GROUP SHOW
Call Me By Your Name
Conceptualized by Udit Bhambri
21 July – 13 August 2021
Monday – Saturday | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Vadehra Art Gallery
D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi – 110024
Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition conceptualized by Udit Bhambri titled Call Me By Your Name, featuring artists Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Arpita Singh, Shilpa Gupta, Sunil Gupta, Gieve Patel, N.S. Harsha and Sudhir Patwardhan.
The puzzles of love involve two master components: the self and the other, which are a kind of couple. It’s in our nature to acknowledge ourselves in or with some kind of other-hood, so much so that companionship, even when experienced alone, becomes a kind of love. The truth of our times is that any collective identity of ‘we’ is laden with individualities and so in contemporary relationships, we often find we’re living both selfishly and selflessly, acting resilient through constant compromise while balancing self-indulgence with self-sacrifice.
‘Call Me By Your Name’ asks the question – who completes us? While some shout out togetherness more demonstratively, others whisper in hushed tones – but what of this shared need to title it, engrave it, qualify it? In spite of our transiency and love’s transfigurations, coupled with a kindred hope to celebrate its imperishability, why do some relationships struggle more with naming and why are so many kinds of relationships still unnamed? This exhibition at Vadehra Art Gallery is conceptualized by art collector Udit Bhambri, as an ode to the complex make-up of contemporary relationships while exploring the linguistics, imagery and signification of love through expanded notions of coupledom.
Bhambri says, “We live in unprecedented times – where social distancing is often more comforting than a hug. Relationships have been redefined by the pandemic, and today more than ever, we witness the true power of self-love, the genuine comfort of companionship, the thrill of reconnecting with an ex-lover and the satisfaction of reigniting our own latent passion. Call Me By Your Name is an exploration of love in its many forms. It questions the status quo, and it attempts to erase labels. It accepts love in its multiple facets and in doing so attempts to infuse positivity in a time when a relationship of one kind or another, is our only panacea.”
While the show is on view at the gallery, where we’re undertaking strict health, sanitization and social distancing measures to ensure the safety of our visitors, we’re happy to be able to make engaging with the show a virtual possibility as well. To do so, we’re embracing a new immersive 3D digital technology experience via Matterport on our website, which offers a multi-dimensional mapping of the show.
ABOUT VADEHRA ART GALLERY
Established in 1987, Vadehra Art Gallery is among the most well-respected art galleries in India representing a roster of artists spanning four generations. Modern masters like M.F. Husain, Ram Kumar, S.H. Raza and Tyeb Mehta find prime spot in the gallery’s calendar alongside the subsequent generation of modernists like Arpita Singh, Nalani Malani, Gulammohammed Sheikh and Rameshwar Broota. VAG’s contemporary programme includes some of the most exciting names in Indian art such as Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, Anju Dodiya, N.S. Harsha, Jagannath Panda, as well as young emerging talent. As a key artistic interlocutor to audiences in India the gallery expanded its exhibition programme in 2007 to exhibit important names from the international contemporary art scene. Since then VAG has exhibited works of significant international artists including Yoko Ono, Wolfgang Laib, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Vadehra Art Gallery ventured into publishing in 1996, finding a crucial need for adequate documentation, critical writing, and quality reproduction of images. In the last two decades the gallery has published hundreds of illustrated exhibition catalogues, and several important artist monographs, some in collaboration with international publishing house, Prestel.
ABOUT UDIT BHAMBRI
Mumbai based art collector, UDIT BHAMBRI, has been immersed in the arts from an early age – scouring galleries, making artist friends, and even picking works for friends and family. For him, the value around art centres around studio visits with Prabhakar Barwe, food tours with M.F. Husain, and Biennale hopping with artist friends. Today, at 36, Udit’s personal collection goes beyond art works by M.F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, Sudhir Patwardhan, Nilima Sheikh, Nalini Malani, N.S.Harsha, Atul Dodiya and Anju Dodiya. Something he cherishes the most is the collection of stories, learnings, memories and experiences with galleries, artists and collectors.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Widely considered one of India’s most significant artists, ATUL DODIYA was trained in Mumbai at the Sir J.J. School of Art, 1982, and École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1991–92. He has had more than 30 solo shows in India and abroad, which include a mid-career retrospective at the Japan Foundation Asia Centre, Tokyo, in 2001; a solo show in the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, in 2002, and the Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, USA, in 2013; a major survey show at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, in 2013. He participated in the 1st Yokohoma Triennale, 2001, the 51st Venice Biennale, 2005, Documenta12, 2007, the 7th Gwangju Biennale, 2008, the 3rd Moscow Biennale, 2009, the Biennale Jogja XI, 2011, the 7th Asia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane, 2012, and the 1st Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India, 2012. A major monograph on Atul Dodiya, published by Prestel Verlag and Vadehra Art Gallery, was released in January 2014. The artist lives and works in Mumbai, India.
Born in 1964 in Mumbai, India, ANJU DODIYA trained and received her fine arts degree from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, and works with images that centre on the emotional theatre of the inner world. She is also represented in several collections around the world, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, Mumbai; the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation, Mumbai; the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; the Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon; and the Art Institute of Chicago, to name a few. The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
Born in 1937, ARPITA SINGH is described as a figurative artist and a modernist. Since her first solo exhibition in 1972 at Kunika Chemould Gallery, New Delhi, Singh’s work has been featured regularly in shows of Indian art held in the country and internationally. Besides her most recent retrospective at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, she has participated in the Asia-Pacific Triennale (2020–21); the Gwangju Biennale (2021); Kochi Biennale (2021); and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2021). Her works have also been exhibited at ‘Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art’at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 2009; ‘Kalpana: Figurative Art in India, presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) at Aicon Gallery, London; ‘The Root of Everything’at Gallery Mementos, Bangalore and many others. More recently, her work has been featured at the Freize Art Fair, New York, in 2019; the Talwar Gallery, New York, in 2018 and 2017; Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2015; and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 2014, among others. Singh has won several awards throughout her career, including at the 1981–82 All-India Drawing Exhibition in Chandigarh, the 1987 Algeria Biennale, and the 1991 Parishad Samman from the Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
Born in Mumbai in 1940, GIEVE PATEL is a renowned playwright, poet, artist and a practicing physician. Some of his major exhibitions include a solo show of paintings at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai (2017); National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, (2016); Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (2007); Bose Pacia, New York (2006); and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2004). He has been awarded the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1984; the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1992, and been the C.R. Parekh Writer-in-Residence, Norman Foundation Grant at the University of Pennsylvania, in 2003. The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
Born in Pune, Maharashtra, in 1949, SUDHIR PATWARDHAN is a practicing radiologist and a self-taught artist. He has held more than fifteen solo exhibitions in all major galleries, including Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi (2017); Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (2017); Sakshi Gallery, Banglore and Mumbai (2001, 2002), to name a few, as well as several international exhibitions. His paintings are included in many public and private collections, including the National of Modern Art, New Delhi; Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi; Punjab University Museum, Chandigarh; Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kochi; Peabody Essex Museum, USA; and the Herwitz Family Collection, USA. The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
Born in 1969, N.S. HARSHA was a recipient of the prestigious DAAD Scholarship in 2012, and was awarded the Artes Mundi Prize in 2008. A major survey of his work took place at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, in 2017. He has also featured in solo exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Art (2015–16); DAAD; INIVA, London (2009); and at the Maison Hermes Tokyo (2008). His noteworthy group exhibitions include the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014); the Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art (2013); the Dojima Biennial, Osaka (2013); the Adelaide International Biennial (2012); the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2012); the Yokohama Triennial (2011); and the Bienal de Sao Paulo (2010), among others. He also held solo exhibitions at the Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA), London, in 2009, and Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum, Tokyo, in 2008. He was also a participant in the major international touring exhibition Indian Highway at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2008 (followed by five major museums all over the world through 2012), and Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art at the Mori Art Museum in 2008. The artist lives and works in Mysore, India.
Born in 1953 in New Delhi, SUNIL GUPTA studied photography from the West Surrey College of Art & Design, Surrey, and completed a master’s of arts in photography from the Royal College of Art, London. Gupta has several solo shows, including an upcoming show at the Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto (2021), as well as the Photographer’s Gallery, London (2020); Brixton Tate Library, London (2020, 2019); Hales Gallery, New York (2019); Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto (2018); the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2018); Pelz Gallery, University of London (2017); Cardiff Photo Festival (2017); SepiaEYE, New York (2017, 2014); Whitney Humanities Centre, Yale University (2015); Grosvenor Vadehra, London (2010); and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2009), to name a few. His group participations include Barbican Art Gallery, London (2020); Vancouver Art Gallery (2019); Soho Art Gallery, New York (2019); Leslie Lohman Museum, New York (2019); the Kochi–Muziris Biennale (2018); the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2015), among many others. He is a professorial fellow at UCA, Farnham, visiting lecturer at Kingston University and visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art, London. He was lead curator for the Houston Fotofest 2018. His work is also included in many collections, including George Eastman House, Rochester, USA; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Royal Ontario Museum; the Tate Modern, London; Harvard University, Massachusetts; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.The artist lives and works in London.
Born in 1976 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, SHILPA GUPTA completed her BFA in sculpture at the Sir J.J. School of Fine Arts, Mumbai, in 1997. She had solo shows at Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Arnolfini in Bristol, OK in Linz, Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Arnhem, Voorlinden Museum and Gardens in Wassenaar, Kiosk in Ghent, Bielefelder Kunstverein, La synagogue de Delme Contemporary Art Center and Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi. She presented a solo project by the Gujral Foundation in Venice in 2015. Gupta’s work has been shown in leading international institutions and museums such as Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana Museum, Centre Pompidou, Serpentine Gallery, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Mori Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ZKM, Kiran Nadar Museum and Devi Art Foundation. Gupta has participated in Kochi Muziris Biennale (2018), NGV Triennial (2017), Berlin Biennale (2014), New Museum Triennale (2009), Sharjah Biennial curated by Yuko Hasegawa (2013 and many more. She has shown in biennales at Auckland, Brisbane, Seoul, Havana, Sydney, Yogyakarta, Echigo-Tsumari, Shanghai, Houston and others. Her work is in the collection of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, Mori Museum, M+ Museum, Louisiana Museum, Deutsche Bank, Daimler Chrysler, Bristol Art Museum, Caixa Foundation, Louis Vitton Foundation, Asia Society, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain – France, Cincinnati Art Museum, Kiran Nadar Museum and Devi Art Foundation amongst others. She designed the book ‘dates.sites: Project Cinema City Bombay/Mumbai’, edited by Madhusree Dutta, in 2012. Gupta has co-facilitated ‘Crossovers & Rewrites: Borders over Asia’ at World Social Forum, Porto Alegre in 2005 and ‘Aar Paar’, a public art exchange project between India and Pakistan from 2002-2006. She recently installed ‘We Change Each Other’, an outdoor light work in her neighbourhood on Carter Road, Mumbai. In 2019, she participated in the 58th Venice Biennale. The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
