professional, true to his tools and occupational skills, manaically obsessed with every detail that concerns his technique, which he has developed and individualized to an extreme degree, along with aesthetic concepts and ideas that flow from his creative being. Though Shah is seen primarily as a sculptor, his initial training as a painter cannot be overlooked. Interestingly, in some of his works one can decipher his attempt to amalgamate the three - diamensional with the two - diamensional, creating in the process unique artworks. Individually each sculpture by Shah holds its own as an autonomous and independent art work. Seen from a distance the works are rich in form and texture.On close inspection they establish a world which holds together diverse elements of physical and visual references.Nothing in the entire process looks staged because of the spontaneity and dynamism.The end result offers the viewer a sumptuous structure, which carries a certain definite and strong element adding a sense of contradiction and delightful tension. Himmat Shah was sent to gharshala in bhavnagar to study in a school affiliated to Dakshinamurti in Gujarat. Here a gandhian artist educator introduced the young lad to art practice and theory and to the concept of art as a way to life. Shah went on to enroll with the J.J School of Art Bombay, which he left to join the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda. The artist left Baroda for Delhi and since then there has been no looking back. His work can be found in several important collections all over the world and he has received several awards and scholarships in his 50yrs of work experience.
MONA RAI Born in Delhi in 1947, Mona Rai studied M.A. Psychology, Delhi University and attended art classes for a couple of years at Triveni Kala Sangam. The space of painting is often thought to be one of quite contemplation, of refuge, seclusion and withdrawal from the world. For Mona Rai it is exactly the opposite: it is a space for experimentation and risk – taking, where danger can be courted and limits exceeded. For Mona painting is a space which allows things that are excluded from daily life to happen with passion, rigor and even rage. Her looming, square works epitomize her artistic attitude. Textures fascinate Rai; dots, dashes, slashes, directional strokes and streaks create her particular style. Square canvases are seldom used in figurative or narrative art, since dramatic distortions are hard to accommodate. The same format, however, seems more feasible with regard to abstract art, where problems of proportion and perspective do not arise. The quality of tension and striving in Mona Rai's canvasses is indeed intriguing. The constant repetition of see what first appears to be randomness unified by the demands of color, gives way to a feel of stillness, and tranquility. She has been quoted as saying: "I need to feel the experience of actually hurling paint onto the canvas. I can see my work opening itself up more and more." Her work also evokes deep meditative ness. Her work mostly relates to the cosmic mystery of open space, light and time, that is intangible and cannot be easily 'boxed or compartmentalized. During her long and distinguished career, she has had many solo and group shows. Her work has also been been exhibited internationally and features in several prestigious collections such as National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Lalit Kala Akademi; Air India; Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, Punjab University Museum, Chandigarh and in other private collections in India and internationally. She lives and works in Delhi.
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Himmat Shah
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(b 1933)
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