Manan Relia

Starting 2021 with ‘Printed Stories’- an exhibition of over 100 limited edition prints, which include Lino cut, Wood cut, Lithograph, Etching and Serigraph, by the renowned artist Vrindavan Solanki. Starting from 20^th January to 20^th March 2021. This exhibition displays early prints in different mediums ranging from the year 1974 to 2021.

A group show by seventeen young contemporary artists; Abhishek Narayan Verma, Anil Majmudar, Deva Sharma, Dipal Sisodia, Dipen Ujeniya, Dushyant Patel, Ghanshyam Rathod, Manish Chavda, Masoom Khambhayta, Rachana Badrakia, Radhika Kacha, Raju Baraiya, Sagar Joshi, Sarika Mehta, Vipul Prajapati, Vyom Mehta, Yogesh Ramkrishna.

For the occasion of Janmashtami, Archer Art Gallery brought together a show named ‘Colours of Krishna’ from 10^th of August to 30^th of September. The show with its ninety odd works taken out mostly from the in-house collection of the gallery offered a range of art themes and timelines ranging from the early 19th century to mid 21^st century, from Early Miniatures to Lithographs to Serigraphs providing an interesting range on Krishna themes that continue to eternally enchant viewers both for their faith and an eye for aesthetics and experimentation.

An exhibition of early lithographs by Ravi Varma and other presses held from 3^rd of June till the 31^st of July showcased a wide range of early lithographs from the in-house collection of the gallery. Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) who was a prominent Indian painter of the late 19^th century, imported two steam powered lithographic press from Germany and started the ‘Ravi Varma Lithographic Press’ in 1894 in Bombay. He was the first Indian painter to introduce mass production of his paintings using a printing press based on the print making technique of Lithography / Oleography. After looking at the popularity and demand of these images created by Ravi Varma many other presses were established like Ravi Udaya Press, Ravi Udaya Vijaya Press, Modern Litho Works, and many more.

Archer Art Gallery entered 2020 with this solo show by the eminent artist Nabibakhsh Mansoori A year ago, Nabibakhsh Mansoori exhibited a series of paintings titled ‘Kadamba’, which depicted episodes from Radha-Krishna’s love saga. While working on this series, Mansoori got deeply enthused by Indian Miniature paintings, the subject matter, compositions and stylistic approach awed him. He developed a fondness towards the Pahari, Kangra, Rajasthani, Malwa, Deccan and Mughal Schools, which emerged as entirely new forms in this series.
Episodes such as Radha-Krishna playing holi, Shiva lovingly gazing at Parvati inspired him to realize that ‘Love is Perpetual’, the ways of expressing it are inexhaustible. These realizations over time encouraged him to create ‘From Here To Eternity’.