Gallery Art Positive presents ‘Baroda Buzz, a vibrant showcase celebrating the artistic spirit of Baroda’ curated by Georgina Maddox & Co-curation Anu Bajaj. This exhibition will take place from 5th September to 5th October 2024 from 11 am to 7 pm at Gallery Art Positive, Lado Sarai, New Delhi.

The art city of Baroda is often known as one of the important art hubs of India. It has supported art which boomed and flourished during the rule of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in the 19th century, and it was only upwards from there. It was during this time that the groundwork was laid for the vibrant art hub that we get to experience today.

Baroda School is an artist group founded in 1956 by NS Bendre, comprising artists associated with the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda (now Vadodara). The School marked a move away from the Revivalist inclinations of groups such as the Bengal School as well as the academic realism practised by European schools.

What we intend to plug into are the current art and trends that are emerging from the city of art and culture that has supported artists since independence through the MSU Faculty of Fine Arts. Emerging from these studios are a number of artistic languages, that range from minimalistic abstraction, to rich figurative artwork; there are also a variety of mediums and materials that appeal to the artists who often tread a multidisciplinary ground of expression, moving from stitched and burnished surfaces, to prints and sculptures, installations and panels. This exhibition reflects these multiple forms of expressions that mirror current concerns with our global environment, gender equality, and in many cases personal stories that speak of cultural and social practices from an emotive lens of memory.

One may be amazed at the array of styles, which these young artists have encapsulated and innovated from the past as well as the present. From Shubhakar Tadi’s stunning hyperrealist canvases to Sriya Ramani and Nandhini Srikumar’s descriptive format that plug into the rich ethos of Baroda’s Narrative School Painting, while the abstracts geometry of Harisha Chennagod to the expressive abstractionist mixed media works of Damyanti Debnath and Bansi Dholakiya.

Gopa Roy expresses herself in rich organic material of paper-pulp essaying structures and memories from her homeland, while Kalpana Vishwas uses a precision and innovation of rendering foliage and natural forms. Satyanarayan Gavarra conveys his agrarian roots through a captivating expression in dark hues while Govind Vishwas renders attractive symbolist renderings of the city of Baroda as well as the maps of India on his diaphanous scrolls. Himanshu Jamod, brings to fore his personal narrative of growing up in a maritime family with boats navigating the swirling waters and maps with compasses rendering their navigation. Rutvi Bakharia creates a framed collage of preciously rendered small-format work while Harsha Kancharla brings her white on white abstractionist expression to foreground.