If the heat of Delhi’s summer is getting to you, an easy way to beat it is by visiting beautiful exhibits in the capital city showcasing the best of artistic works. One such is the exhibition curated by Nero Art Hub set to take place at Bikaner House from May 21-26 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This group show of paintings titled ‘Urban Myths’ has been curated by Ranbir Rathi, and the artists whose works are on display include Ashok Bhowmick, Akshay Sakla, Dharmendra Rathore, Tapan Dash, Ranveer Rao, Ranjith Raghupathy, Rajesh K Baderia, Sanu Ramakrishnan, Sejal Patra, Satadru Sovan, Sanjay Sawant, Sweety Joshi, Komakula Rajasekhar, Mahavir Verma, and Ranjan Kau.
Ranbir Rathi
Ranjan Kaul artwork.
Tapan Das artwork.
Ranjith Raghupath artwork
Rathi puts it in simple words, “I am organizing this show in Bikaner House because I feel this is a great platform to showcase our art work to a larger audience and art enthusiasts. It is a cultural hub and this venue is known for promoting art and other cultural activities. I have always been fascinated by Bikaner House because of its unique aesthetic and the large space it provides, allowing us to do justice to the artists and their work. Bikaner House for me is a bubbling cultural hub. Its beautiful ballrooms and its history of stunning exhibits of art make it even more appealing to me. As leading galleries from the country such as Vadehra and Nature Morte have used this space earlier, this is the next big step for Nero and we are so glad to be part of this larger platform.”
Urban Myths is a group exhibition that brings together artists from diverse backgrounds who respond to the concept of urban myths in the present era of modern life while revisiting their roots in their unique visual language. Literally translated, myths are traditional narratives concerning the early history of people, usually of unknown origin, often related to religious beliefs and superstitions based on real events that transmute over time into stories down the ages. As people migrate to towns and cities in search of livelihoods, they carry with them ancient stories of their rural settings.
“On display are the works of a balanced mix of senior and emerging artists who offer an evocative panorama of individualized figurative and semi-abstract forms, using varying innovative techniques, experimentation, and expressive textures – cross-hatching, exaggerated detailing, thick brushstrokes, vibrant, unreal colours, and works that move out of the confines of a well-defined space,” explains Rathi.
As a curator based in New Delhi, who was born and raised in Kashmir, Rathi has been in this field for the past 12 years. She is a graduate of Delhi University in History and Arts and a Post Graduate in Public Relations. Rathi also pursued a degree in Fashion Design at the Delhi Polytechnic College. She started her career by working on her family business in the security industry as the managing Director of Fox Hunters Security Pvt Ltd. but later reconnected to her love and passion for art by launching Nero Art Hub in 2018 with the hope of bringing art to the masses.
At her previous exhibition ‘Withering Wings’, Rathi felt the theme was incomplete as it did not cover urban lifestyle and pertinent issues like people migrating from towns and small cities to metropolitan ones. She wanted to show this theme in a broader way to a larger audience focussing on the realities of everyday life. This is also why she chose to display work from different cities to explore the varied realities of modern living, sample people’s myriad beliefs, and hear their stories according to diverse geographical backgrounds and myths.
“I wanted to bring emerging artists and renowned artists together from different parts of India under one roof on the same platform. I’m so grateful that after two years we are able to do this physical exhibition in a broader way with a group of artists. Since our theme is ‘Urban Myths’, we started looking at profiles and artworks of artists from different regions. We asked many artists to send the full profile of their artworks related to this theme and with our team we evaluated each and every art work,” shares Rathi.
It took her nearly two months to plan and execute this display of 30 to 35 artworks. Next, she is in the process of exploring the NFT space. She says she still has a lot to learn as the ecosystem is still in the initial stages of development. “I would definitely like to find new ways to work with the associated artists at Nero in the space next. Nero’s vision is to bring Indian art to the global platform. There is a certain stereotypical perception about Indian art in the international market as they are unaware of the diversity of work that exists in the country. I want to create a space for Indian art in the international market, especially for emerging artists. New York and Singapore are two places that are on my radar for now,” she says, signing off.
Noor Anand Chawla pens lifestyle articles for her various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.
