On Purpose

Vadehra Art Gallery presents a group exhibition by some of the most exciting names in contemporary Indian art, including Anju Dodiya, Atul Bhalla, Gigi Scaria, Jagannath Panda, K.M. Madhusudhanan, Praneet Soi, Ranbir Kaleka, Shrimanti Saha, Sudhir Patwardhan, Sunil Gupta, Nalini Malani and Ashim Purkayastha. Titled On Purpose, the exhibition features large-scale paintings and drawings across a range of topical themes such as self-identity, gender, socio-economics, the environment, public spaces, politics of the image, etc., to which a diverse group of young writers from across the country respond in an ekphrastic challenge. We are proud to share meaningful contributions by Jeet Thayil, Nonita Kalra, Shruti Kapur Malhotra, Meena Kandasamy, Janice Pariat, Manju Sara Rajan, Anindita Ghose, Akhil Katyal, Gayatri Ranghachari Shah, Anish Gawande and Kabir Jhala and Shrey Ajmani alongside these powerful works, opening up the discourse of a white-cube space to interdisciplinary interventions.

Ekphrasis refers to the rhetoric construction and interpretation of a visual impression, object or scene in the form of the written word. Often vivid and dramatic, ekphrastic writing offers detailed descriptions of forms of art either real or imagined, and in a more nuanced sense, connects personal ideology with collective structures. Literature has long-turned upon the arts as an inquiry of the beautiful and the sacred in trying to decipher the perplexities of the human condition through our relationships with and representations of the world. The progressive invention of material and script have served as technological advances in their own right, not only shaping the form and function of artistic enterprises but also discoursing the role of the artist–writer–creator for centuries. In spite of the tactility of etymological definitions of technology, today’s apprehension takes on a more cybernated character. The changing nature of creation and consumption are prompting fundamental shifts in our thinking selves, and practices that were once at the helm of human progress have taken on a nostalgic aura. The labor of thinking and making must be re-centered in concentration – on purpose.