Could you ever have imagined that the coffee plant could be molded into an object of sheer beauty and creativity? Art has always been an individual expression of ideas and aspirations. When art takes form through the simple blend of natural pigments, plants, wood, cotton, and latex, it transforms into much more than being just an ordinary art sculpture – it becomes a sustainable inheritance from a person’s creativity. Ranjani Shettar’s latest solo museum exhibition in Mumbai, India does just that. Shettar’s first solo exhibition in India, High Tide for a Blue Moon is currently on display at the city’s oldest museum, the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, till February 17, 2013.

Shettar’s sculptural installations are inspired by nature and she makes use of natural, traditional ingredients in all of her works such as tamarind kernel paste, muslin cloth, latex, wooden beads, coffee stems, and natural pigments. Ten sturdy yet delicate sculptures infuse the museum’s grand interiors with poetic drama and create vivid pictures spanning landscapes. The highlight of the exhibition is High Tide for a Blue Moon where Shettar creates a dramatic structure formed from the joining of coffee stems, which are coated with metallic automobile paint. Visitors must engage and soothe their senses with some of Shettar’s best creations: Lagoon, Remanence from Last Night’s Dream, and Scent of a Sound.

Ranjani’s inspired creations and dexterity have earned her accolades in prestigious museums worldwide including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the New York Museum of Modern Art. Her sculptures lend the surrounding environment, a surreal and magical touch.

Ranjani is a young artist from Bangalore in India and she draws inspiration for most of her works from her mother’s home in Coorg and her own penchant for swimming against the tide of conventionalism. She grew up seeing the coffee plant being used decoratively and this fueled her creativity. From her student days at the Chitrakala Parishath, Ranjani Shettar wanted to create sculptures that could be suspended and even float in the air. With her first exhibition in Mumbai, she has been able to achieve that and much more.

Ranjani’s works have charmed collectors and art critics all over the world. If you happen to be in Mumbai then do stop by at the museum and enthrall your senses with her fine creations.

Image Courtesy : Talwargallery.com

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“Marina Abramović  The Artist Is Present,” new documentary to play on HBO this month, includes extensive archival footage and images of her life in the year leading up to the MoMA extravaganza. Revisiting her controversial beginnings in the early 1970s, the film features documentation of her earlywork, including video of Abramović driving a van around a public square while shouting numbers from a megaphone, taking psychoactive drugs to challenge social attitudes towards female mental illness, and mutilating and flagellating herself.

The MoMA retrospective exhibit occupies several floors of the museum, most of them dedicated to earlier chapters in Abramović’s career, with images and videos of installations, many involving fellow performance artist and former romantic partner Ulay. She also trains 41 young artists to “re-perform” some of her early installations. For example, in “Imponderabilia,” two artists stand face-to-face, completely naked on opposite sides of a doorway, which others can only squeeze through by brushing against the couple’s naked flesh, a piece originally performed by Abramović and Ulay.

In the new exhibit, Abramović sits in a chair under bright spotlights opposite an empty chair, where members of the public can sit as long as they want, gazing into her eyes. A seemingly endless number of people line up for the opportunity to sit with her, many sitting multiple times on different days, several for as long as ten hours, some even after waiting all night. It is the longest-duration solo work of her career, and by far the most physically and emotionally demanding one she has ever attempted. When she conceived it, Abramović says she knew instantly it was the right piece, because the mere thought of it “made me nauseous.” Exceeding the museum’s and the artist’s own expectations, the exhibit becomes a blockbuster, must-see event.

One of the most emotional scenes occurs when Ulay, the man with whom she shared an intense and colorful history spanning more than 12 years, occupies the seatopposite Abramović. The two lived in a van in Europe and performed together before their relationship ended in suitably dramatic fashion: They walked from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, met in the middle after covering over 1,500 miles apiece, and then said good-bye.

Sitting opposite each other in the MoMA exhibit, neither can hold back tears. Eventually, to cheers from the crowd, she reaches across and extends her hand to touch him, something none of the other sitters are permitted to do, and they hold each other. This moving moment highlights the two sides of Marina Abramović — the flesh-and-blood woman and the art-world icon — who is driven by passion, hungry for admiration and riven by contradictions.

“Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” received the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival. It will open at the Film Forum in New York City on June 13 and the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles on June 15, courtesy of HBO Documentary Films and Music Box Films.

Matthew Akers was the producer and a lead cinematographer on the series “Circus,” a producer and camera operator on the Emmy-winning series “Carrier,” and a producer and camera operator on the Peabody-winning series “Nimrod Nation.” His previous HBO credits as cinematographer include “Back in the Hood: Gang War II,” “Heir to an Execution” and “Elaine Stritch at Liberty.”

Image Courtesey of  Andrew Russeth

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