Rest, a look back.
Reflecting on a two person art show from the city of Bangalore
What does it take to rest in a techno-tastic city? To talk about it in a way that’s never been done before, through the eyes of two young artists who aren’t natives to the city but who now call it home.
Open questions like these arose naturally when I attended the opening of a two-person show by ‘A Soft Blanket of Plants on Tired Bodies’ by Tasneem Lohani and Mohit Mahato, upcoming artists from Bangalore. Upcoming in the sense that they regularly make work, apply to grants, residences and awards, try and contextualise their work in the contemporary space, try to articulate their work with artspeak in artist statements, work descriptions and statement of purposes but for this show they left it all behind - the artspeak, the pretence, the context, and spoke simply.
Tasneem and Mohit both have a great eye for space, hanging work and exhibition design. The initial impression of the exhibition takes your breath away, because of the nonlinear placement of the frames, the large fabric hung from the ceiling to floor and the fresh coat of paint, a lucky occurrence left by the previous show that took up 1Shanthiroad. As one attendee remarked ‘There is just enough space, there is just enough work’.
The curatorial note deserves a special mention, because it was written in as personal a voice as possible, as if the artists had produced a hologram of them speaking to the reader instead of words pasted on a wall. Devoid of artspeak, it laid its terms simply - In a world that runs from rest, the artists seek the company of plants by foraging and gardening to find refuge for their tired bodies.
Tasneem’s work is the work that will be hard to place, and not just because it's in the abstract. Certain moments in her work seem to be borne of peace and rest, while other strokes still retain residue from the brute force that made them - either from an agitated or an anxious mind. The negative spaces in her work are calming, but the colours chosen hardly are - blacks, greys and the most brutish reds. The inference one can arrive in relation to the theme of Rest is that the works portray the artist being in an unrestful state, or rather returning to a restful state again and again by mark making, of an inner world fighting a more dominant inevitable external reality.
Mohit’s work is figurative, bold and loud. His gigantic drawings mixed with cyanotype prints take over the space. But this aside, Mohit’s work has different stories to tell. The cyanotype drawings are large portraits of himself overlaid or interacting with impressions of plants, leaves and flowers from Bangalore, something he obsessively forages and collects over the years.
His other set of drawings - made in bed when he was recuperating from a long illness, depict pain and being cloistered and the loneliness of healing. A plant is dominant in all the drawings but in a less cheerful light, invading his space, or growing in places that they shouldn’t grow, indicating invasion, dampness & disease. The contrast between the cyanotypes to these drawings simply depict how the artist was feeling at those times of his life - when he was healing/well.
The show works on many levels because of the geographical markers - the pace at which Bangalore is growing is restless - roads disappear overnight, flyover columns change the skyscape in weeks, there is no time to stop because to stop is to stop spending and earning money and to stop the flow of money is to stagnate and die. Especially in a city where rapidly growing living costs are squeezing its residents' lives.
The context of the show works for Bangaloreans. The content of the show also works for the Bangalorean aesthetic - as obsessed as we are with our beers, we’re also equally fond of our large rain trees and our flowering trees in spring. They’re all we have left as remnants of natural beauty amidst congested city centres.
As culturally lacking as the city is, the sound piece by Tasneem is just ambivalent enough to be interesting but not out of reach to the average art enthusiast. Tasneem played notification and ringtone sounds until one became anxious, only to cool it down with music and snatches of sounds of daily living. Rest from sound is never an option in a city like Bangalore. The closest one can get to silence is by escaping into the deep hill stations of Coorg or Sakleshpur, to find the thick silence of the wealthy. In this city, Tasneem's sound performance is our daily reality enhanced to show its glaring immediate effects when our minds are given the rare opportunity to fully focus on it.
Lastly, the little corner to sit and parse through Mohit’s sketchbook was a highlight, a treat for anyone who loves getting behind the scenes of artists’ work, to take a look at that mysterious in-between phase.
More can be said, but there is much to be experienced at this show, which is on till the 13th of August.
Go check it out, and leave with thoughts of rest, tiredness and the gentleness of artists.
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Author’s note: This is written for an art show that is no longer on view. You can instead view the artists’ work on these links and find them on Instagram as well.
Tasneem Lohani - https://www.tasneemlohani.com/
Mohit Mahato - https://www.sumukha.com/ArtistDetails?section=artists&artistid=804