'A Maestro' Art Exhibition at Gallery Space, Hyderabad

Single digit temperatures may not be much fun, but an art approach can bring much warmth to the life. Come January and the art aficionados of Hyderabad are going to be treated with an art exhibition that seeks to celebrate the numerous hues of life in all their complexities. Presenting well known, established Master Artists under one roof this January. Gallery Artequest, a fledgling corporate venture in art from Mumbai and Space Gallery, the only destination for exclusive Art pieces in Hyderabad, will host 'a Maestro', a collection of paintings of distinguished artistes on a wide range of themes broadly centered on their individual perceptions of life and its vicissitudes at Space Gallery. To make this venture a grand success, many film stars and IMP personalities are making there presence. To name a few, Mr. K.Basi Reddy., a Film Producer and Chief Guest for the show, Actress Soumya & Actor Abhijeet Poondla.

Suhas Roy was born in 1926 in erstwhile Bengal and received a Diploma in Painting from the Indian College of Arts and Draughtsman ship in Kolkata in 1958. In 1965 he went to France on a French Cultural Scholarship, and studied at the Atelier 17 and the Ecole National Superiere des Beaux Arts. In 1974 he joined Santiniketan as a lecturer and taught painting there. Roy has had solo shows in Kolkata, New Delhi and Bangalore. He has exhibited at various exhibitions internationally. His depiction of sensuality and mystical /beautiful portraits is largely inspired by local Santhali (tribal) women and construction labourers. The naturalistic and 'ethereal' female portraits evoke lyricism and are poetic.

Sudip Roy is a graduate from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Kolkata. He has been a recipient of several awards including a Gold Medal from the Sahitya Parishad, Calcutta in 1979 and an award from AIFACS, Delhi in 1991. He has presented his work as a solo artist in several cities across India and has also been a participant at group exhibitions in India as well as abroad. His strength lies in his realistic rendering of everyday things in life, the people and objects that he sees around him. His control of Chiaroscuro gives a magnificent intensity to his work making it seem extremely real.

Rachana has many solo shows to her credit and participated in art camps in India and abroad,like Italy, USA. Her imagery is often treated with a strong 'photo-realistic' rendering; appear cheerful, uncomplicated and purely painted with adroit sense and contemplation. Having been reluctant to irony, despondency, ingenuity; her paintings evoke joy of the present moment that she lives in. her works are the visual palette for speaking to the world about the unspeakable. The ability to communicate through the visual senses has been around since the beginning of human kind and will continue as long as our species exists.

Ramesh Gorjala's dense drawings on canvas are full of colors, figures and stories, mainly from Indian mythology, such as Hanuman, Shiva and Vishnu. A modern take on the famed Kalarnkari tradition, his signature style of blending texts with images lends his canvas an enchanting visual appeal.

T Vaikuntam, Born in Karimnagar District of Andhra Pradesh in 1942 Vaikuntam completed his Diploma in Painting from the College of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hyderabad in 1970. He received a fellowship from Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy to study painting and print making at the M. S. University at Baroda from 1971 to 1972. Vaikuntam is specifically known for his very vibrant paintings of seductive ideal 'Telangana Woman', ornately dressed and magnificently distorted with flow of lines. Vaikuntam employs textile prototypes and jewellery embellishments to give life to his two dimensional imageries.

Thota Tharrani, Born in 1949, Thota Tharrani is one of the most creative people of our times. A winner of several State and National awards for his magnificent set designs for films, this Padmashri recipient is also a renowned painter with several solo and group shows to his credit. During his over four-decade association with art, he has not stuck to one medium, but proved his versatility with many — pencil, chalk, colour pencil, crayon and pastel to acrylic and water colour on canvas, paper, board, blackboard, Sunmica and Ceramic.

Jacob Jebaraj, Born in 1978, Jacob Jebaraj lives and works at the Cholamandal Artists' Village. An artist and sculptor, he is one the city's rising young talents. This contemporary multimedia artist is known for his experimental works using video installations and mixed media such as recyclable materials. He was awarded the SLBA award from Lyons, France in 2008 and the H.K. Kejriwal Young Artist Award in 2006.

Lalitha Lajmi, a renowned self-taught artist, was born in 1932. She is recognized with several solo shows at various galleries in Mumabi, Calcutta, New Delhi, Chennai and The United States and Germany. She participated in many group shows across India. Received Travel Grant to E. Germany & W.Germany for two exhibitions in 1983 and ICCR Travel Grant to Oakland in California for the International Women's Art Exhibition at The Mills College of Art in sept.1997.Laitha Lajmi's romantic ideology advocates for the agony of women in the society and the different roles they play in life. The inevitable anxieties involving men and women are cleverly captured in her paintings and etchings.

Rini Dhumal was born in 1948 in Rongpur in Bangladesh. In 1972, she acquired her Masters in Fine Arts (Painting) degree from M.S. University, Baroda. She has held a number of solo and group exhibitions in India and overseas such as The United States,Madrid-Spain, Frankfurt-Germany etc. Her expressionistic work, very much inclined to indigenous roots, conveys apprehension for human relationships and dialogues. She also paints goddesses with more vigor and expression on a toned down visual surfaces. Each of these artistes has developed their unique language of expressions and thematic preferences. Nonetheless, between them, they bring out the protean faces of life on their canvas in ways that often appear exaggerated or grotesque but never lacking in empathy.

CURATOR'S STATEMENT 'a Maestro':
Heart & blood are two things which survive on each others existence. In similer pattern, Art stands at the place of heart and Asthetic stands at the place of Blood. These are to dependent things which cannot suirvive for long without each other. This term is really very important in this show which displays most of the great Indian Masters paintings which do stand there because of its asthetical sense.

Rachana Nagarkar, Curator, 'a Maestro' Creative Director, Artequest Art Gallery (AAG), Mumbai.