J.B.Hubli is one artist from Karnataka who has defined his own canvas - except that the workspace here is not canvas, but veneer on wood. He has the rare ability to recognize shapes and artforms in pieces of wood that are normally discarded or recycled by saw mills.

Jayant’s favourite hunting ground is a saw mill in Mysore, where machines slice large tree trunks to manufacture plywood. In the initial part of the production run, interesting bits of wood fly off the cutting machines. These pieces are hand-picked to “assemble” a picture - bit by bit, like a jigsaw puzzle.

When you look at his work, you are truly amazed at his mastery over form, in an interplay of images that seem to spring out of nature’s visual tapestry. Jayant has showcased his works of art in most major cities and is currently planning to share his unique perspectives with art lovers in Delhi. This talented young artist is from the Mysore College of Art (CAVA) and also has some very inspiring work in oils, water-colours, charcoal and acrylic.

You can view more of his work on his website. For samples of re-sized digital images of his work, please mail him at : jbhubli@gmail.com

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With their production of “Art”, Evam, the theatre group from Chennai whom many Bangaloreans have learnt to think of as their own, proved conclusively that they possess tremendous talent.

“Art” is described in their brochure as “serious comedy”. Marc, Yvan and Serge are three friends; Serge buys a work of art… a painting of white stripes and a white diagonal on a white background. This disturbs Marc profoundly, and he is unable to even stomach the thought of Serge wanting to buy it, or the fact of Yvan’s liking it.

Slowly, as their conversations about the paintings develop, layers of thoughts and opinions, and revelations, begin to appear. The serious and the comic march side by side as the plot unfolds

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Art has become fairly big business now, and Bid and Hammer, who are fine art auctioneers, are presenting an auction of modern and contemporary Indian Art in Bangalore.

The preview of the works, which include such well-known artists as Souza, J.Swaminathan, and our own Balan Nambiar, will be from 4 June to 14 June 2008,

at

Bid and Hammer Preview Hall
226-1/1, 39th C Cross, 8th Main Road, 5th Block,
Jayanagar, Bangalore 560041

and the auction proper willl be on the 15th June at

ITC Windsor Sheraton
Sankey Road

at 7.00pm sharp.

For general enquiries:

info@bidandhammer.com

+91 80 2211 0684

To place an order for catalogues:

catalogues@bidandhammer.com

+91 80 2211 0681

For registration: Bidders who wish to participate, either in person or through absentee or telephonebidding, will have to register all details, such as id proof, bank information, security deposit, etc.) that is required by Bid and Hammer, prior to the start of the auction.

The registration form is available on the Bid and Hammer website

www.bidandhammer.com

and it can be filled and sent in by post, email (registration@bidandhammer.com) or fax (+91 80 2227 2223), at least 2 hous before the start of the auction.

This is the second auction that Bid and Hammer is conducting.

Even if one is not a bidder, one can go and look at the art, and watch the fascinating process of the auction…but do make a prior appointment.

Association for People wiwth Disability (APD) had recently organized a five-day painting workshop, along with the Ken School of Art, for the differently abled. The workshop was held at Janapada Loka, and the work of the participants was exhibited at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, under the banner, “Kala Sourabha”.

APD can be contacted at 2547 5861, or 2547 5165.

Now, starting from April 28, a ten-day art camp for deaf children, and those affected by polio, has been organized at Hampi, Pattadkal, Aihole, and Koodala Sangama. For details on this, contact: 94487 60744.

Having been interested in calligraphy, I decided to visit the Ethos Art Gallery that has come up in Jayanagar, and look at the work of Poosapati Parameshwar Raju, a calligraphic artist from Hyderabad.

Calligraphy has a long association with Islam and is less often practiced in the Hindu idiom. But Parameshwar has done a fine job of it, demonstrating a skilled command over the use of his nibs and pens.

There were several works on display, mostly done in red ink, and they have been chosen from eight series, starting from mythology, with thems such as Ganesh, Shiva, Narasimha, Om and so on.

The vowels of the Devanagari script are also treated in a variety of designs and forms:

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I saw in the Deccan Herald that Magnitude Gallery in Jayanagar was having a “Wildlife of India” exhibition, so I decided to visit it

Mr Ramesh Magar, the owner of the gallery, spoke to me and explained that rather than lease out the space to various artists, he was trying a new model at Magnitude.

“We have eight artists who are employed by us,” he says, “And this frees them from the difficulties of earning their living only as and when they sell their art; we pay them a regular salary.” He has initiated “Rang De India”, a series of themes at the gallery. The last one was “Utsav”, which was on various festivals; the present one is “Junglee”, on wildlife; the next one proposed will be “Vanita”, on women. He says he asks the artists to produce painting on these themes, and then displays and sells them.

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