After preview of Archival Dialogues in a colonial house belonging to the East-Indian Community at KhotachiWadi

Spaces and Traces
A Prequel to Embracing Modernity

Curated by
PronoyChakraborty

Artists
Aslam Md. | Deepak K. Agasthya  |Dipti Batlawala  | Lokesh Khodke | Mustafa Khanbhai | Shailesh BR  |  Shiva Gor  | Tehmeena Firdos  | Teja Gavankar  |  Urvi Sethna

Preview
Friday, 23rd March 2018, 6:00PM – 9:00PM

Show continues till- Tuesday, 3rd April 2018.

Timing- 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
              3:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Monday – Saturday

Venue: Kathiwada House, Westmore,  69 sir Pochkhanwala  Road,  Worli Mumbai-400069.

Curator’s Note

Priyasri Patodia & Sangita Kathiwada

After preview of Archival Dialogues in a colonial house belonging to the East-Indian Community at KhotachiWadi, this curatorial attempt seeks to activate yet another significant space in the history of Mumbai's colonial architecture. This residential bungalow formerly belonged to the eminent art-collector and Sheriff of Mumbai, Jehangir Nicholson; and was later purchased by Sangita Kathiwada, a fashionista widely known as an ardent lover and collector of art. The foyer of her bungalow built in an eclectic Art-Deco architectural style at Pochkhanawala, Worli will be the site for this exhibition, primarily of sculptures and installations.
The International Art-Deco style arrived in Mumbai in the 1930s because of colonial trade in the volatile years between the World Wars, fusing with variants of the Indo-Saracenic style. Art-deco drew heavily from the visual vocabulary of Cubism, yet in Mumbai, blended with pre-existing elements and motifs. Second only to Miami, Mumbai has the largest number of art-deco buildings- ranging from the earliest public theatres to bungalows owned by influential individuals of the time. The style marked the beginning of the modernist phase of Mumbai’s urban development, soon to be taken over by high-rises and sky-scrapers bordering the coastline.

Private collections of art have played a huge role in determining the writing and reading of art-history. A collector’s taste and zeal of acquisition of a specific genre, or an artist, can formulate dialectical critical discourses centered on the notions of style and mannerism. Jehangir Nicholson was one such pre-eminent collector in Mumbai from 1967 till his death in 2001. Likewise, the Kathiwada royal family had always been a keen patron of artists, N.S. Bendre for instance used to be good friends with the family and had done over a dozen of paintings while staying with them.

In response to the historical importance of the site- its affiliation to two influential art collectors in Mumbai, and the architectural style of the bungalow; the selected artists were requested to give one or two sculptures/installations culling from their distinct oeuvre for the Preview to happen in March 2018. This show is a prequel to a holistic larger exhibition, including the interiors and the terrace of the same bungalow, featuring quintessential contemporary Indian artists working across a wide range of mediums and formats.

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P R I Y A S R I  A R T G A L L E R Y
42 Madhuli
4th Floor
Shiv Sagar Estate
Next to Poonam Chamber
Dr Annie Besant Road
Worli
Mumbai 400018