Dating back to the Second Century BC, the Ajanta Caves in Western India, resplendent with some of India’s oldest known Buddhist art in a labyrinth of hollowed out rock extant, have inexorably drawn artists and historians to reflect on them again and again over many centuries. As brush and chisel worked in tandem, hundreds of unnamed artists, whilst adhering strictly to tenements of ancient Indian Art treatise, ventured on a bold exploration of Hellenistic forms, monolithic yet fluid in their graceful execution.

This exhibition is a delightful cross-cultural conversation, as artists Seemanthini Desai and Feyona Van Stom revisit this poetry of art and architecture, as their own artistic expressions of wonderment for an ancient philosophical journey of change and transformation, brings to our attention the sublime juxtaposition of both spirituality and sensualism in the depictions of Ajanta Art, a contemporary celebration of both artistic harmony and phenomenal architectural accomplishiments.

Seemanthini Desai’s bold, exuberant style, colour palette and compositions, bring to life the larger than life Buddha forms in extraordinary detail, as oil paintings on canvas. A dynamic play of light and shadow, her depictions of contemporary royalty are at once sublime and passionate.

Feyona Van Stom presents a delightful installation of hand-built ceramic forms focussing on the vivid yet playful, theatrical expressionism of Ajanta art of female subjects and palace life. Van Stom draws our attention through this body of work, to the display of their humanist approach, distinguishing enigmatic facial expressions, curvaceous and graceful movements of the torso.

Together they have used their uniquely individualistic perspectives, revealing an intriguing dimensional cross-over.

REVISITED
Curated by Art Weaves
Venue: Gallery Manora