Have you ever imagined coal tar, woks, wire strips and rusty nails as the stuff of serious artistic endeavour?

Artist Simran K.S. Lamba has, and he has been quite successful in elevating these humdrum items into aesthetic artworks and installations.

Lamba, 33, who has countless solo shows behind him, has just unveiled his newest exhibition, Nouveau, A New Way of Looking at Tar, at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Delhi. The 80 mix media canvases and nine
installations on display are testimony to his imagination and the skilful use of his favourite material — tar — combined with metal. A self-taught artist, Lamba started working with coal tar in 2006.

As you enter the gallery, you are likely to stop dead in your tracks to stare at a large coal tar painted iron wok with a large hole in the middle. Mounted on copper-coloured metal pipes with several small iron trishuls (tridents) sticking out from its sides and a crescent moon at the top, you know instantly that it’s the artist’s take on Lord Shiva. A part of his series titled Shunya, the artist says that the hole in the wok represents space. “The trishul represents the positive energy that’s spread around the universe by Lord Shiva,” Lamba explains. 

Another installation has woks of different sizes with holes in the middle tied to metal pipes that represent the union of Lord Krishna and Radha. This too is part of his Shunya collection. While woks representing Krishna are half-hidden and painted in black using tar, those representing Radha are painted white and golden yellow. 

Lamba has also used coal tar extensively on canvas to paint abstracts, portraits and landscapes. He has used copper wires, wax, wire mesh, metal discs and nails on some of the paintings.

The Delhi-based artist says that it was love at first sight when he saw coal tar at close quarters. “I discovered the magic of coal tar while watching men renovating the terrace of my apartment a few years back. I fell in love with it
instantly. I realised that coal tar can be used with a variety of materials like molten metal sheets, copper dust and wire mesh on canvas and other bases,” he says.

Lamba follows the abstract paintings of ace artist Ram Kumar while he’s a huge fan of  Rabindranath Tagore. “I keep looking at their works obsessively,” he laughs.

Lamba who is also into film-making and theatre, says that his mother, the well-known fashion designer, Mona Lamba of Monapali fame, has given him her unwavering support. “She always encouraged me to see things differently,” he says.

Lamba next plans to work with coal tar on glass. He clearly thinks and does things differently.

The exhibition will be on till August 17th 2015. The show will then travel to Calcutta and be on display between the 24th and 27th of September at WelcomArt Gallery at ITC Sonar. From there it will go to Hyderabad in October-November 2015.

Ethereal designs

Designer Shantanu Goenka loved the idea of presenting his collection through fairy tales. It all started when his six-year-old daughter asked him an interesting question one day. “She saw me working on a sari with lace embroidery and asked, ‘Why not design one for Cinderella?’ And I thought, ‘Yes, why not?’,” Goenka says.

That question and a lot of hard work to create the appropriate look resulted in his latest couture line which includes seven special ensembles based on fairy tales titled Fashioning Fairy Tales. In keeping with this theme Goenka went all out to creatively present the collection. For, the ensembles are being displayed on mannequins — in a travelling exhibition — rather than at fashion shows. “I was convinced that live models wouldn’t be appropriate to narrate fairy tales. Also, I wanted to move away from ramp shows with models,” he says.

Goenka first unveiled the collection in hometown Calcutta after which he took it to Hyderabad before hitting Delhi. “We plan to have an exhibition in Mumbai next,” he says. However, he admits that it’s not an easy task to carry around sets.

In Delhi, Goenka showcased the line at Evoluzione, the designer store in Mehrauli. The outfits in the Fashioning Fairy Tales collection stood out against the backdrop of stark white walls with the ensembles corresponding to tales like Little Red Riding Hood, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Queen of Hearts, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, The Frog Princess and Snow White.

So, a mannequin draped in a red tulle sari with light embroidery around the border and a cape was reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood. In one corner of a corridor stood a mannequin outfitted in a salmon lehenga with appliqué work and surrounded by fibre-glass mice. That was Goenka’s take on the famous fairy tale, Pied Piper of Hamelin. In another twist to the tale, the Beast (from the tale Beauty and the Beast), stationed in another room, looked gorgeous in a charcoal dress with a cape.

For menswear, Goenka chose the story of Three Little Pigs. Heads of pigs were put over the torso of mannequins dressed in bandhgala kurtas with delicate embroidery paired with churidars.

“The collection isn’t only for the wedding day but occasions around weddings like cocktail parties, sangeet and other functions. The outfits can be part of the wedding trousseau,” he adds.

The rest of the collection was replete with saris, jackets, palazzos, anarkalis and lehengas delicately embellished with Swarovski crystals. Goenka has used a lot of tulle fabric with silk in muted shades of pink, peach, yellow and burgundy. “I have gone for minimal embroidery, pastel colours and crystals. The idea was to create a classy yet fairy
tale look,” Goenka says. Going by the response the collection is getting, Goenka has been successful in
his mission.

Picture perfect

Amira Chanana discovered her passion for photography when she was just 13. It all began, she says, out of a childish fear that one day she might not be able to recall or revisit the most memorable holidays that she spends with her family!

Not that she can be called old by any stretch of the imagination even today. London-based Chanana, now all of 17, has grown even more obsessive about her hobby and carries her Nikon D 5100 camera with her on her travels across the globe shooting pictures of moments that she wants to hold on to.

Her passion has culminated in a photography exhibition in which she has exhibited her most treasured pictures. Held recently at the Alliance Française de Delhi and presented by Palette Art Gallery, the two-day exhibition titled Travelogue by Amira Chanana showcased 18 black-and-white photographs shot by her.

The elder daughter of business tycoon Karan Chanana, the chairman of Amira Nature Foods, a leading global provider of packaged Indian specialty rice, the young photographer says that she was always interested in photography. “But I started taking it seriously at the age of 13. My father always encouraged me take my
passion seriously,” says the self- taught shutterbug.

Currently studying in the Wycombe Abbey School, London, Chanana plans to do a professional photography course very soon. She’s a diehard fan of renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and well-known Indian photographer Dayanita Singh and follows their work diligently.

She loves the black-and-white medium. “Emotionally, it’s much more engaging," Chanana says. The photographs at the exhibition covered six countries. “I have been collecting these photographs for the past two years,” she says.

The money raised by the sale of the photographs will be directed to the charitable organisation, Unite for Sight.

The white walls of the French cultural centre were adorned with wooden framed photographs that had the attention of art lovers. Whether it was the panoramic view of the spectacular town of Granada, Spain, or the people at the Jardin des Tuileries, the famous garden in Paris, or Baltimore city’s Inner Harbor, Chanana beautifully captured the aesthetic appeal of the each of these places.

“Inner Harbor in Baltimore is less appreciated by tourists. But I wanted to capture the serenity of this place which many miss out due to their hectic schedule. That’s true for other places too. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is the eternal attraction. But one visit to the Jardin des Tuileries made me feel I was in the heart of the city,” she shares.

For now, she has a new list of destinations to cover and she is ready with her camera in tow.

By Sarbani Sen