Italian Embassy invites artists experimenting with local crafts at Dante themed exhibition ‘Vita Nova’ – New Life
Inspired from Dante’s ‘Vita Nova’, or new life, the exhibition at The Italian Embassy Cultural Centre takes this concept further through the works of six artists from India and Italy exploring connections between contemporary craft and art in Italy and India.
The exhibition explores transformations, connections and departures between craft traditions and contemporary art of the two countries, as the six artists experimenting with their respective mediums and work with local artisans while exploring traditional crafts.
Curated and conceived by Myna Mukherjee and Davide Quadrio, the recently concluded event was attened by artist Puneet Kaushik, Raghava KK, Shilo Shiv Suleman, Andrea Anastasio, Francesco Simeti, and Marta Roberti.
Indian artist Puneet Kaushik has experimented with traditional Jaipur craft of blue pottery to create 12 works, each exploring the concept of hybridity.
Similarly, Italian artist Marta Roberti has worked with many Kashmiri artists to produce a series of works using Aari embroidery that explore abstract ideas.
‘Into the Metaverse’ is another illustration by Raghava KK and miniature artists from Jaipur combining traditional arts with contemporary themes.
Each of the participating artists blurs the boundaries of art and craft as they work with a range of ‘handmade’ techniques such as wood cuts, block prints, embroidery, tapestry, metal forging, blue pottery, bidri, ceramics, clay and even cardboard making.
“Together they create the stunning pieces of artworks that expose the conjunctions and disjunctions inherent in these contemporary hybridised artworks. They generate questions about the role of craft in their evolutionary shift to the ‘dematerialized’ and conceptual while retaining their historical and cultural significance,” asserts Ms Mukherjee in curatorial briefings.
