Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. 

All of us have heard that saying, right? And I think it’s most relevant to art – the abstractness and subjectivity of art interpreted with one’s own perception make it so intriguing. Take Van Gogh’s starry night oil painting for instance – the picture holds a million tales – from the stormy sky to the several sun-like sketches. There is no right or wrong in art, it’s just a reflection of an artist’s mind.

And since 1895, the La Biennale di Venezia (also known as the Venice Biennale) has been giving artists a chance to share their ideas with the world. Albeit a bit late, India made its first appearance at the exhibition in 2011. Now, after an eight-year hiatus, it has made its comeback at the 58th instalment of the prestigious event. Better late than never, right?

Presenting a group exhibition named Our Time For A Future Caring, the India Pavilion is showcasing artwork by famed artists like M. F. Husain, Atul Dodiya, Nandalal Bose, Jitish Kallat, GR Iranna, Ashim Purkayastha, Rummana Hussain and Shakuntala Kulkarni. It forms part of India’s celebrations of ‘150 years of Gandhi’, and here are some of the best artworks that make up the pavilion:   

1. Renowned painter M. F. Husain perfectly captured the essence of our homeland with his mural piece, named Zameen…   

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MF Hussain’s Zameen (1955) conceptually represents Gandhi’s village republics, with subject matter that continues from Nandalal Bose but uses a modern idiom. The painting was produced at a moment when hope for a new nation was still intact and when artwork focused on the secular, featuring peasants, the laborer, the rural, the artisan and the indigenous. This piece shows how deeply Hussain was thinking about the idea of nation and the multiple languages, religious and social practices that uniquely go into it, perhaps alluding to Gandhi’s plea for ‘unity in diversity’. #IndiaInVenice #MFHussain . . . . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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2. Atul Dodiya brought conceptual art to us in the form of Broken Branches…

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Atul Dodiya’s Broken Branches is an installation comprised of nine glass-fronted wooden cabinets, filled with objects including hand-coloured framed photographs, used artificial limbs, tools, found objects and billboard paintings Dodiya’s family can trace its origins back to Porbander, the birthplace of Gandhi. And this work is a distillation of the artist’s Gandhian upbringing. The project began as an homage to memory, history, and time, but through the use of broken limbs and prosthetics, Dodiya has given us a way to think about the themes of repair, restoration and resurrection—all necessary when thinking about a nation and its complex fabric. #IndiaInVenice #AtulDodiya . . . . . . . . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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3. Nandalal Bose presented the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in the form of Haripura Posters…   

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The Haripura Posters (1937) were created when Gandhi commissioned Nandalal Bose to decorate the pandal for the session of the Indian National Congress at Haripura. With concepts drawn from the daily lives of people and the rural landscape, the set of 16 posters features local materials such as handmade paper stretched on strawboard and natural pigments. You can sense the connection between Gandhi and Bose, with the artist having translated the former’s thoughts on to the panels. #IndiaInVenice #Nandalal Bose . . . . . . . . . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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4. Jitish Kallat turned Mahatma Gandhi’s letter to Adolf Hitler into artwork that he named Covering Letter…

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A correspondence between two historical figures – Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler gets recreated on a continual, transcending mist. Here’s a look at Jitish Kallat’s ‘Covering Letter’ getting installed at the India Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia titled ‘Our Time for a Future Caring’ curated by Roobina Karode, Chief Curator and Director – Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. For the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale, Ministry of Culture, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) and Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) have forged a partnership to present the India Pavilion, between 11th May and 24th November 2019. #IndiaInVenice #JitishKallat . . . . . . . . #artists #announcement #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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5. Ashim Purkayastha, with his minimal yet effective work, reflected on farmers’ struggles and the political fallout through his stamp artwork titled Farmers…   

6. Through Fragments, Rummana Hussain showed us how even broken pieces of clay can make a powerful statement…

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The fragility and poverty of clay as material and the economy of expression draw our attention to Rummana Hussain’s Fragments. The simple act of placing together a pot split into two, exudes a compelling power. The bare material turns poetic, provocative and meditative, overlapping political and spiritual connotations. In the village economy of India, the broken shards of a terracotta pot signal everyday usage and the recycling of natural materials. Placed on a mirrored surface, Hussain’s Fragments evoke breakage and severance. Drawing attention to her own body, (she had been diagnosed with breast cancer), Fragments is among the early conceptual works that reference minorities on the margins, feminism and personal history. Hussain’s practice had a sharp and spontaneous response to the politics of her time; her artistic practice changed radically in the early 1990s. She quit painting and moved to performance and the use of commonplace objects and materials to connect with a larger audience. In the extended cultural and symbolic context, the broken shards reference the divisive politics of land and religion that followed the Partition of India. As if taking on a conceptual and archaeological excavation, Hussain splits, dissects, unearths the soil, creates altar like raised platforms and surfaces to initiate inquiry into the relationship of part and the whole, single and the multiple, formal collective integrity of body/entity and the individuation of its elements, its divisiveness and oneness, life and death. The reverberations and sound of life held within are silenced when the pot is broken. The experiential quality of her work unfolds the aesthetics of slowness and contemplation. In the regenerative potential of the earthen material, Hussain reinstates faith and hope for the restoration of the body/nation/life. #IndiaInVenice #RummanaHussain . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart

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7. Shakuntala Kulkarni combined urban thinking with rural skills in her artwork titled – Of Bodies, Armours & Cages…  

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Shakuntala Kulkarni’s ‘of bodies, armour and cages’ attempts to address the relationship of the body to the dual notion of protection and entrapment. From her earlier concerns with human predicament, Shakuntala has shifted attention to gender specific issues over the last two decades, making an enquiry into the lives of urban women and their space within patriarchal societal structures. At different stages of her art practice, Shakuntala started addressing issues like pain, claustrophobia, alienation, fear, violence, etc. experienced by women within city spaces, examining possible ways of dealing with it. The body language in her work becomes the site of contestation for addressing her concerns through performance videos. While the cane armour, that the protagonist wears, becomes a metaphor for protecting the physical body, it also stands as resistance to the invasion of cultural and historical spaces. For the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale, Ministry of Culture, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) and Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) forge a partnership to present the India Pavilion, between 11th May and 24th November 2019. #IndiaInVenice . . . . . . . . . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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8. Kannada artist GR Iranna’s Panic Garden – an installation of wooden sandals – evokes a sense of unity in spirit 

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G R Iranna’s Naavu (We Together) translated from Kannada is a mixed media work of many padukas—the wooden sandals that stand as a symbol of unity in spirit as well as a testimony to a certain belief that builds on the principles of non-violence. The beauty of this work is the many messages that it inspires, of people from varied walks of life – the farmer, barber, moneylender, coppersmith or artist, all together to uphold values of self-dignity, peace and freedom all forging a thread of harmony. #IndiaInVenice #GRIranna . . . . . . . . . . . . #indiapavilion #150yearsofmahatmagandhi #knma #kirannadarmuseumofart #ourtimeforafuturecaring #venicebiennale #labiennaledivenezia #venice #italy #contemporaryart #festival #2019 #art #artlovers #artworks #installationart #fineart #painting #performanceart #videoinstallation #sculpture #indianart #indiancontemporaryart #artiseverywhere #exhibition

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Led by Kiran Nadar, Chairperson of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and a champion of the arts in India, these masterpieces were curated by Roobina Karode, the chief curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. All these paintings depict the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi while highlighting its contemporary relevance. It’s an absolute treat for people who love and appreciate art.   

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art is the principle partner for the India Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. What a great way to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s ideologies on his 150th birth anniversary!