Upcoming Show: April 7 – May 17, 2008; The Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London.

Previous Venues Include:
Kunsthal, Rotterdam

The concept
According to the Natyashastra, the 2nd century Indian text on aesthetics, there is a spectrum of nine emotions that the superior work of art should evoke and represent. In modern India, these primal states find their most vivid and bombastic expression in cinema billboards – or hoardings as they are popularly called – which are huge promotional artworks advertising current movies.

These colossal hand painted works of art once dominated the commercial areas of south India’s towns and cities; sadly, however, they have all but disappeared from view, replaced by computer-generated vinyl prints. Although talented hoarding artists still exist, they are getting harder to find. The 9Emotions exhibition, which resurrects a dying art form, is a tribute to these unsung masters.

Steering clear of the contemporary appropriation of Indian cinema in the service of fashionable kitsch, the carefully curated exhibition balances creativity and context, focusing on the artists and giving their art a new platform. Working from stills and collages based on real Tamil movies, a group of hoardings artists from the city of Chennai have created twenty monumental paintings expressing each of the nine emotions listed in the Natyashastra. The concept of using the nine emotions makes the cinematic art accessible to all viewers – you do not have to know the actors or the films to enjoy the paintings. Yet the works’ complex original context has been retained for those in the know, who will recognize faces and scenes from films across the ages. The 9 Emotions includes a photo exhibition and a DVD of the artists at work.

Click on the images to enlarge

The Artists
Tara Books approached renowned hoardings artist M.P. Dhakshna and his studio with the concept for The 9 Emotions. M.P. Dhakshna has been in the hoardings business for fifteen years – beginning as a teenager, he continued to paint throughout his five years at the College of Fine Arts in Chennai. One of the most talented and successful artists to have emerged from Chennai’s vibrant 1990s street art scene, he is known for his dramatic use of colour and state-of-the-art compositional skills. He works with a floating team of skilled artists and craftsmen. His collaborators in The 9 Emotions were Balu, Raghunathan and Chandrakanthan.

Catalogue and book
An accompanying book called The 9 Emotions of Indian Cinema Hoardings, serves as a catalogue to the exhibition. The text showcases all the original artwork on display, and contains an illuminating study and exploration of this fascinating intersection of culture, commerce and politics.

Exhibition Details

The exhibition contains 22 canvasses, which range in size between 4ft x 3.8ft and 10ft x 5ft (on average, they measure 7ft x 4.25ft). A photo exhibition and DVD of the art form is part of the package.

If you are interested in hosting this exhibition, contact us at promotions@tarabooks.com