Osianama Osianama at Liberty : Opening Daily from 18th September 2015 with Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Retrospective & Gandhiji : The Fuller-Full Life of a Mahatma

Osianama at Liberty : Opening Daily from 18th September 2015 with Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Retrospective & Gandhiji : The Fuller-Full Life of a Mahatma

It has only been twenty years in the making, but through thick and thin, crises and boom, the mind has kept its focus - that India must have a strongly independent, intellectually vibrant & financially self-sufficient, private-sector driven cultural & educational institution which daily showcases the holistic living classical, medieval and modern creative traditions as well as the new emerging contemporary forms of India's cultural civilization. 

Osianama is that hopefully Institution, coming to you, first from Mumbai, across three exclusive venues - Osianama at Liberty (Opens daily from 18th September 2015 with a focus on Indian, Asian, Arab & World Cinema and the Indian Popular Cultures); Osianama at Tao (Opened on 8th September 2015, with a focus on the Indian & Asian Modern & Contemporary Fine Arts & Antiquities) and Osianama at HQ where the Osian's Archive, Library and Research Centre opens in December 2015. The fourth venue will be Osianama at Vanraja, New Delhi which will focus on Animal Welfare, Veterinary Sciences & Nature Studies. 

Thus Osianama together with www.osianama.com will create its unique online-offline cultural, cinematic and artistic learning experience, allowing each Member and individual to customize their interests and needs so as to study and explore anew India' s cultural civilization. There is still much progress to be made. However, in the days to come we will share and clarify the Calendar of various events for your participation, review and joy as the building process continues... 

Among the highlights for this first month of activities 'Jashn-Osianama' (8th September to 4th October 2015) are Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Retrospective & his 1st Director's Masterclass along with the 1st Photography Masterclass by Raghu Rai; the 1st Panel Discussion on India's Cultural Renaissance (with Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli, Dr. Kanak Rele, Gieve Patel, Sen Kapadia & Neville Tuli); a mini-Film Festival, Round-table Discussion and major Exhibition on Gandhiji : The Fuller-Full Life of a Mahatma, featuring the first complete showing of his last days photographed by French master photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson from the Osian's Archive Collection and the rare personal artifacts of Gandhiji from the Collection of Kamal Morarka which were purchased so as to bring them back to India from British Collections. 

SHEILA MAKHIJANI NowNotNow September 15 through December 19, 2015 @ TALWAR GALLERY 108 E 16 Street New York, NY 10003

SHEILA MAKHIJANI NowNotNow September 15 through December 19, 2015 Opening Preview, Tuesday, September 15, 6 – 8 pm @ TALWAR GALLERY 108 E 16 Street New York, NY 10003 Talwar Gallery is delighted to present NowNotNow, an exhibition of paintings on canvas and works on paper by Sheila Makhijani. The exhibition opens on September 15 and will continue through December 19, 2015. In Makhijani’s canvases the first impact is of movement, forceful and definite. Rising vertically, diagonally, spreading or converging they seem to expand beyond their frames. Planes of color jostle amongst themselves, merging and overlapping as if being directed by hidden energy fields under the canvas. Constructed with layers of paint, Makhijani creates depths with light filled planes alongside dense dark surfaces. Their presence is bold and full on, and unlike in her sparsely executed drawings not a single spot remains untouched on Makhijani’s canvas. Everything here belongs to her and her brush. In contrast to the canvas works, on paper Makhijani proceeds with precision abled brush strokes gently borrowing space for her lines to exist. In the recent works, amidst the meandering markings, there appear floating planes as if the result of an overflowing river system revealing the possible depths within the structure. Playful, imaginary and exacting these self contained, self governing worlds appear to unfold according to some unknown logic. The compositions appear as unified forms, singular if confoundingly complex: the course of a thought, as if it was presented all at once. Sheila Makhijani was born in Delhi in 1962 where she has since lived and worked. She graduated from Delhi College of Art with a Bachelors in Arts in 1984 and later with a Masters of Arts in Painting in 1988. After leaving the academic setting, Makhijani’s practice departed from the rigidity of representational and figurative forms to a more intuitive, inventive and personal one. This exploration was enhanced further by her travels abroad and artist residencies especially in the Netherlands and in Kanazawa, Japan. The importance of the surface and the line learned during this early nineties period augmented her understanding of color. Sheila Makhijani stands distinctly apart in her consistent commitment to an oeuvre that stands resolute in its singular pursuit of abstraction. A quotidian practice that has been rigorously maintained over the last quarter century, as artists abandon painting for other mediums, Makhijani has steadfastly remained engaged in discovering its limitless possibilities. Makhijani’s works have been exhibited worldwide, including at the Seventh Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) at the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi, India; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Australia; Kuntsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Gemeentemuseum, Netherlands. This is the artist’s fifth solo exhibition at Talwar. __________________________________ TALWAR GALLERY New York | New Delhi www.talwargallery.com UPCOMING EXHIBITION RUMMANA HUSSAIN Breaking Skin @Talwar Gallery, New Delhi September 30, 2015 – January 9, 2016

Opening Exhibition Preview - Kohei Sugiura | 6:30pm Tuesday 8th September 2015, Osianama at Tao

magnificent Exhibition on the artworks designed by one of the world's finest graphic and book designers - the Japanese master Kohei Sugiura, as part of the month long cultural and cinematic festival "Jashn-Osianama : Celebrating Creative Obsession" (8th September to 4th October 2015).

This month long celebration will include a major Retrospective on one of India's most eminent film directors - Adoor Gopalakrishnan - and a mini film festival plus a host of engaging and educational events focusing on the Life and Times of Gandhiji, which includes an Exhibition featuring the rare artworks and photographs from the Osian's Archive & Library Collection including those by French master photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson capturing the last days of Gandhiji's life along with the original and rare artifacts, letters and personal belongings of Gandhiji from the Private Collection of eminent patronKamal Morarka. 

Thereafter Osianama will share its first full quarterly Calendar (October to December 2015) for the public and members.