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This exhibition isn’t one to be gentle on the eyes. It sweeps you into a maze of dozens of artworks by 13 contemporary artists who compete for your gaze. This is Moments That Make Infinity at Tao Art Gallery, in collaboration with Burgundy Art Gallery.
As I walked into the gallery, Sanjana Shah – who is the curator along with Sapna Kar – welcomed me. I started with Vinod Daroz’s ceramic work, before I moved to Nahid Merchant’s The Alchemist Manuscript – an abstract landscape made from papier-mache blended with fabric, giving a 3D effect. I took a long pause for this one – there’s a lot to be seen in the threads layered on the textured paper.
Across the room, Viraj Khanna’s artwork – Not Your Food – delivers one of the show’s undeniable highlights. It initially looks like a family spending time, stretched across an oversized frame made entirely of embroidery. Step closer and the meticulousness of this embroidery turns into a spotting of different kinds of fabrics and beads. It’s almost theatre to see it used to compose a man simply sitting on a chair in a room with a phone in his hand and a dog staring at you.
Another work that stole my attention was Pooja Bhansali’s Hive Mind, which was arranged like fragments of an expanding honeycomb. Embroidered hexagons in metallic gold and silver catch the gallery light, the symmetry so precise it starts to feel like eavesdropping on the inherent art in nature.
Do also take your time to observe Anjum Motiwala’s luminous abstract series – a set of compact square canvases with thick layers of acrylic paint blending aquatic blues, soft greys and some ochre resembling the shifting coastlines that give an aerial view. In this set, each panel stands as an individual artwork, and when viewed together, they transform into a rhythmic landscape of memories and mood.
‘The curatorial focus of this exhibit was to encompass multiple or small works that make a larger art piece, paying tribute to the continuous process of the Artist that creates a final whole,’ Sanjana tells me. She added that they ‘wanted to highlight the multiple themes that the artists explore from fibre, to beadwork, terracotta, ceramic, paper, painting and bronze.’ Clearly, there’s no masterpiece to be singled out here. Moments That Make Infinity is much more interested in keeping the viewer curious.
On until: Saturday, August 8
Timings: Mon-Sun, 11am to 6:30pm.
Where: Tao Art Gallery, 165, The View, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli
How to get there: The closest stations to Tao Art Gallery are Lower Parel Station and Mahalaxmi Station on Western Railway Line. From either station, the gallery is just a short 10-12 minute taxi ride. The nearest metro station is Science Centre from where the venue is a 7-10 minute ride.