Live Art

The big banyan tree outside Bharati Kapadia’s studio window encourages birdsong—something that’s rare on the busy Mahatma Gandhi road in Mumbai’s Kandivili East. It also encourages a gentle breeze and as you sit on one of the cane chairs with a mug of steaming tea, her latest painting scrolls and canvases take centrestage, like actors presenting a play. There is even a little spotlight set up and as she hangs each ‘actor’ from the cleverly conceived hooks driven into the wall, one realises why her recent exhibition is titled, Staging the sets.

“I felt I had not explored the hanging format as much as I would had liked to,” says Kapadia, who is travelling with the show after its preview in Mumbai to the Sigmund Freud University in Vienna, then to Galerie Klaus in Germany and finally to Gallerie Alternatives in Gurgaon.

These are not just paintings but personas, each carrying a different mood and moment in the artist’s life. The Genie is a fantastic black cape, Parasmani unfolds like the ruins of an ancient palace while the Dancer of the Seven Veils comes on stage with all the trappings of seduction.

The studio has been designed keeping in mind Kapadia’s need to construct her hangings, from bits of patterned cloth, dried leaves, bits of gauze, chopped and stitched bits of canvas, paper and the like. She has a working table that is currently padded with a mattress, so her creations can lie horizontal in slumber while awaiting the arch lights of the gallery. Neatly constructed cabinets under the bed provide storage space for all her bits and pieces. Alongside that is a rack containing some of her tools: needles of different sizes and threads, various tools used for pairing and cutting, while her paint brushes hang in what can best be described as an apron with multiple pockets. The far end of the room is reserved for viewing the works. A bed room for a quick nap and sometimes a sleepover and a kitchen to rustle up tea and a quick meal complete the scene. After all, “If people are to live with my works, then I must be the first person to spend time, contemplating them after they are done,” says Kapadia.

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