VA Gallery presents A Moment in Time a Collective of four artists

 VA Gallery presents 'A Moment in Time' – a Collective of four artists 

curated by Varuna Arvind and Upasana Asrani

Aug 21 – Sep 21

 

VA Gallery presents ‘A Moment in Time’ , a creative collaboration curated by Varuna Arvind and Upasana Asrani. 

A Moment in Time is a personal narrative of four emerging artists, Ami Gupta, Praneeth Reddy, Rakshita Arvind and Nirali Datta each sharing a glimpse into the moment that encapsulates their journey. 

It is a creative collaboration that is curated by Varuna Arvind and Upasana Asrani.  

Varuna Arvind,is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of legacy, carefully crafted within the Indian Interior Design circle. VA Gallery is her second entrepreneurial venture focused on nurturing art, design and culture, highlighting the work of local and international artists by providing them a platform to showcase their work.

 

A Moment in Time is an ongoing commitment of VA Gallery towards providing a much needed platform to promote the arts and emerging artists.

Asrani’s curatorial oeuvre consists of highlighting hidden talents amongst emerging artists and brings them to the forefront of various prestigious art platforms. She has curated one of Chennai’s most popular public art festivals, MAG 2020 in association with VR Chennai.

The purpose of this exhibition is to push art and artistic practices within the realm of photography out of the many stereotypes associated with it. 

A Moment in Time, allows the viewer an insight into how each artist engages with his or her subject matter that is reflective of their moments in time. From treasure troves to people and places and magical myriad moments, each work immortalizes a moment in time

Ami Gupta

 Ami Gupta is a photographer and photo artist based in Chennai. She works primarily on portrait and documentary photography and has worked extensively on family archives. She has recently documented the year long restoration of the Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kancheepuram and has photographed the images for a coffee table book ‘The Temples of Kancheepuram’ published in 2018. Her previous work has been showcased at Art Chennai, Angkor Photo Festival, Focus Photography Festival, Mumbai and Magnet Galleries, Melbourne.

 

Mrs. Banoo Pestonji’s collection of fascinating postage stamps by Ami Gupta is the culmination of her transcendental connection with an enigmatic woman she has never seen or met. After a series of incidents, she happens to inherit a few of Mrs. P’s belongings, including her eclectic collection of hundred year old postage stamps. The images she creates are a nostalgic construct of the mysterious woman, a concoction of her life, the people she exchanged letters with and a raw portrayal of some of the stamps themselves. The contents of Mrs. P’s green tin trunk contains a glimpse of her world during the early to mid-1900’s and speaks subtly of her passions. In an age where letter writing is no longer the primary mode of correspondence, an intimate look at Mrs. P’s envelopes and postage stamps has the power to trigger the imagination with subliminal stories besides what each one represents historically. Along with an emotion or a story or a message is a moment in time… carried across oceans, countries and continents, traveling, being held and felt all via paper.

 

Praneeth Reddy

Praneeth commenced his photography journey in the late 2000s. Over the years. he's shot many popular campaigns, magazine covers & editorials. His portfolio also includes business portraits, spaces, food & product images.

Praneeth is best known for his signature black and white portraits. A few years ago, he shot some images in monochrome that resonated completely with the way his life was then; His only solace was the camera and there were no intrusions- Just light and shadows and images in black and white became his forte.

Every now and then, his solitude was broken by the company of a friend and together they create these images in a space that was barely 60 Sq.ft corner of a room.Presented here is a collection of images that are special to him and have been instrumental in transforming him, his outlook on life and his visual aesthetic.

Rakshita Arvind

Rakshita is a Photographer, Visual Communicator and Design Researcher based in London. As a photographer, she is deeply interested in the process of observation and flâneurism; she describes this as an intuitive process of capturing circumstances as they are found in that moment in time. 

The series displayed in this exhibit is an excerpt from her observational series that specifically focuses on windowscapes. Windows have the ability to frame and reflect a continuous record of their surroundings. They encapsulate the multiplicity that the inside, outside and liminal worlds occupy within every nanosecond. The photographs here serve as an irreplaceable documentation of that multiplicity; resulting in abstract, textured and layered imagery.

Rakshita graduated from University of the Arts London in 2019, where she developed her creative practice using a wide range of media, such as photography, print, graphic design, sound and moving image. 

She has spent the last two years working as a design, innovation and cultural researcher. And will now be pursuing her Master’s Degree at Central Saint Martins to progress as a multi-disciplinary artist and designer.

Nirali Datta

Nirali Datta uses her instincts to capture the magic of the mundane in a most spectacular manner. She brings to life a simple day on a construction site and celebrates the nuances with exceptional heightened drama. From stunning seascapes to the myriad moods of an ever changing sky, Datta adds her artistic flair in capturing each moment that stands out in her personal perspective. “Photography was handed down to me as a legacy by my grandfather. I grew up experimenting with how best to shoot his footprints in the sand and in the process found my calling… making photographs.”

In her decade long career as a commercial photographer She has shot with some illustrious names in film, fashion and architecture.

 

A Moment in Time is on at VA Gallery from August 21 to September 21

Address: No:25, Gandhi Mandapam Rd, Chitra Nagar, Kotturpuram, Chennai

Phone number: 95510 60112

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/varunaarvindgallery/