I did visit Sonny Singh's exhibition at The Cube in Moira about a week ago and was greeted there by the artist cum gallery owner himself. It was around 11 a.m. in the morning and he got someone to open up the gallery for me. The gallery opens from 11 - 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and he told me if he wasn't around there was an employee who would open it for visitors. The exhibition is open till the 25th of this month.
The Cube is a nice modern air-conditioned place that's good to hang around in. Sonny handed me a catalog of the exhibition entitled Fables of Design and left me to have a look at the work. The catalog begins,"Disillusioned kings, delicate angels, neon tribes and a host of other fantastical figures inhabit Singh's visual vocabulary." These works are done on plywood using color from acrylic markers, liquid chalk and spray paint. He seems to be striving to create a sense of spirituality depicting in some works vivid colorful tribal figures; in others modern city landscapes where shadowy but indistinct human figures strive to achieve some hopeless feat or another. However there also were also figures of bestiality featured like Beauty & Her Beasts where three black, evil looking characters are poking around the naked body of a white woman. (I thought to myself why must black always be evil or beastly; and white always beautiful?) I thought that if I were to buy his work to hang in my house I would choose Moira which is an impressionistic painting of the Moira Church; Moving Forward ; and Devi. The bill for this would have come to 1,60,000/= which is not that big money in the art world I am told, but is big money to me, so I am afraid I'll have to manage without them. I chatted for a while with Sonny who pointed out to me the false painted columns in the gallery which are meant help enhance the viewing experience by directing the viewers attention towards his artworks. I thought that was an interesting concept. Sonny is an alumni of the famous Walt Disney funded California Institute of Arts better known as CalArts who came to Goa after making a lot of money in America to make a difference here he told me. He said his idea of a gallery in a village was to raise the level of people's consciousness and thinking. I think he was disappointed that people from Moira didn't come and visit the gallery. I told him that people aren't even aware of the gallery or that the exhibitions were open to the public. When they do become aware there still may not be many takers as people, including me, tend to be intimidated by the concept of an art gallery not knowing how they are supposed to react or behave in such places. For instance when I do go to see an exhibition I prefer to do it when nobody is around, so I don't have to worry about what other people are thinking and talking about. I suggested to Sonny that he at least put about notices on Moira-Net and other social media and a sign that invited people in. Also to invite students from the Moira school to come and see the exhibitions. Sonny seemed open to the idea so long as someone approaches him. It should be not difficult for the school bus to make a trip with a class of students during their art period and the experience will be certainly something different for them. Perhaps someone will pass this message to the school authorities. It would be an interesting experience both for teachers and students, certainly better than being cooped up in class all morning. Augusto On Sun, Sep 27, 2015 at 10:27 PM, augusto pinto <pinto...@gmail.com> wrote: > About a week ago I met Sunny Singh who is the owner of The Cube Art > Gallery (which is next to the Moira Church) when both he and I were on our > morning walks. > > In our brief exchange he invited me to the opening of his painting > exhibition on Thursday past. > > However I forgot or maybe subconsciously I didn't want to go because such > sparkling wine and designer snack occasions are full of the arty types > where I feel a little like an intruder bumming free liquid appetizers and > snacks. > > Anyway I met Sunny again on our morning walks and he told me not to worry > as the exhibition was on for a month. He said the gallery was open from > around 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. I hope to drop in there tomorrow. > https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cube-Gallery/1432555190362271?sk=info&tab=page_info > Augusto >