Tao Art Gallery’s ongoing exhibition honours its early collaborations with iconic modernists
MF Husain and Kalpana Shah
I don't think I can start any kind of celebration without thanking the masters. I consider myself very fortunate for having been around them and for their support of Tao during its foundation years. They had faith in me as a passionate art lover and curator,” Kalpana Shah, founder of Tao Art Gallery, tells us during a walkthrough of A Glimpse into the Past, an exhibition on view at Tao till the end of the month. The gallery completes 25 years this year, a landmark it will celebrate with Gateways and Pathways, an exhibition featuring 50 artists, curated by Ranjit Hoskote and opening at Jehangir Art Gallery next month. This show serves as a tribute to Tao’s early collaborations with eminent Indian modernists and marks a beginning to the gallery’s anniversary celebrations.
Bal Chhabda, The Desired Form with a patch of lust, 1963, Oil on Canvas, 51 x 40 inches
Curated by Shah, A Glimpse into the Past showcases works by Akbar Padamsee, Bal Chhabda, FN Souza, Himmat Shah, Krishen Khanna, MF Husain, Ram Kumar, and SH Raza. It features art, sculpture and mementoes collected by Shah over the years for exhibitions and through her personal interactions with the artists, and also collated from senior collectors. There is the famous nine-foot-tall cricket bat that MF Husain was invited to paint before a live audience in Bangalore in 2003 to commemorate the city’s hosting of the World Cup semi-final between India and England, and which Shah, attending the event as the artist’s guest, impulsively purchased. There is another by the artist also painted live at Tao Art Gallery in 2002 for the students of Cathedral & John Connon School, among whom was Shah’s son Sarjan. “Husain ji so spontaneously brought alive this colourful world with musical instruments as the children watched,” recalls Shah.
Kathin Dagar (Panghat) by S H Raza, 2004, Acrylic on canvas, 39” x 39”
A wall puts together pieces of a more personal nature. As we pause before a piece titled ‘Aaj Yeh Kya Ho Gaya’, which Husain created at Tao on September 7, 2004, when he dropped in excitedly to share the news of his first R100-crore deal with the founder, Shah tells us: “It was Janmashtami. So just like how Vasudev carries Krishna, [in the piece] Husain is carrying the canvas. He came straight to meet me.” The wall includes a personal note that Husain wrote to her a year after her husband’s passing.
Newspaper Reader by Krishen Khanna, 2008, Oil on canvas, 72” x 48”
Shah, reflecting on the gallery’s 25 years, speaks of how Tao has uplifted her own life as well as those of other artists. “My life wouldn’t have been what it is without Tao, which has also been able to give so much in the art world. A gallery is not only walls, it’s a live performing stage,” she insists. And what do the next 25 years look like for Tao? She hands over the baton to Sanjana Shah, Tao’s creative director, who shares: “As a gallery we hope to continuously experiment with what we view as art and give a platform to eclectic and curious thinkers who fluidly move forward with innovative ideas… we hope to facilitate conversations around art as a preserver of culture and identity, art as therapy and a means of introspection, art transcending mediums and surpassing boundaries both tangible and intangible.”
WHAT: A Glimpse into the Past
WHERE: Tao Art Gallery
WHEN: Till August 31, 11 am to 6.30 pm
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
