Much-needed restrospective

Rewheeling the Chakra is a significant retrospective show on the Delhi Shilpi Chakra at Art Bull, highlighting an often ignored institution that ran parallel to the Progressive Artists Group. Started in 1949 by BC Sanyal, it attracted the Lahore diaspora such as Satish Gujral and Jagmohan Chopra. It also played a very important role as a counter point to the AIFACS, the other art centre in Delhi, controlled by the “Bengali lobby”, offering an alternative to artists who did not agree with its creative and other policies.   

A show on the Chakra reminds one not only of the art and artists that belonged to the group but also of the times that they represented. It began not as a formal, well-documented and ideologically driven group; rather it was an adda for artists such as Ram Kumar, K.S. Kul-karni, Devyani and Kanwal Krishen, Dhanraj Bhagat, Shankho Chowdhary. Later, it gave encouragement and shelter to associated members such as Anupam Sud.

The times were certainly less commercially and rivalry driven; often, the artists gathered together to put up collective shows in Karol Bagh and Connaught Place, besides the centre itself at Shankar Market. They even rented out their painting for Rs10, and if the prospective buyer liked it, the rent was deducted from the sale price.

Curated by veteran art critic and poet Keshav Malik, the show includes the archival material and older works of many of the now retired faculty at College of Art that were painted during their association with the group. The earliest work is perhaps Umesh Verma’s urbanscape, I and the City, a fluid play of colours through which forms emerge from the quiet of the dark background. One can see the process of discovering form in Jagdish Dey’s early works. Similarly, Krishna Ahuja’s radiating image of the Couple is a significant part of his body of work. Paramjit Singh’s serigraphs show a considerable maturity, as he plays with light, energy and form.