1 ShanthiRoad Studio Gallery in Shantinagar just welcomed a brand new exhibit Over & Over Again that will be showcased only for a few days. Two talented artists collaborate for the first time to showcase their subtle, simple, yet heart-warming artworks of same-sex love and desire! Artists Aamir Rabbani and Dheeraj Kumar hail from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, a conservative hometown, however, they have chosen to live in urban settings, which has given them the courage to be themselves and explore their identities and desires through painting and collages. Their diverse backgrounds make their art universally relevant and appealing. Their exposure to the representation of queerness in art history and media has given them the vocabulary to explore their visual languages independently.
We catch up with Aamir Rabbani who holds a bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Jamia Milla Islamia and is a designer at ORF (Observer Research Foundation), for a quick conversation as we check out the exhibit. Over the years, his works have been exhibited at the India Art Fair 2020, Naz Foundation, the Artizen Art Gallery, the American Centre in Delhi and the MF Hussain Art Gallery. He is a 2020 Gender Bender grantee, supported by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru and in Over & Over Again, he showcases small-format works, which are subtle drawings and his watercolours with texts. Aamir represents his humble home, friends and himself as subjects in situations between dreams and reality. He uses the image of men to evoke desire and yearning to love and to be loved.
“My works are very personal. They’re like my dairy. Whenever I am upset or happy, I doodle something and then I write something on a piece of paper. Some of the pieces are about my past experiences with a man laced with a kind of disappointment. I have no issues with the disappointment, but I wanted that relationship to go in a certain way which did not happen. That said, this is my life, it’s my story. It’s the only thing I can put on paper. But, since it is art... I can even change it on paper. I can be the author of this story, however I want it to be, because it is mine,” shares the artist.
Free entry. On till July 14, 11 am to 6 pm. At 1 ShanthiRoad Studio Gallery, Shantinagar.
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