Rocking affair

Mona

Delhi-bound...via Dubai - my tweets might get more exotic from here on for a few weeks...declared Simon Martin, artistic director, Pallant House Gallery, UK, lately and indeed they did! Right from Subodh Gupta’s sculptures to Amrita Sher-Gil, Jama Masjid and St Martin’s Church made a due appearance on Simon’s page.

In Chandigarh recently, this art curator shared the objective of his visit, which is to hold an exhibition of our ‘rock star’ Nek Chand’s works in the gallery of which he is co-director as well. Pallant Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England, has one of the best collections of 20th century British art in the world. Simon, who joined it as an assistant curator, is now co-director and on the suggestion of one of his colleagues, who is also part of internationally based Nek Chand Foundation, they got interested in his works.

“Even though we hold exhibitions of artistes from different cultures, the works have certain universality about them,” shares Simon mentioning how a Japanese exhibition clicked with the audience despite being from an all together opposite side of the world.

Pallant House Gallery, which houses modern art, has an Outsider Artist Program that invites works by individuals not trained in artistic tradition. Nek Chand perfectly fitted the bill. “I had seen photographs of the Rock Garden but nothing prepared you for going down the narrow alleys, the spectacular imagination that has turned nooks and corners into beautiful artistic spaces,” shares Simon who was pleasantly surprised to meet Nek Chand and loved his enthusiasm despite his age.

Artists are very significant for the society as they mirror it for us, believes Simon who has done specialisation in Renaissance and modern art during his bachelors and masters. His talk on Renaissance of British Regional Art Galley at Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT), Mohali, organised in collaboration with British Council, was well-received by the students and faculty alike.

Interestingly, Simon had come to India 17 years back as a student and volunteered at Janapada Seva Trust, Melkote, Karnataka.

His recent visit to Delhi and Chandigarh is quite different for while he was in a small South-Indian village last time, this time around he could see metropolitan Delhi and an organised Chandigarh! “Even when travelling on a road, one could see how technology has seeped into common life.”

Chandigarh’s architecture has impressed him much. “I visited Capitol Complex in the morning and Rock Garden a little later, and was surprised how the same material, that is concrete, could create two such diverse projects. While on one side are these pure buildings, Nek Chand has created a fantasy world of his own.”

Simon is awaiting the British audiences’ reaction to Nek Chand’s works and aiming to scour through art galleries on his India trip. “Art has a connection with society that has not been explored to its full potential around the world. Spaces like Rock Garden and due exposure to artists, both trained and otherwise, is a must,” he opines.

mona@tribunemail.com