Nestled brings together the works of sculptor and painter Adip Dutta and the revered artist late Meera Mukherjee, revisiting a layered and nuanced relationship between them. Although generationally apart, Mukherjee's influence on Dutta's work was formative to his visual language and the exhibition attempts to underscore a lesser known, yet important, dialogue between them. Ensconced within the studio and influence of Meera Mukherjee, for Adip Dutta, the early conversations with his "Meera Mashi" birthed a way of thinking and looking that became the cornerstone of his practice. Nestled orbits a space of dialogue, of times spent together, of influences formed through a wide range of experiences, and of foundational moments of lucidity for Dutta and a loving, yet restrained, mentoring by Mukherjee. Using the stitched kantha, as a point of entry into the exhibition, Nestled presents a body of hand-embroidered work that emerged from Mukherjee's constant push in imbibing and expanding processes juxtaposing them with Dutta's works on paper, sculptures and drawings. Mukherjee made drawings with children that grew into kanthas; instructed by her and made in collaboration with skilled craftspeople which then took shape of hand-woven carpets. Each practice carries forward a knowledge system and a shared tradition to the next, bringing together experiments that exhibit the harmonious flow of the evolving practice between groups of people and the creation of a whole language. Dutta's time spent with Mukherjee in his teenage years and as a young artist in Mukherjee's studio, had an undeniable influence in way of representation, in way of seeing the world around him and the transposition of his vision to his practice. In Dutta's repetitive mark-making within his drawing, the relationship between Mukherjee's kantha stitches - flexible, moving, curvilinear lines where small lines, dots, dashes and points are used as common devices to form the narrative, become instantly visible. The conversation between the two artists at the exhibition, physically confronts the viewer with a punctured display mechanism that allows for their practices to be seen together and through the lens of each other instead of approaching them in singularity. Dutta's works are bereft of human representation, while Mukherjee's are immersed in them, yet signs of human presence are palpable in Dutta's works as if he attempts to capture the shadow of human action and pauses at a moment, just after a person leaves a space. Human relationship and bonds between people were central to Mukherjee's vision that manifests in several ways in her work. A mother and child sculpture bookends the exhibition holding forth a relationship and a conversation securely nestled between a cocooned space, the artists carved out for themselves, ensconced within each other's practice. Adip Dutta (b. 1970) is an artist and a member of the Faculty of Visual Arts at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Dutta received his Master of Visual Arts (MVA), Dept. of Sculpture, Faculty of Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata (2000) and lives and works in Kolkata. Late Meera Mukherjee (b. 1923 – d. 1998) was an artist, known for bringing modernity to Bengal sculpture. Mukherjee trained initially at the Indian Society of Oriental Art School in 1941. Mukherjee was recipient of the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1992, Press Award for the Master Craftsman, in 1968, from the President of India and the Abanindranath Award from the West Bengal government in 1981. The exhibition in its physical form will be open to the public between 11 am to 6 pm every day except on Sundays and other government mandated closure dates. Visits to the gallery need prior appointments. Visitors to the gallery must wear facemasks at all times. Physical distancing and other safety measures will be followed at the gallery. Nestled is presented by Experimenter in collaboration with The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata.

mpefm INDIA Art press release

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