MH01
Raj More
AMDAVAD NI GALLERY, AHMEDABAD
EXHIBITION HALL, FACULTY OF FINE ARTS, BARODA
Curated by Vijay & Gira Patel
Curated by Vijay & Gira Patel
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| Title-Hero Hiralal,Size-48''-96'',Acrylic on canvas,2012 |
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| Title-Is Jungle se muje bacho,size-42''-42'' inchs,Arcylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Keep safe distance',size-54''-81'' inchs,Arcylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Mumbai Kal Tak''traffic jam'',size-36''-84'',Medium-Arylic on Canvas,year-2011 |
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| Title-Forgotten Tunes,size-54''-69''inchs,Arylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Mumbai Local train''Tandoori'',size-36''-84'' inchs,Arcylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Gandhi Pada - Mantralaya 786,size-54''-69''inchs,Arylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-City of Joy''CST"",Size-48''-72'',Acrylic on canvas,2012 |
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| Title-Ghar ek Sapna,Size-48''-72'',Acrylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Every One want to play this game,Size-58''-68'' inchs,Acrylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-Mumbai Hamake jam gayil,Size-48''-63'' inchs,Acrylic on canvas,2011 |
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| Title-A Real Super Hero,size-58''-68'' inchs,Arcylic on canvas,2011 |
DUPLICITY SCENE IN MUMBAI
I saw Raj More’s work for the first time three years ago, when a gallery in Seoul held an online competition for Indian artists to exhibit at their gallery. Raj was one of the applicants in competition and I was involved as a judge. His artwork was selected as the best painting in the competition. I had commented that his works express India’s unique colors and emotions very well. In fact, his works honestly reflect the everyday reality of Indians. His works’ form and content have been partially nourished by German expressionism which is characterized by eruption of power and soul and socialist realism which was developed from political ideology. On top of this, he finds his aesthetics clues from what Indian progressive artists have already cultivated: reality statement form in Art. The Artist himself also states that the aesthetics of his works ‘has grown with the spatiality and temporality, as perceived by the people’. In Korea, we can see similar trend to his works. Right before and after the 1980s during which Korea was at its height of economic growth and democratization, works with themes of social contradiction frequently appeared. Raj’s satirical paintings may seem a bit out of fashion at first glance. But his artworks, which lie within India’s reality, create something more meaningful than just communication.
In the works of this exhibition, there appears Mumbai's public transportation such as buses, trains, rickshaws, taxis, motorcycles, as well as a bull in the center of the canvas. The contradictory phenomena of Mumbai are clearly reflected on these vehicles’ glass windows, rearview mirrors, helmets, sunglasses. Most are very directly expressed. The red-colored bull appears from the colorless, pale slums in the background which is highly contradicting to the reddish tones of the bull. The sunglasses the bull is wearing reflect the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. It looks like the bull is just about to charge into the hotel. This work exposes a serious gap between the rich and the poor. Another work illustrates chickens hung upside-down seen through the windows of an old train. This satirizes the Mumbai local train which is old and crowded like chicken coop. My personal experience with the local Mumbai train was indeed unspeakably crowded and it is very fearful to get on and off the train. In addition, the Artist displays complex signs and streets of Mumbai, adult movies and street flyers, all of which symbolize excessive desire, and reveals the light and shade of Mumbai. Though I have only seen a few works, Raj's work reveals the duality and hybridity of Mumbai via vividly painting its daily landscapes.
Raj titled his solo show ‘MH01’ which is not a word in the dictionary. This expresses his passionate interest towards Mumbai, an extremely vibrant city and his wish to create a metaphor for the dualities of the city. So, how should we read his works? Raj's paintings do not remain in the direct and kitsch level. Rather, we need to focus on the fact that he is trying to create a moving narrative with his own unique composition and formative sensitivity. The sense of reality along with the rhythmical activeness of his roughly painted colors and the dualistic formation of the content and form are enough to attract the viewers’ attention. However, his works still face a few tasks. His works are tied to the reflection of reality. Rather than his content, his formal language also needs to be polished. Raj’s works move us to think of certain things that we cannot melt even with the hot furnace, but possibly with art.
Insang Song
(Curator and Art critic)
Seoul, Korea
About the show
MHO1
It’s my sites of commuting:sights of perception
Mumbai is lot of changed from his formation, after Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti achieved its goal on May 1, 1960.Maharastra state is from & Mumbai is capital... State of Mumbai was partitioned into the Marathi-speaking. I explores revisits the formulations that are basic to the perception of space and time in Mumbai. Mumbai is a closed and at the same time open invitation to migrants from all over India & also came from small town village from Maharashtra.Girnikamgar, Dabyawale & Biharis (Bihar & eastern UP) who search for their dreams and their identity while they struggle to make living. City gives shultuer, bread & butter.Thereforeeverone says’ Mumbai ham ko jam gayi’’…. Hence, people from all over India, belonging to different cultures come here to realize their dreams. Language has seen a major shift giving its current flavor which is inspired by the culture of the migrants. Therefore Marthi manus & parprantiy disputes occurred from same politically party. Mumbai has become the melting pot of all Indian cultures. This is the reason Mumbai has a truly cosmopolitan population bustling with activity.
City of joy’’sealink & dharavi’’,Ghar ek sapna ,Every one wants to play this game’’Slum’’, “Is jungle se mujhe bachoo”, “Keepsafe distance-Horn ok please”, “Mumbai local tandoori”, “Mumbai hamake jam gayil”, “A Real Super hero”, “Herohiralal,Straggler”, “Mai Aishwarya Rai banna chati hoo’…..
A city of 20 million, multi-headed, enterprising and twice-named (Mumbai/Bombay). Approximately 55 percent of Mumbaikars live in Slums, another 25 to 30 percent live in the Open. The remaining 15 to 20 percent live the buildings, Bungalows or high-rises. The rate of houses in Mumbai increased in this twenty years & it is a very critical condition for a common man.. Instead of Dadar common man now migrated from her & settled in Virar, Vasai…Houses is become a dream for common man’’Ghar Ek Sapana’’….Due to capitalization & Builder loby, the rooms of 10’ by 10’ foot are escape from the hands of the people. On showing the dreams houses slum area is destroyed. I think Mumbai V/S Mumbai because same people living in 10’ by 10’ sq.foot room & on the other hand some people living 3000 sq foot flats….the two sides of life.
Its film industry "Bollywood" also draws a number of youths with tinsel dreams to Mumbai. India's largest Stock Exchange which ranks as the third largest in the world is situated in Mumbai. Here, trading of stocks is carried out in billions of rupees everyday. Like every metropolis, water shortage and traffic jams have become the order of day, thanks to the newly built malls and skyscrapers everywhere. City of joy’’sealink’’every one take pictures & frame it on his house walls, Mumbai is looking like a dream city .On other hand fifty years has been spent to rehabilitation. The biggest slum of world’’Dharavi’’…so I said city of joy is Dharavi…..
There is a perceived, self-engaged, sentimental side to the experience of navigating through Mumbai in a public transport vehicle. ‘Decorated’ taxis & auto rickshaws make their kitsch tore-interpret glam and glitz that the city is proud of. Mumbai has expanded and now encompasses residential and commercial development. The aesthetics has grown with the spatiality and temporality, as perceived by the people. My paintings, as such, populate so many intimate perceptions that it is hard to stamp them as cityscapes.This is not meant to be a portrait of Mumbai Metrospective but rather one of the many possible indexes through which to interpret the city.MH-01 indicates a Mumbai city. It’s my sites of commuting: sights of perception. its inhabitants and how it comes to articulate the nation as a whole.
Raj More 2012
STUDIO;Raj more.AkurliOm chsl,A/71,plot no-12,Lokhandwala complex,Kandivali(e) Mumbai-400 101.India
Tel- +91 9967652362,+91 9167308579.Email-rajmor@gmail.com,moreraju@yahoo.com
Opening Night-Preview on 17th April 2012,5.00 pm on wards.Inauguration by Mrs Sonal Ambani At Amdavad Ni Gufa Gallery,Ahmedabad...
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| Amdavad Ni Gufa Gallery,Ahmedabad |
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| Outer view of Gallery |
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| Inner veiw of Gallery |
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| Inner veiw of Gallery |
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| MH01 |
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| Inaugurated by Mrs Sonal Ambani. |
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| Mrs Sonal Ambani,Ani Relia & Raj more |
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| Mrs Sonal Ambani,Artist Nabibakhsh Mansoori & Raj more |
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| Mrs Sonal Ambani,Artist Nabibakhsh Mansoori & Raj more |
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| Khanjan Dalal & Raj More |
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| Raj More,Mrs Sonal Ambani & Artist Nabibakhsh Mansoori |
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| Gufa Gallery Press Review |
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| Times of India,Ahmedabad |
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| Ahmedabad Mirror,Ahmedabad |
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| DNA new paper,Ahmedabad |
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| Ahmedabad mirror,Ahmedabad Opening preview night on 23th April 2012, 5.30 pm. Inauguration by K.G.Subramanyan.. Exhibition Hall,Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda...  
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Art Gallery-Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
 
Gallery view
Gallery View
  
Gallery view
Gallery view
Gallery view
 
Ratan Parimoo
Indrspramit
 
Debraj Goswami
 
Ganesh Gohain
Santana Gohain
K.G.Subramanyan
K.G.Subramanyan
K.G.Subramanyan
K.G.Subramanyan
Jayaram Poduval
Gallery view
Gallery view
 
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
 
Dhumal sir
Dhumal sir
Dhumal sir
Arati Mehta Desai
K.G.Subramanyan
K.G.Subramanyan
Satish wavare,Jayaram Poduval & sandeep Damre
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
Faculty of Fine Arts,Kala Ghoda,Baroda.
RAJ
MORE
Lives
and works in Mumbai
Born
20th February, 1974, Akola, Maharashtra, India.
ACADEMIC
QUALIFICATION
Graduate
from Sir. J. J. School of Applied art Mumbai, Mumbai University.
Govt.
Diploma in Art Education, Pune, Pune University.
AWARDS,
FELLOWSHIP & SCHOLARSHIPS
2012 Won the National Award in 54th
National Exhibition of Art organised by Lalit
kala
2010 Winner of 2010 Asia Art Award &
Excellence prize. present by EM ART GALLERY.Seoul,Korea
2006 Junior Fellowship for the Young Artist of the
year, Ministry of Tourism & Culture,
Department of Culture, Govt. of
India.
2003 Hussain-Bendre Scholarship, Bombay Art
society, Mumbai.
2001 Awards of Scholarship for the Young Artist of
the year, Ministry of Tourism & Culture,
Department of Culture, Govt. of
India.
1996 Prize for Best water color, Bombay Art
Society, Mumbai.
AUCTIONS
2011 ''Face Forward'' Fundraising Auction Sponsor
by Audis Husar Fine Art.Los Angles.CA 90067
2010 Art for Dignity Auction 2010 Presented by Samabhavana
Society, Auctions conducted by
Angira Arya & coordinated by
Turmeric Earth. Mumbai
2007 Auction conducted for PLAN USTSAV presented by
Ramola Bachchan and Surina Narula,
Mumbai and New Delhi
2004 40 Artist gives Christ an Indian hue at St.
Francis Xavier in Goa Auctions conducted by German
curator – Rudolf Sancharnet &
Goan Art Gallery, Goa
2001 Save the Children, Presented by Art of Heart’s
Sake, Auctions conducted by Bowering London
at New Delhi and Mumbai. Organized by
Gallery Beyond Gallery.
CAMPS
ATTENDED
2012 Lalit
Kala Akademi,Regional centre organizing ‘’Regional painters camp’’.Chennai.
2011 Art Camp
present by GIHED at Ahmedabad
2011 TNT Art Gallery international artist camp.
London
2004 Invited to the National Camp which is
conducted by Lalit Kala Academy. New Delhi
2003 Invited for Painting Camp Lalit Kala Academy ,
New Delhi.
SOLO
SHOWS
2012 ‘’ MH 01’’ at Exhibition Hall,Faculty of Fine Arts,Vadodara & at Amdavad N Gufa Gallery,Ahmedabed.
2012 ’’Urban Acrylics’’
curated by Mr.Ebrahim Alkazi at ART HERITTAGE GALLERY,Triveni kala sangam,New Delhi-1
2011
‘’B 4 Mumbai’’ at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
2010 ‘’Swades’’organized by Fine Art
Gallery,Kapucinska 5,Bratislava.Slovak Republic,EU
2008 ‘’Lifeline786
Mumbai‘’ BMB Art Gallery Mumbai.
2006
Salaam Mumbai- at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
2005
Dhurshti- at Gallery-g Art Gallery, Bangalore.
2003
217 Art Gallery, Mumbai.
2002
Light & Shadow- at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.
2001
‘’The View’’ at Lalit Kala Academy Ravindra Bhavan, New Delhi.
1999
‘’Pachola’’ at Roof Top Oberoi &
Y.B.Chavan Art Gallery,organized by ING
Barings Bank. Mumbai.
1998 My
childhood village- at Jehangir Art, Gallery, Mumbai
1994
Water colours-Sir J. J. School of Applied Art Gallery, Mumbai.
GROUP
SHOW
2012 Busan International Art Fair present by LVS
Gallery,seoul .Korea.
2012
‘’Good Homes for Art’’ A public art initiative with works of 25
celebrates artists Present by Good magazine and Times Group.Mumbai.
2012 ‘’Art 507’’ Curated by Mia Jung at Lotte gallery,Seoul.Korea.
2012 ‘’Seeing without words’’
Curated by Monica Jain at Art Spice Gallery,New Delhi
2012 ASYAAF Art Fair Curated by Dain Oh at Gallery LVS,Seoul.Korea
2011
Confluence- at BMB Art Gallery Mumbai.
2011
SOFA Curated by Johny ML at India Art
Festival,Mumbai.
2010 '' Dimensions in time
& space’(3 artist show) curated by Mr. Ebrahim Alkazi at Art Heritage galley,New Delhi-1
2007 ‘’SpanDan 3,Aricullate Art Gallery,Fort.Mumbai
2006 ‘’SpanDan-Vibration’’,Aricullate Art Gallery,Fort.Mumbai
2002 ‘’Bombay
Boys ‘’ Indian Habited Center Art Gallery,organized by Gallery Beyond. New
Delhi.
1999
Art Walk at Artist Center Gallery, curated by Lisa Ray (Model & Actress)
& Nisha Jamwal
(Art Critics)
1998
Tasweer at Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi.
All
major exhibitions in national& international level since 1992. Lalit kala Akademi National level exhibition 41
& 42.SEVERAL INDIVIDUAL COLLECTORS IN INDIA & ABROAD
STUDIO:
Raj
more.AkurliOm chsl,A/71,plot no-12,Lokhandwala complex,Kandivali(e) Mumbai-400
101.India
Tel-
+91 9967652362,+91 9167308579.Email-rajmor@gmail.com,moreraju@yahoo.com
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