ART POSITIVE Presents CONVERGENCE – Art & Fashion November 24, 2010

New Delhi: Art Positive, a unit of Bajaj Capital Art House, presents a unique collaboration between art and fashion in its forthcoming show ‘Convergence - Art & Fashion’ bringing together 20 renowned artists and fashion designers from across the country. The exhibition will start on November 24, 2010 and will be on till November 30, 2010 at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. The exhibition will then move to Art Positive, F-213/B, Old MB Road, Lado Sarai, New Delhi-30, where it will be on till December 31, 2010.

Curated by Sushma Bahl & Vidyun Singh, a selection of about 10 leading visual artists and an equal number of renowned fashion designers have been invited to create two works each. Each artist has made one work that represents his/her own known oeuvre and the second work would be a fashion design work/object for adorning the body. Each fashion designer will similarly present one work from their signature style while also creating a second work that will be a two or three dimensional art work. Both the artists and the designers have been let free to straddle across genres and create painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video and performance as well as a fashion design and functional object in any medium or size of their choice.

According to Anu Bajaj, Director, Art Positive, “We plan to celebrate and showcase the cross fertilization between two diverse worlds, having an interestingly similar backdrop. We have brought together celebrated artists and fashion designers from across the country who will present two works each - one in their signature style and one in the other sphere. What they have created should be a feast for the eye and mind, while also have a utilitarian merit as an adornment for the body in one form or another.”

The participating artists are Seema Kohli, Manu Parekh, Satish Gupta, Dileep Sharma, Ravi Kumar Kashi, Sujata Bajaj, Yusuf Arakkal, Baba Anand, Viveek Sharma and Paramjit Singh.

The participating fashion designers are Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar, J. J. Valaya, Manish Arora, Himanshu Dogra, Malini Ramani, Little Shilpa (Shilpa Chavan), Rajesh Pratap Singh, Gaurav Gupta and Varun Sardana.

Says curator Sushma Bahl: “Much of contemporary Indian art is marked for its rich cerebral and conceptual undercurrents as reflected in its bold experimentation and play with forms, materials and ideas. How integral is the functionality of art and its visual aesthetics, in one form or another, that was at the root of much Indian classical, tribal and folk arts, in today’s context? A contrast of sorts is reflected in those working in design and fashion domains where functionality and market are the prime driving forces. What space or scope does their practice allow for unrestrained creativity that is encouraged at initial learning and training stages? The symbiotic relationship between Art and Fashion with cross boundary assimilation and collaboration being the norm rather than an exception today seems to have come full circle. As in the pop art and op art movements of the 60’s in the West, Indian art too is increasingly seen to embody design and fashion within its folds, while fashion designers and their creations are finding pride of place in museums and art exhibitions. This crossover between artistic genres especially since the 1990s has led to free exchange of creative energies and opened up people’s perceptions of what art stands for.”