'Vita Nova': Exhibition displays artworks by Indian, Italian artists

An ongoing Indo-Italian art exhibition here explores transformations, connections and departures between craft traditions and contemporary art of the two countries.

''Vita Nova: A New Life'', inspired by Italian poet-philosopher Dante Alighieri's literature, is taking place at the Embassy of Italy Cultural Center. It is curated by founder and director of Engendered India Myna Mukherjee and China-based curator Davide Quadrio.

The exhibition will showcase creations of six artists from India and Italy -- Andrea Anastasio, Francesco Simeti, Marta Roberti, Puneet Kaushik, Raghava KK and Shilo Shiv Suleman.

''The idea behind the show is to look at these traditions, in India and Italy, the lineage of arts and crafts, and look at the contemporary to see if there are newer inspirations,'' said Mukherjee in a statement.

Drawing inspiration from Dante's themes, the six artists experiment with their respective mediums and work with local artisans while exploring traditional crafts.

''Together they create a hothouse of new works that expose the conjunctions and disjunctions inherent in these contemporary hybridized 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'', explained the organisers.

For instance, 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 Kashmiri artists to create a series of works using Aari embroidery that explore abstract ideas.

The exhibition will come to a close on May 31.

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