Photos from Rajan Krishnan's "oRe" Show

Here is a truly gorgeous fifty-two image slideshow from Rajan Krishnan's oRe/Substances of Earth-I show opening that took place on 19 January 2008 at Bodhi Art in Mumbai, including nice shots of the installation pieces. Rajan, in the purple shirt here, provided me with these photos, which were taken by Ajilal. The first image in the slideshow includes writer Renu Ramanath, seated and looking up, Rajan's wife and creator of SpaceOut.

One of many compelling aspects of the installation that is made of thousands of small clay pieces is this: more than one hundred people contributed to its making! An excellent article about the exhibit, including an interview with Rajan, is available on ArtConcerns. I have also mentioned this work in postings last December and January.

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Collaborative Art - IN REVISION

Last night I posted an entry about collaboration in art. Eight hours later I took it down. It annoyed even me in its self-referentialism. Additionally, to understand what I see as potential for collaboration in art making, experiential information is needed. That is harder to capture in writing. I am working on a revised version of this entry and hope to post it soon. Meanwhile, here are some links I find interesting that are on or near the topic.

An introduction to David Bohm's "On Dialogue" and the larger writing (I am not certain if that is the whole text of "On Dialogue" or not) contain a description of a collaborative process, as I see it.

Collabarts.org publishes an essay by David Barrett that says this: "...if you believe art to be about individual creative expression, you aren’t likely to take up collaborative practice, whereas if you believe that art is - for instance - a language of decipherable metaphors whose purpose is to explore aspects of contemporary society, then there is no ideological reason why you should not work collaboratively."

The website Gridcosm "...is a collaborative art project in which artists from around the world contribute images to a compounding series of graphical squares." Be sure to scroll down the page to see the images.

The Living Pulse is a collaborative sculpture that a friend in San Francisco has helped organize.

An essay called Observations on Collective Cultural Action says this: "The individual's signature is still the prime collectible, and access to the body associated with the signature is a commodity that is desired more than ever - so much so that the obsession with the artist's body has made its way into 'progressive' and alternative art networks. Even 'community art' has its stars, its signatures, and its bodies."

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New Beauty of Water Collaborators

Meet Harachi, artist, healer, and vibrant soul, native German with many years in Austria, recently in Kerala, India, aiming for new adventures in Mallorca, Spain. Harachi and I met in Kumily and found great inspiration in each other's ideas, history, and art projects. Harachi is joining Beauty of Water, with many possibilities for collaborations to come. Welcome, Harachi!

Below you will find photos of a river nearby in Tamil Nadu where Harachi and friends were visiting for part of a day, in conjunction with a wedding. She motivated the whole group to perform a site clean-up, picking up plastic bottles and other trash before they stopped to enjoy and relax. I'm sorry but I can't give photo credit -- not sure who took these lovely images.

Now meet Peter Musa, from Cameroon. This photo was taken by his friend, Ngeh Julius. Peter is an artist, writer, founder and director of Mus'Art Gallery in Kumbo. From his new brochure: "This journey [of opening a gallery] started when our dad decided to start traditional wood sculpturing. I call it traditional because the art was done according to how Nso' carvers of Bui Division in the North West Province of the Republic of Cameroon did their wood carvings. He started in a nearby bush a few metres away from where we lived then... ...Today, Mus’Art is expanding and diversifying its collection. We want to fully represent the different art forms of the western Grass-fields of Cameroon. We also want to preserve and promote the traditional music and dance of this region. It is important to do this things, if we want up-coming generations to associate with our arts,crafts, culture and music." There is much more to this story that I haven't included here, and much more to knowing Peter. Beauty of Water is delighted to join with Peter in new collaborations.

A third new collaborator, S. Anitha, will be introduced in a forthcoming posting. Anitha is an environmental activist and educator working throughout Kerala. Our affinities are vast and we delight in this new connection.

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Art Happenings: Kerala; Mumbai; Pongal in Chennai

I have been traveling in the past weeks, attending art events and connecting with Beauty of Water supporters.

On January 12 I had the pleasure of seeing Santhan's solo show opening at Kashi Art Café in Fort Kochi. Enthusiasts from near and far came to see his wonderful works, including Terry Berger, shown with more beloved friends and Beauty of Water supporters, from left to right, Ruth, Sylvi, Henry, Terry, and Adam. Terry also recorded Santhan's show, and included its *written documentation on Santhan's website, which Terry built last year.

In Chennai I experienced Pongal, the harvest festival that brings five times the number of people to the beach as compared with what may be seen in this photo I snapped from a bus.

In Mumbai Rajan Krishnan opened oRe/Substances of Earth-I at the newest Bodhi Art Gallery. This amazing work was in progress in December when I visited the terra cotta studio and got to make a couple of clay pieces, as described in an earlier posting. Unfortunately the gallery's website does not show Rajan's three- and four- dimensional works (there is an installation that includes a film). If I find images online I will post a link.

Friend, writer (formerly for The Hindu), and wife of Rajan, Renu Ramanath, is keeping an arts blog that is well worth a visit called SpaceOut, listing the cultural events happenings in Kerala, with programme announcements, reviews and links. *Renu authored the documentation for Santhan's show.

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Sreeja's Play

My good friend Sreeja is a playwrite here in Kerala and she and her amazing people staged an original play recently in Kalamassery, near Kochi where I've been staying lately. These sixteen photos capture the spirit of costumes, colors, action, and drama, including post-show fun, albeit with photographic challenges due to the low lighting and no flash. The theme has to do with a young woman's choices about how she will live her life after the death of her husband. Sreeja is wearing a yellowy orange top with pink and red necklaces. Santhan and I and some of the beautiful small girls shown here, performers each in her own right, took these pictures.

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