An arty ode to the master

Recreating the magic of late artist, Raja Ravi Varma’s oleographs, a group of contemporary artists have come forward to celebrate his work across different media.

Titled — When High and Low Art Meet, the show pays respect to Varma. The exhibition proposes to bring new meaning to the fusion of the ‘low’ art of Varma’s oleographs and the inspiration derived thereof by contemporary artists, to make their own ‘high’, personalised art.

“When curator Rupika Chawla came to me with the idea of promoting a lost form of art, I was fascinated,” says Sunaina Anand, the organiser at Art Alive Gallery. With a line-up of artists such as Anjolie Ela Menon, Ravinder Reddy, Rohit Chawla, Paresh Maity, Raghu Rai, Ram Rahman, Atul Dodiya, B Manjunath Kamath and Waswo X Waswo, among others, the exhibition hopes to bring new creative expressions and imagery to the depiction of women in art, as was fondly portrayed by Varma in his works.

Apart from paintings and other artworks, on sale limited collection includes mirrors, lamps, waistcoats, dresses for children, tote bags, cushions, coasters and place mats, designed by artist Mrinalini Chawla. “My mother wrote a book on him (Raja Ravi Varma) and that’s how I got inspired to create these items for this exhibition,” she says.

Catch it live
What: When High and Low Art Meet … Art Exhibition
Where and when: On till December 2 at Lalit Kala Akademi, Copernicus Marg (continues at Art Alive Gallery, Gurgaon from December 5)
Timing: 11am -7pm onwards
Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House on the Blue Line