This article appeared in todays Mumbai Mirror,
www.mumbaimirror.com
Goan artist Subodh Kerkar has an interesting take on
seafaring
Georgina Maddox
Messing about in boats is something that almost every
Goan loves to do. However not everyone can take it to
artistic heights, which is precisely what Subodh
Kerkar has done with his latest exhibition at the
Jehangir Art Gallery, with his exhibition Oceanic.
This not his first showing in Mumbai either, in 2005
Kerkar created an elaborate natural installation at
Priyadarshini Park that stretched over halfakilometre
by the sea where he used innovative lighting, mussel
shells and sand-dunes to take 'walking by the
seashore' to another level. The self-taught artist who
quit his career in the medical field 18 years back has
been spending a lot of time in old boat sheds,
sourcing material for his show. "I have also used old
boat made from choir and cashew strapÂ…in Goa wooden
boats are slowly being replaced with fibre glass ones
so it wasn't difficult to get my raw materialÂ… Earlier
I use to see boats in a realistic way but for this
exhibition it's just the idea of the boat that has
come into play," says Kerkar.
This is also the first time the artist is doing
sculptures that are not site specific and can be
housed within the gallery. "The boats take on a
sculptural form and I have used glass sheeting lit
from inside, give the effect of water," says the
artist.
A nature lover Kerkar's exhibition is replete with sly
digs at the packaged lifestyle that city slickers
live. "I have a special rack with bottled ocean sea
water and it's called bottled oceans- a parody on
packaging. There are also 15 to 20 paintings with
these installations. In its entirety the show
celebrates the organic and critiques the
manufactured," sums up Kerkar.
Show starts today at the auditorium hall, Jehangir Art
Gallery and is on till 29 March.
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Cheers !!! !
Joseph Fernandes
Mumbai
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