A group of 11 contemporary artists from the larger
non-profit Goa Artist Collective (GAC) come together to present works across
various media including installation, sculpture, painting and found objects in
their stunning new exhibition Into the Vault, hosted and supported by the
Museum of Goa, (MOG). The participating artists, Akshay Chari, Bhisaji Gadekar,
Dhiraj Pednekar, Diptej Vernekar, Gaurang Naik, Kalidas Mhamal, Pradeep Naik,
Rajendra Mardolkar, Shailesh Dhabolkar, Shilpa Mayenkar and Siddhesh Chari
delve deep into the recesses of the subconscious mind to take us through the
sacred and secret vaults within ourselves. By placing this process of intense
personal reflection within the formal confines of a museum space, they
decontextualise what it means to be a museum. What is precious to the
individual; what is museum worthy, they ask.
More than preserving objects that have historical and
‘cultural significance’, MOG was conceived as a laboratory of ideas. With this
exhibition, the GAC experiments and innovates in this laboratory to present an
array of exciting new ‘museum worthy’ artworks.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Spread across an entire floor of MOG, the expansive
exhibition provides much room to reflect. Pradeep Naik brings the humble and
ubiquitous Goan ‘pao’, so integral to the Goan ethos, into a museum as a work
of art. Blown up in size and created in fibreglass and acrylic, these panels of
‘paos’ make for a delightful artistic intervention. Diptej Vernekar takes LED
lights and a host of found objects including the humble mop and feather duster
to play with our perception of objects as related to personal myths, stories
and memories. Gaurang Naik reconstructs old, unused household objects like an
iron and a coconut scraper in papier mache, preserving history and documenting
memories in the process. In Chitrashalla, meaning workplace, Bhisaji Gadekar
celebrates the process of creation not the end product. He pays homage to Goa’s
rich tradition of craft, of creating with materials like hay, bamboo, grass and
paper and brings these into the hallowed museum space. Akshay Chari makes a
hard hitting comment on mankind’s destruction of our environment in a sculpture
that bares a predator’s sharp teeth.
Drilling into
the Bones of the Western Ghats by Rajendra Mardolkar stuns viewers with its
beauty of form that belies a horrific reality. The artist portrays the Western
Ghats, harbouring one of the world’s most diverse eco-systems, as a living
being. He visualises its forests as skin, as the soil and rocks underneath as
the flesh and bones of a person and takes a searing look at the disasters
humanity has inflicted on this natural landscape reducing it to a bare
‘bonescape’.
Kalidas Mhamal
marks the significance of abandoned items, once precious to an individual, and
attempts to preserve these vital memories. Shilpa Mayenkar honours traditional
flower weaver women in Fulkann. The evocative work hints at a vanishing local
culture in a time of accelerated global cultural change. Siddhesh Chari
fabricates a car engine from the non biodegradable and ecologically hazardous
material, thermacol in Engineered Objects. His choice of material makes a unique
and potent statement of its own. Shailesh Dhabolkar uses watercolour and coffee
to reveal his deep connection to the Goan soil, both metaphorically and
literally as he comes from a family of farmers. Dhiraj Pednekar draws an
agrarian landscape on the walls of MOG, housed in an industrial area. His
artwork is an effective commentary on the co-existence and inter-dependence of
farming and industrialisation.
With such
different artistic points of view on display, Into The Vault does as promised –
it takes a long hard look at our past, our present and our future, and brings
these insights into what makes us human into the intimidating space of a
museum. Do catch this show and if you’re already caught it, catch it again –
this one needs multiple visits to be thoroughly enjoyed.
Into
the Vault is on view at MOG through December.
