The High Commission of India in South Africa is to present a contemporary art exhibition by young Indian Artists from July-September 2012.
The exhibition comes after the highly successful Festival of India in South Africa organised by the High Commission in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture of South Africa during June-August 2011. The ‘Young Indian Artists Painting’ Exhibition will open on Wednesday 11 July 2012 at the National Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria. Hosted by the High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Virendra Gupta, the launch of the exhibition will feature paintings of four renowned Indian artists and is expected to be attended by Senior Government officials, Ambassadors, members of the Diplomatic Corps, CEOs of South African Companies and other distinguished guests.The four participating artists are Balesh Jindal, Niladri Paul, Raghu Vyas and Sonika Agarwal. All are prominent artists in India and have exhibited widely internationally. The exhibition showcases some of their selected paintings, giving glimpses of the different influences that have shaped them individually in the Indian contemporary art scene.The exhibition will run at the National Museum of Cultural History, Pretoria from 11 July to 23 July; in Johannesburg from 30 July to 14 August 2012 and at the Art Space Gallery, 3 Miller Road Durban from 23 August to 3 September.Balesh Jindal is a doctor by profession and due to her busy medical practice she has only had a few exhibitions, yet her paintings adorn the walls of numerous prominent art collectors in India and abroad. She seldom titles her paintings because she finds that words never truly articulate the emotion; she does, however, accompany her paintings with a verse. Her works, which combine the art of painting and sculpture on paper and canvas, have a very rich texture and luminosity. She has consistently been painting and exhibiting her works for the past fifteen years.Niladri Paul graduated from the Government College of Arts and Craft, Calcutta in 1986. In 1992 he held his first solo exhibition of water-colours and oil sketches. Over the past 20 years he has had many solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows and Festivals in India. His most recent solo exhibition “Sutradhaar” was at the Vinyasa Art Gallery, Chennai.Raghu Vyas has held 25 one man shows in Delhi, Mumbai Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore UK and Canada and has participated in various group shows in India and abroad. He has received awards and accolades and has made a documentary film for the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. He lives and works in New Delhi.Sonika Agarwal, a deeply ardent and a passionate painter, has been expressing herself through the medium of paintings since childhood. This self-taught artist uses various mediums including oil on canvas, water colors, acrylic colors, charcoal and pastels. She has held over 15 solo and group showcasings of her paintings with established art galleries.
