Art spins a tale

We love stories and rejoice in anecdotes but why is storytelling restricted to the art of oral tradition. In a new exhibition titled “Tales of Art”, 40 artists from 15 countries across the world use paintings to wield fascinating tales of life through art.

Through their narrative artworks, the artists have tried to blur social and cultural boundaries, and revive the ancient art of visual storytelling. Sonali Batra, curator of the show says, “The exhibition seeks to unfold the fascinating world of storytelling in contemporary art by transcending cultural and social boundaries. Many of the subjects present in the artworks respond to modern-day society. Thus, trying to develop a deep connection with the viewers through characters, scenes and colours in their respective works. The idea is that each painting should prompt the viewer to imagine or complete the story behind the works.”

The participating artists include Pepijn Simon, Pascale Taurua, Gabriele Sermuksnyte, Emil Aziz, Dmitriy Kalujni, Anwar Ahmad Zakii, Sung Ha Ahn, Alex Rennie and others. Talking about the participating artists, Sonali says, “The 42 contemporary artworks exhibited are an eclectic mix influenced by various genres such as pop art, surrealism, cubism, impressionism and expressionism. Today we all live in a global environment that is culturally diverse and technologically connected. Thus, I feel such artworks will be widely welcomed and appreciated in the Indian market.”

Artist Gabriele Sermuksnyte from Lithuania is showcasing works titled ‘Saccharine Unicorn’ and ‘Here Flies The Little Bird’. Explaining her style of work, Sonali shares, “I am intrigued by how she depicts present-day princesses and their pastimes with the help of references from fairytales. The characters in her works are mainly women, with the faces never revealed, as the artist seeks to emanate vestiges of emotion or character. She paints passive decorative bodies that are meant for wearing jewellery, designer clothes, and for filling the pages of fashion magazines. While representing these bodies as objects, the artist draws attention to the feminine-related gender stereotypes existing in society.”

On the other hand, Korean artist Sung Ha Ahn’s ‘Cigarette’, is painted with a realistic technique depicting the psychological comfort cigarettes give to people today. Vietnamese painter Viet Ha Tran draws pictures of women’s emotions, inner dreams, intimacy, poetry and philosophy with her camera. “Her photos, apart from having an air of classic paintings, capture an ephemeral moment of feminine emotions flowing through the river of time. As reality plays hide-and-seek with fantasy, it’s a reflection of those volatile moods etched in the permanence of change,” explains Sonali.

Keeping alive the conversation between the viewer’s imagination and artistic interpretation is well-known Malaysian artist Anwar Ahmad Zakkii with his photo-realistic still-life painting and expressive portraits. His work ‘Absence 3’ captures urban features with a distinctive psychological dimension with cinematic quality.

The connecting dot between each work is how they create work inspired by personal and from past inferences; therefore the story of each painting will vary from one individual to another shares Sonali. “The story behind Chantel Van Houten’s works subtly shows a certain emotion on the face that narrates a story. For Chantel, the purpose of art is telling stories, making people more aware, giving them new insights to rethink situations and hopefully recognising self-reflections,” she concludes.