Earth Day is a reminder of the beauty of the earth and all that there is within. In terms of art and its myriad hues and branches, materials play an integral role in the creation of works that define contemporary character and techniques.

Ankon Mitra known as the oritecture genius in India curates an exhibition at Lexicon Art  Gallery in Delhi with 12 artists and this curation draws our attention to the vitality and intensity of materials that can turn into avant garde art in the hands of artists. Dvaita /Dualities asserts that the diversity of the universe is entirely real. Curating  is a platform that brings together diverse projects under a shared narrative, guided by specific curatorial principles focused on variety .

This exhibition is an example of an encounter that is open ended, yet amazingly  coherent. With this premise, the materials of three articulate  artists  naturally followed into its own dynamics and  respected—the identity of each space. Ankon Mitra’s aluminium sheets powder coated with silver and brass finish , Keshari Nandan Prasad’s stoneware platters as well as Prakash Chandra Chakraborty’s oil on canvas paintings born of organic roots in botanical bravura  define a medley of  artistic sensibilities.

India’s folding genius Ankon Mitra 

Stretched across the ceiling at the Lexicon  is curator Ankon’s folded installation that catches your gaze as well as breath.The oritecture genius has with his team created a work that dwells on dualities, on process, experimentation and sustainability.This immersive installation marries material with metal and looks like a coiled form of the intangible.

The circular folded work on the wall calls for conversations that cut across the ages. This installation of intuitive intensity creates  a compact yet concentric connotation that commands its own kinetics of forms in dualities. While the work is dominated by a dramatic symbolism of geometry  in its cool grey/glistening  tenor it has its own character in contemporary design. Intimate yet imposing, the architectural notes  become a sublimation of   an emotional encounter that emanates earth’s subconscious energies.Together, Ankon’s artistic  strands articulate a shared ambition: to foster a more interconnected design dynamic within the global discourse of earth’s stories.

Magical monochromes 

Prakash Chandra Chakraborty’s pair of magical monochromes sit like a meditative mooring of the interconnectivity between man and nature wrapped in the notes of divinity.The naturality of form, the meandering loops of nature’s surreal signature all coalesce to create a pair of stunning canvasses that brim with the silent lyricism of poetic pensiveness and botanical brilliance.

Prakash creates anatomical  architectural symbolism that makes us think of deep sea secrets and animated Darwinian delights that twirl and find their own concentric charisma. The flower that blooms is a testimony to time.

The dialogue is a lilting unveiling between the translation of explorations that  time the tension between classical measure and expressive freedom into the vignettes and vistas of amorphous creations that stir our inner recesses. Prakash has a penchant for  creating through silent monochromes, a novel perception of space and biomorphic forms that transcend the two-dimensionality of the canvas.

His voracious reading habits, his poetic utterances all create a kingdom of dreams in which he creates his own conversations in solitude. We sense a silent quest for spirituality  central to his work, finding expression in the unknowable, the nameless, and the transcendent qualities of  form .

In one of his notes on social media he writes: “ The realm of natural laws and forms perpetually witnesses the unfolding of our devotion. As nature exercises control over us, we can, in turn, exert control over society. Everything and everyone is indebted to nature. In reality, all my achievements were, in fact, the result of nature’s influence. Therefore, synchronise yourself with nature and allow nature to synchronise with you. If you are in a state of slumber, awaken; if you are awake, take action—silently. Much like our inherent nature. Come, cultivate the character and essence of love.”

Stoneware from Jaipur 

Keshari Nandan Prasad , considered one of India’s finest ceramic artists by ace sculptor Himmat Shah and sent for two international Biennales by veteran curator and Guru Kristine Michael has a large wall mural and 3 stoneware platters that elevate the position of pottery to that of fine arts in sculptural format. These platters resemble botanical reefs that line seashores all over the world.The colour, the grains and the gravitas of the odyssey of formation all create an uncanny alchemy.

Keshari has been a practitioner as well as mentor and has created for himself a ceramic legacy within the Indian art scene with his quiet proficiency.Porosity is the hallmark of his platters, its rough hewn textures make us realise that firing stoneware at certain temperatures in accuracy  results in surfaces, textures and colours that appear more robust  and alive.

Keshari’s practice is defined by  clarity and simple, rustic  forms. His sculptural platters are unique ceramics , characterised by paradoxical dualities: neither functional nor decorative; they blend depth and darkness; their perspective being that which is porous and precious.

In describing his affinity with stoneware, Keshari has always noted that  there is nothing sensational about his works, only a silent symbolism of earth’s tones and quietude.His ability to  incorporate subtle irregularities and variations that reveal their organic character in his works is what drew sculptor  Himmat Shah to him in a relationship that lasted 20 years.

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