ART MUMBAI 2023

Central to the booth are Nithiyendran’s eccentric ceramic icons, arranged to form a contemporary shrine. Inspired by diverse and seemingly disparate religious effigies and aesthetics, his syncretic figures, whether coated in elaborate and textural glaze or left raw with flourishes of bling, exude charisma. Faces that note Gandhara sculpture, gestural arms akin to Hindu goddesses, knots of Buddha-like hair and torsos that appear swiped from SpongeBob SquarePants converge. These rambunctious visions, part of Ramesh’s speculative ‘mythological playground’, use their polymorphism to speak about ideas of inclusivity and equality. Nithiyendran’s new gods are all, nothing and everything in between.

Rana Begum’s dense spray paintings, installed on the inner and outer booth walls, cocoon Nithiyendran’s ceramics. The layered spots of diffuse colour are mediative. The nature of spray painting, where liquefied paint is transformed into a fine mist and shot through the atmosphere before landing on the canvas, creates a pulsating accumulation of hues. The depth generated through this technique, which can take months at a time, pushes the painting to act sculpturally. In Begum’s style of pointillism, certain colours lurch forward while others retreat, some buzz and glow. Like much of her work, these pieces require the viewer to experiment with their perspective and ultimately, dwell.