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Indigenous elements brought to ceramic forms at Delhi show
Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) Art connoisseurs came, saw and appreciated a show here that brought indigenous elements into ceramic form as well as tried to probe the world of inner and outer contexts of ceramics.

The five best names in pottery came together here to unveil a curated show called Terra Natura at Gallery Nvya Friday evening.

"One of the criticisms about trends in Indian ceramics is that shows have presented Indian ceramic artistes aping the West as well as South East Asia," said art critic Uma Nair who curated the show. 

"P.Daroz, Kristine Michael, Vineet Kacker, Manisha Bhattacharya and Ela Mukherjee were specifically chosen to explore a synergy that would exhibit not only the paths of progression but also the intrinsic diversity in their ability to question and create within the expansion of their own sensibility," she said. 

Daroz brings to his works a brilliant amalgam with the flashback to symbolism and the contemporary trends in glazing and the language of forms. 

"The Andhra mangalsutra was so heavy and I used that for my platters," he said of his historic series of three platters with a blue green glaze. 

Then there are Daroz's three large jars.

"The warriors that I saw at China became the heads of my urn like Aladdin jars that grew in bulbous magnificence. I used the tops of the jars to create the figures of the warriors heads," he said.

Kristine Michael's ceramic works titled "Cornucopia" emerge out of an earlier engagement with the nurturing aspect of life and nature as she unravels a series, which composed of groups of chrome red and yellow pears and capsicum on striped black and white ceramic pillows. 

"My work has moved from the single object in a series to multiple similar objects in an organised placement that has meaning when viewed as a whole," she said. 

Kristine also has a 32 plate series with poetry and symbolism of shells on it.

Vineet Kacker is more contemplative in his construct. 

"The Spirit Totems series are inspired by wayside shrines," he explains. 

Several small clay elements pre-fabricated from stamps and moulds are put together in a collage to make these intricate structures - the process of making reflects the incremental way in which street shrines evolve. 

Then there is the raku mistress Manisha who perfects the crackle on a small raku pot that speak of Zen elements. She also has a series of black and white pots that mirror the ying and yang of life. 

"Basically I am working on making the interior space as interactive as the exterior. These forms welcome the viewer to look in and get sucked down the mysterious alley into the enclosed space of these globulous forms," Manisha said.

"Ceramics speaks differently to different people," said critic Geeti Sen.

"I like the lightness of the endeavour and the varied forms that have been created. This show is a fine statement for a curatorial debut."