A work by George K. on display at Gallery Sanskriti and (below) a work by Rajesh Ram

Globalisation has thrown up a group of often highly successful Indian artists, who, perhaps realising that imitation is the best form of flattery, blindly follow trends in currency in the West without sparing a thought for the ground realities in their own country. Or even if they focus on the latter, they tend to highlight its more sensational aspects that catch the eye immediately. We Indians love to brag about our ancient traditions, and are also the first ones to discard and disregard them. These thoughts may occur to the viewer at Gallery Sanskriti and Anant, where the exhibits treat serious issues in a rather crude and showy manner.

The exhibition titled The Wandering Alchemists features three artists — Alexis Kersey, George K. and Manish Nai. Kersey is of British-Australian origin and he has produced a series of paintings in the style of hoardings, an excuse for painting kitsch exploiting caste marks, reversal of Madonna-Yashoda roles, a popular game, studio portraits and a Duerer Adam wearing a Nehru cap. Death of imagination in an expanse of shame is what it is.

George K paints familiar faces in a bazaar in a photorealist style but tries to impose a message by crudely painting slogans on the images. He paints a Kathakali dancer, before and after make-up, all in the same frame. He also displays a series of figures of eunuchs, the sort visible all over the country, again with messages painted on them. These could have been produced in Krishnagar with clay, only these are modelled with fibreglass.

It is surprising that Manish Nai’s nuanced pieces in subtle shades created with paper, watercolour and jute fibre were included in this exhibition.

Rajesh Ram’s sculptures and paintings are being exhibited at Anant. The young artist is from Jharkhand and he imitates Sudhir Patwardhan wholesale, but with a big difference. He paints marketplaces, deprived farmers, street children and other such cliches and sticks grain or spices on the canvas, leaving out space at equal intervals to resemble nipples (with a huge hungry baby inset) and edible substances. The exhibition is titled Hybrid and in keeping with that idea, veggies sprout from a girl’s hair (bronze sculpture and painting) and from a dog’s behind (along with the feet of human beings) in profusion, and rather pointlessly, if one may add. His sculpture Buffalo Milk created with glossy rexine and giant aubergine look slick, but that’s only skin deep.