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New SkiN for the old CeremoNy

theeightfoundation

The Eight FOUNDATION

The printing of this book archives not only

We at The Eight Foundation are thrilled to

a profound, captivating installation by the

continue supporting Tate Modern and its

Foundation at the Number 8 building, but it

South Asia Acquisition Committee and have

also marks in time the advancement on so

been so delighted to welcome their senior

many fronts of the activities, thought processes

directors and curators to this installation. We

and plans of The Eight Foundation.

are further pleased to now be associated with the Asia Society by sponsoring an award in the

A poetic installation at the Foundation’s

Pathbreaker category in the upcoming edition

second

critically

of the Asia Arts Game Changer Awards. This

acclaimed Singapore restaurant, Ahāra—has

award is our attempt to address the critical

been a much loved and interactive one. Set

need for encouragement and recognition at

within a historic Singapore shophouse, Ahāra

the pivotal mid-career stage of an artist. This

is a space where Indian food is interpreted and

unique emphasis aligns with the Foundation’s

framed in a highly modern and nuanced

mission of enabling artists to have long-

fashion.

standing careers by acting as a catalyst for

exhibition

The

art

space—the

programming

the

Foundation plays very well with the effort

their artistic endeavours.

of exposing international audiences to both contemporary South Asian art practices as

Dhwani Gudka has been a friend and super

well as the region’s history, culture and cuisine.

supporter of the Foundation since it was just an

A series of curated walk-throughs and food x

idea and we are so glad to have had her as the

art events have accelerated the presentation

curator of this most special third installation at

of the same, with many exciting new plans for

Number 8 titled New Skin for the Old Ceremony.

the venue imminent. Her interplay between boldness and restraint, The exciting plans for the Artist Residency

the balancing of some very powerful ideas

and Sculpture Park in the Andaman Islands

and a heightened sense of aesthetics, and

continue to evolve and progress with further

most of all, her uncompromising approach to

wonderful conversations and steps towards

achieving her lofty vision—to all of this we are

both local and international co-operation

eternally grateful, as it has made this showing!

with other foundations, creators and changemakers. We are excited to be able to start sharing more information on this as it continues

Simran and Vir Kotak

to move forward.

Founders

New Skin for the Old Ceremony

New Skin for the Old Ceremony contemplates the relationship between time, space and memory—where memory is iterative, held between thought and action, rhythm and balance, twilight and darkness. It grapples with how memory asks us to come back to the same space, over and over again, bringing forth offerings of attention and knowledge— new eyes to old thoughts. Humans appear to have always kept time. From the first cave paintings to the newest monuments, time is the fourth dimension that locates the here and the now—the markers of our existence, a remembrance coded in our being, manifested in different forms. The exhibition is roughly divided into three islands—time, rhythm and form. The works act as portals to memories, whether collective or individual. Viewers are urged to tap into their personal banks of reminiscences in order to activate the exhibition. These can be recollections of creation, growth, change or loss, thus bringing new meanings with every encounter. Dhwani Gudka

The three islands of time, rhythm and form are located on different floors, but are fluid enough to commingle. Rhythm alludes to time, and form alludes to a certain rhythm. The ground floor consists of Shezad Dawood, Ayesha Singh and Studio CAMP’s works that speak of the effects of time on memory, history and geography.

Studio CAMP’s The Country of the Sea, one of the largest works in this collection, is a cartographic slice of the globe rendered on cloth. The map locates more than 100 cities and small ports from Khor al Zubair/Basra to the Mozambique corridor on the North-South Axis, and from Mumbai to Berbera on its EastWest axis. The work is inspired by an extraordinary Gujarati chart of the Gulf of Aden (c. 1810) that records the parallel Arabian and Somali coasts, which were frequented by Gujarati sailors since the 17th century. Upon a closer look, just like the Gujarati chart, the coasts of India, Africa, Iran and the Arab states find a place next to each other. This eccentricity not only provides us with a witty geographic puzzle but also evokes the possibility of a world without borders, and the sea as its own country.

CAMP The Country of the Sea, 2015 Single exposure cyanotype print on cotton fabric 192 x 60 in.

In Shezad Dawood’s kantha textile, continuous stitches build lines, columns and grids—sewing an old cloth panel over another cloth panel, creating a landscape of architecture, similar to the one we are surrounded by, with tall buildings and pointy ends. While the running stitches of kantha give us a visual vocabulary to situate ourselves today, it also makes us privy to the laborious and repetitive moments trapped in the act of making the work, of the many mends and repairs by the deft hands that produced these textiles, just like the assembly and destruction of architecture and time enveloping us.

SHEZAD DAWOOD Solid and Voids, 2020 Acrylic on vintage textile 76.3 x 60.6 in.

Ayesha

Singh’s

Continuous

Fragments

garbles the city’s many identities into one continuous skyline by warping space and time. Condensing centuries of occupation and landscape into one line, Ayesha’s work reimagines and equally questions the spatial and temporal hierarchy that is recorded in the historical monuments and modernist architecture, the state of permanence that it assumes, and the moments of destruction that are erased—it’s about the forming of layers of stories and discourse through time.

AYESHA SINGH fragments from Continuous Fragments (site-specific), 2021 Stainless steel Sizes variable

3-4

The fourteenth floor welcomes the viewer with works of Seher Shah, Ayesha Sultana and Astha Butail. Their works emphasize on the act of repetition and the act of making itself, thus folding time in its process.

Seher Shah’s cast concrete sculpture titled Object Repetition (Line to Distance) uses repetitive forms to create a dense abstract landscape. Zooming in and out of the minutiae of the forms and the largeness of them huddled together creates a concentrated focal view at one instance and a panoramic view of an imaginary city in the other. The sculpture can be read as a drawing, the grid lines forming plans, directing your gaze to the beginning of peaks and structures rising in symphony from the ground up, a maze-like city being razed down, brought up, constructed, destroyed as the light changes from dusk to dawn. And yet the phantom shadows created by the continuous shifts in time brings forth an ephemeral work, fragile though made of the concrete existence of the work above.

SEHER SHAH Object Repetition, Line to Distance, 2022 Cast concrete Sizes variable

Ayesha Sultana’s work is a practice in mark making—emphasizing

breathing

and

inhabiting time from one moment to another, traversing the many universes of self, of the interconnectedness of the self within larger systems. The work holds space, and the rhythmic folds within the work reveal ways of seeing—the seeing of void, repetition and the blurring of the boundaries between the doer and the act of doing, rendering immaterial the self and the medium in its wake.

AYESHA SULTANA Scrim, 2022 Graphite on paper 63.6 x 192 in.

Mark Prime’s ‘Tempo’ Polystructure is made of intersecting lines held together with clever mechanisms that are hidden to the eye. It reminds one of audio visualisers preloaded in Windows media player, erupting whilst playing an mp3 file. One might even think of an intergalactic warp travel, and the trails visible during a ‘time jump’. Either way, the sculpture—a paradox of sorts—shimmers with movement, despite being static. Kind of like rhythmic exercises, a process of keeping in ‘time’ with the pulse, exploding into a solo or cadenza, perhaps harking back to the notion of memory and time in which time is constantly moving and memories fade, distort, become obscure and, once in a while, come back distinctly, precisely, with lucidity—a continuous cycle of explosions and implosions.

MARK PRIMe ‘Tempo’ Polystructure, 2020 5mm sections of electric blue and matt black anodised aluminium 125.7 x 55 x 15.7 in.

ASTHA BUTAIL Night Before and Day After the Red Moon Sky (Ongoing Conversations with the Sky), 2022 Sand polish on brass 8.25 x 37 in.

Astha Butail deals with mnemonic traditions that are passed down from generations to generations in the form of chants, prayers and poetry—a record-keeping that transcends materiality, for the purpose of transferring knowledge. Her installations represent the continuity of such traditions through vast temporal passages. Where Opposites Coincide explores the idea of a meeting place between contrasting phenomena. The black and white books overlap and merge into each other, travel onto perpendicular corners, thus creating intermediary spaces, a common ground where opposites collide—of existence and disappearance, of balance and becoming, and of the ever-present change and constant flux. Night before and Day after the Red Moon Sky conveys the natural phenomenon that occurs with a total lunar eclipse. The material (brass) is used to elaborate on the experience of such an occurrence, yet again reminding us of the continuous orbit on which the moon revolves around the earth, and the recurring eclipse every six months—of timelines that run like clockwork.

ASTHA BUTAIL Where opposites coincide, 2019 Acrylic paint on archival paper, MDF, thread and cambric Sizes variable

On the fifteenth floor, works of Seher Shah, Muhanned Cader and Mark Prime (in between the 14th and 15th floor), refer to rhythm and how music involves timekeeping. Biraaj Dodiya’s large oil on canvas bridges the thematic islands of form and rhythm. In another section, form comes into play especially with works of Manisha Parekh and Sheila Makhijani, who for years have dabbled with form in their respective practices. In the adjoining space, Mrinalini

Mukherjee’s

blood

red

glazed

terracotta with it’s botanic gargoyled form is at the center of the space, anchoring the quiet works of Lala Rukh and Muhanned Cader that try to capture the beauty of passing by time.

Muhanned Cader’s Nightscapes are intimate vignettes of the sea, drawn onto oddly shaped forms, reminiscent of the clouds or thought bubbles. These works, often created in a series, depict the changing of the light as the day passes on, into the evening and night. This passing and recording of time portrays an imaginary moment, an in-between of what is and what is not, the past and present, the play of absence and presence of the power of humans in the natural world.

MUHANNED CADER Nightscapes (diptych), 2010 Oil on wood Sizes variable

SEHER SHAH Variation in Grey 3, 2020-21 Graphite dust and ink on ivory Russian paper 8.3 x 11.4 in.

SEHER SHAH Variation in Grey 5, 2020-21 Graphite dust and ink on ivory Russian paper 8.3 x 11.4 in.

Seher Shah’s Variations in Grey 3, 5 and 6 are studies of the incomplete line that lies somewhere in between plans, architectural abstraction communicate

and

music

neither

notations,

language

but their

entirety. It’s an in-between, grey area, holding the absence of that which is neither there, nor spoken of—an exploration in absentia.

SEHER SHAH Variation in Grey 6, 2020-21 Graphite dust and ink on ivory Russian paper 8.3 x 11.4 in.

SEHER SHAH Ruined Score #6, 2022 Graphite, charcoal and ink on cotton paper 11 x 14 in.

Biraaj Dodiya’s expansive and luscious work is rooted in metaphor, of landscapes and human behaviour. The process of applying, scraping and erasing paint is central to her practice and reminiscent of landscapes that have witnessed erasure and destruction. Dodiya intends to create visual structures in her work that are excavated layer-by-layer, becoming a code to the final image. This becomes an exercise in exploring the human capacity to deal with loss and failure, with collapse, and the resistance to collapse.

BIRAAJ DODIYA More Wall on Water, 2020 Oil on linen 78 x 60 in.

MANISHA PAREKH Relic 1, 2019 Ink and watercolour on Fabriano paper 24 x 41 in.

7-8

MANISHA PAREKH Beads on Silk (set of 8), 2007 Gouache and Chinese ink on rice paper pasted on mount board 6.3 x 8.4 in. (each)

7-8

Both Manisha Parekh and Sheila Makhijani create abstracted forms that feel gestational, as if being born into the paper, forming life, breathing through every stroke. The echo of forms between the works on display is incidental. organic

While

Parekh

employs

processes—painting

swiftly,

more with

urgency, adding details, Makhijani paints with playful precision. Both artists balance their exploration of different mediums creating works that are dynamic, vital, energetic and yet rooted in their sustained quest for abstraction, now, for over a quarter of a century.

SHEILA MAKHIJANI 3 Untitled works Ink and gouache on paper Sizes variable

7-8

Muhanned Cader’s Morning and Night are intimate vignettes of the sea, drawn onto oddly shaped forms—reminiscent of clouds or thought bubbles. These works, often created in a series, depict the changing of the light as the day passes on, into the evening and night. This passing and recording of time portrays an imaginary moment, an in-between of what is and what is not, the past and present, the play of absence and presence of the power of humans in the natural world.

MUHANNED CADER Morning, 2015 and Night, 2016 Graphite on paper Sizes variable

9-10

Lala Rukh’s photographs of the sea evoke a sense of quietude and fragility, of the transient quality of time and nature. Lala captures the iridescent pink of the setting sun that is reflected on the ripples of the Irrawaddy River in Burma. The photographs are part of a larger series that take stock of her travels between 1992-2005 within South Asia. This rather underknown body of work could be an extension of her well-known drawing practice, especially of works such as River in an Ocean series, 1992. The genius of her work lies in the ability to pause, observe and convey quotidian events like the setting sun, tidal waves, the slant of moon rays, the beat of a taal. These interstitial non-events stitched together make up a symphonic poem of existence—a single continuous movement that illustrates the substance of life. They are both personal and universal, nothing and everything all at once.

LALA RUKH Irrawaddy 10-14 C-print on aluminium 8 x 10 in. (each)

Mrinalini Mukherjee’s Red Flora 1 appears to be unfurling. Tendril, petal, fleshy bud, all reaching to touch the light. Partly closed, partly open. And yet, the mottled gloss of the blood red glaze makes the whole sight a violent one. A shock to the system, these protuberances are fecund with a vital life force. Mukherjee’s work is suggestive of an inventive vocabulary of form that is natural and mythical at once like a mycelial world without any rules or logic as we know it. It pays heed to the cycle of life—blooming and thriving, which eventually transforms into decay and death. It is the paradox of a static sculpture indicating and alluding to movement, transition and becoming.

MRINALINI MUKHERJEE

Red Flora 1, 2000 Glazed ceramic 15.5 x 18 x 35.6 in.

Diwiks Radio and Bibliothèque

The lounge acts as a time capsule, featuring works from The Eight Foundation’s modern collection. A small selection of modern and rare early works by senior contemporary artists forms the crux of the capsule. Displayed across a large glass wall is K.K. Hebbar’s dark toned canvas of a sleeping mother nurturing her child at the forefront while the cityscape broods in the background, immaculately mirroring the growing landscape of Noida that lies opposite. Arpita Singh’s early canvas with its brilliant ombre hues is surrealist in its narrative, juxtaposed to Rameshwar Broota’s early canvas of the Christ, with a pensive halo surrounding the figure. Himmat Shah’s terracotta head with gold leaf is almost faceless and yet primal, conversing with the remote figures in Hebbar and Broota’s works.

ARPITA SINGH Untitled Oil on canvas 40 x 29 in.

RAMESHWAR BROOTA Christ, 1967 Oil on canvas 50 x 29.5 in.

Diwiks Radio and Bibliothèque

K.K. HEBBAR Woman Feeding Child, 1968 Oil on canvas 41 x 52.5 in.

HIMMAT SHAH Untitled Terracotta with gold leaf 18 x 7.25 in.

Rathin Barman Untitled (Site-specific), 2017 Brass and iron 314 x 103 x 108 in.

Sahil Ravindra Naik

Portraits of Home, Exit Wounds, 2018 Wood, terracotta bricks, ceramic tiles and sun board 13 x 31 x 12 in.

Imaginary figures, mythological references, fantastical tales and storyboard narratives are the defining features of Shrimanti Saha and Subrat Kumar Behera’s practice, albeit both artists use different mediums and techniques to create their works. Saha’s gigantic work comprises of historical characters, events, scientific tools and evolutionary histories, the complexity of which is revealed by carefully looking at the details. The eyes travel through her painted world, trying to make sense of the baffling work, rich in its imagination, resting upon large architectural cues or meeting points that keep the visual harmony intact. Behera uses lithography to operate in the realm of a semi-fantastical land, where stories of Indian mythology narrated by his grandmother mix with graphic and pop-culture references from the present. The superb use of colour, and the mastery of skill and technique is apparent in this set of ten works. Behera questions the story-teller’s role and narrative, and in doing so, captures his own curiosities.

Shrimanti Saha The Landscape, 2017 Acrylic on wooden panel 204 x 108 in.

Subrat Kumar Behera Odyssey, 2015 Lithograph on paper 14 x 18 in.

As is the case with most passionate and prolific collections, it’s no surprise that prints are the ultimate strength of The Eight Foundation’s collection. Prints offer the materiality of paper with myriad techniques to harness the medium.

Krishna Reddy Krishna Reddy, the master intaglio printer known for his experiments and mastery over viscosity printing forms the crux of the collection. Reddy, a teacher, sculptor and printer, worked and taught at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 for most part, where he introduced complex colours in his abstract prints. Reddy inspired and continues to inspire generations of printmakers, two of which are

Tsering Negi

featured in this edition of the hang.

Tsering Negi, a young printmaker from Himachal

Pradesh,

offers

alternate

perspectives on landscapes. At first glance, the view is familiar but a closer look reveals a medley of colours that form an abstract construction

sorts—mountains,

rivers,

lakes and fields appear in patterns, lines and patchworks. Sometimes, an odd figure or two emerge in a print, however, nature takes center stage as his muse, and ecological issues lie at the heart of his practice.

Soghra Khurasani Soghra

Khurasani

primarily

works

with

woodcut prints and etchings—wonderfully capturing landscapes as a metaphor for the urgent issues that preoccupy her. The works on display are from her latest series of works made during the pandemic years. Khurasani’s subtle landscapes are forms of shadows on skies, agricultural land, bruises of skin that hint towards her layered imagination, and her beliefs on unity and identity.

soghra khurasani Shadows under my skin 7, 2022 Woodblock 36 x 48 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph print on paper 17 x 23.6 in.

soghra khurasani Shadows under my skin 2, 2022 Woodcut print on paper 28 x 44 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 17 x 23.6 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Dissolution of the clown, 1992 Multicolour viscosity print on paper 15.5 x 22 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Three Graces, 1968 Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Two Forms in One Multicolour viscosity print on paper 25.7 x 20 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Maternity Multicolour viscosity print on paper 25.7 x 20 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 17 x 23.6 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 11 x 17 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 17 x 23.6 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 23.8 x 17.5 in.

tsering negi Untitled, 2011 Lithograph on paper 17 x 23.6 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Falling Figure Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA VIR KOTAK 224, REDDY Life Movement, 2016-17 1970 Multicolour Photographic viscosity print pasted print on onpaper dibond paper 44 20 x 90 25.7in.in (Ed. 7/10 + 1 AP)

6 2

KRISHNA REDDY Child Descending, 1976 Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Sun Worshippers Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Child (Apu) in Space, 1974 Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Clown with his Mask, 1993 Multicolour viscosity print on paper 20 x 25.7 in.

KRISHNA REDDY Sorrow of the world Multicolour viscosity print on paper 25.7 x 20 in.

February 2023: On the evening of February

was opened up to explore, contemplate and

11th, The Art Circle, a women’s group of

meditate on the hidden layers of meaning

collectors, artists and other stakeholders in the

woven in through the curatorial themes.

arts based in the UAE, visited the third annual exhibition of The Eight Foundation at Number

This was also when a parallel display was

8, Noida. Curator Dhwani Gudka led a sneak

happening at Ahāra, a fine-dining restaurant

peek walkthrough of the exhibition New Skin

in Singapore, where the idea is for the worlds

for the Old Ceremony.

of art, food and beverage, and hospitality to collide. Art is part of the dining experience

The Art Circle’s visit was facilitated by India

at Ahāra and a curated selection from

Art Fair, which was hosting its 14th edition that

The Eight Foundation is displayed proudly

weekend. The visit was a unique opportunity

throughout the restaurant. Since its opening,

for members of The Art Circle to experience

Ahāra has hosted dinners where the menu

the vibrant contemporary art scene in India

and the art inspired each other, notably,

and connect with fellow enthusiasts and

during the Singapore Art Gallery Weekend in

collectors.

September.

As a testament to the group’s commitment

Both Ahāra and Number 8 have been a

to supporting and promoting the arts, as

testament to our iterative, meaning-making

well as fostering cross-cultural dialogue and

efforts when it comes to displaying works from

collaboration, The Art Circle gifted art prints

the collection. It is not simply about exhibition-

to the Foundation which were received by Vir

making (which, to be fair, is far from simple) but

Kotak, co-founder and Poonji Nath, CEO.

about meaning-making, cultivating dialogue between the works, visitors and everyone

The next morning, artists, gallerists, collectors

involved in the process. We see the events

and

and walkthroughs as a part of the exhibition;

international art spaces visited Number 8 for a

it’s not detached observation, but an active

curated walkthrough with Dhwani and Poonji.

participation in creating meanings and forming

Over a long Sunday morning, the entire building

dialectical relationships.

friends

from

both

domestic

Research and Co-Ordination FAQ Art (Poonji Nath, Keshav Mahendru, Navina Lamba, Tiayula Longkumer)

Essay Dhwani Gudka

theeightfoundation

Photography of Artworks Mohammed Chiba

Eight Art and Culture Foundation 6th Floor, Tower A, Lotus Business Park Plot 8, Sector 127, Noida Gautam Buddha Nagar, 201301

Catalogue Design Reha Sodhi

India T: +91 78380 44821 E: contact@theeightfoundation.org

Printed at Archana Advertising Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

All rights are reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Acknowledgements

New Skin for the Old Ceremony is the result of collaborative efforts from a dedicated and talented team of individuals. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those who played a pivotal role in bringing this exhibition and catalogue to life. Special thanks to the curator, Dhwani Gudka, for her vision and for breathing life into the exhibition.

The

meticulous

research

and

coordination by FAQ Art’s dynamic team— Poonji,

Keshav,

Navina

and

Tia—were

instrumental in shaping the elements of the show and the publication. This time, it’s not just the book but also the exhibition that owes its design excellence to the creative genius of Reha Sodhi, whose work has given the show and this publication a unique character. The photography of the artworks is credited to Mo Chiba and his team, whose sensitivity and skill in capturing the essence of the exhibition shine through in every image. Finally yet importantly, we express our sincerest appreciation to Geetanjali Bahr for her exceptional coordination, ensuring smooth communication among all stakeholders. We would like to extend our gratitude to all those who have been a part of this endeavour in any capacity, contributing to the creation of this remarkable exhibition and catalogue. Teamwork really does make the dream work. Simran and Vir Kotak