DAG Features Indian Contemporary Artist Madhvi Parekh

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 6 September 2022

DAG confirmed its participation in the 10th edition of Frieze Masters 2022 with Madhavi Parekh: An Ancient Modernness, a solo artist presentation of ten works from the 1970s, a decade that represented a crucial time in the artist's life as she moved to New Delhi with her family, trading the cultural and cultured world of Calcutta (now Kolkata) for one that was more opinionated and opulent.

Madhvi Parekh will be featured in the blue-chip gallery's Spotlight section, which honours 28 female painters who were born between 1900 and 1951. Parekh's paintings, which examine relationships between people and their environment and draw inspiration from both village art and a modernist language yet belong to neither, were born out of her interest in art while she was expecting her first child.

The exhibition, which was thoughtfully curated by Kishore Singh, Senior Vice-President, DAG, debuts the artist's work in the United Kingdom on October 12 and runs for five days through October 16.

Her artwork took the shape of the tales she used to regale her young daughters, instilling in them creative lessons from the past that were interwoven with childlike innocence and music. Her use of colour embodied this upbeat optimism, but the approach also recalled how village dwellings would be used as canvases for painting well-known themes after being brushed with mud and raked with sharp instruments to produce patterns.

She reproduced the design on her canvases to give her paintings a texture that became a part of her distinct artistic personality. In order to reinforce the idea that everyone shares ownership of the environment, Parekh devised a folk language as a contemporary artist, which turns out to be prophetic.

Owing to their long-standing partnership with the artist, DAG has displayed Madhvi's work at significant international exhibits and in books published both domestically and abroad. A significant retrospective exhibition called "The Curious Seeker," organised by DAG, debuted in New Delhi in 2017 before touring to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and New York. The artist and her spouse, also an artist, were both included in a documentary.