Manish Pushkale | Between the memory and a metaphor of a Forest – II | Acrylic on Canvas | 32 x 56 in | 2022
Manish Pushkale: Consistent (in)consistency
April 14-May 17, 2023 at Akar Prakar, Kolkata
For his latest exhibition 'Consistent (In)consistency', artist Manish Pushkale presents an extensive series of paintings deepening his enquiry into his ongoing exploration of deriving visual forms to soundscapes.
Working with large and small-scale formats, Pushkale's canvases are reflective of the textures of his background. Hailing from Bhopal, Manish is a self-taught artist who developed his practice as an artist at Bharat Bhavan’s creatively fertile environment. Evolving his artistic language over 25 years of practice, in his paintings Pushkale experiments with the imagery, working at the intersection of the personal and the spiritual.
The series of paintings presented in this exhibition is a result of his current enquiry. Playing with the notion of abstracting the auditory, the compositions transcend the tangible language of sound as we perceive them to be. This exhibition is evidence of the evolution of Pushkale’s artistic research while he remains faithful to his paintbrush, his preferred medium of choice.
—Siddhi Shailendra
Meera Mukherjee | Untitled | Bronze | 9.5 x 8 x .5 in
Meera Mukherjee: Life in all Things
April 28-May 26, 2023 at Akar Prakar, Delhi
“I belonged to a country which also had a great tradition of its own. It was the heritage which had in a thousand ways folded me. And, so though I was at the moment living, learning and growing in the West, I should still find my own way to myself, rooted in the great Indian tradition.” —Meera Mukherjee
On the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of artist Meera Mukherjee, Akar Prakar presents ‘Meera Mukherjee: Life in all Things’ to celebrate her life and works.
Meera is unravelled as “the woman behind the metal,”as a woman of flesh and blood. In the initial years of trial and toil, she started turning each pebble to a new path and no trouble seemed enough for her at one time. This exhibition is dedicated to remembering Meera and her genius, her commitment to her art, through the various mediums that she used during her journey as an artist, from wooden dolls to ceramic tiles, plaster of Paris to carvings on marble and terracotta works both large and intimate, drawings and paintings and finally her sculptures in Bronze which defined her artistic practice and which she struggled to create in spite of her financial constraints. She would often plough back the funds she received from her sale to create more sculptures. We know that Meera often gave these away as gifts and was shy of asking for the price of the work and would sometimes use the weight of the bronze to define the price of the sculpture! Such was the simplicity of Meera. With passion and love, Meera brought rhythm and music, devotion and dedication, into everything she created. Through her art, she sings to us the theme which is life.