Exhibitions
Tara collaborates with museums, galleries and cultural institutions to explore the imaginative possibilities that our books open up. These exhibitions display – and in some cases, sell – the original art featured in our books, as well as point to wider connections and contexts. Exhibition venues have been as diverse as the Horniman Museum in London, the Salon du Livre in Paris, the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the University of Alaska in Anchorage, Hangar Bicocca in Milan and the University Gallery in Bishkek. We also offer smaller, more compact exhibitions of high quality prints for bookshops and libraries.
To host an exhibition or for more information, please contact us.
Exhibitions Exploring the Book
Nurturing Walls
October 25 – November 22, 2008; Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
Never seen before outside the walls of Meena villages in Rajasthan, the Mandana tradition of painting is practised by the women of the Meena tribe. Handed down from mother to daughter, this stunning public art is a community tradition, done by women on the mud walls and floors of their homes, keeping time with recurring festivals and the changing seasons. More…
The 9 Emotions
The Erotic. The Valorous. The Furious. The Terror-stricken. The Pathetic. The Comic. The Disgusting. The Marvellous. The Peaceful. Brilliantly bringing together ancient Indian aesthetic theory and contemporary Tamil cinema, this exhibition showcases 22 monumental hand-painted movie billboards – or hoardings, as they are popularly known. The exhibition recently completed five months at Rotterdam’s Rem Koolhaas-designed Kunsthal museum in Holland, where it ran alongside the Rotterdam Film festival in January 2007. More…
Matchbook
A collection of over 500 infinitely varied and graphically stunning Indian matchbox covers. Brands such as Cheetah Fight, Judo Delux, and New Shit are but a few delightful members of this very particular form of ephemeral pop art. Collector and designer Shahid Datawala has managed to accumulate thousands of matchbox labels in a staggering variety of designs.
The London Jungle Book
This is a unique exhibition of original paintings by Bhajju Shyam, a brilliant artist from the Gond tribe in central India. Three years ago, Bhajju was called to London to paint murals in a chic Indian restaurant. Intrigued by the city’s mores and manners, he went on to express his impressions, ideas and emotions in a series of astonishing images. In Bhajju’s radically innocent yet sophisticated artwork, London becomes an exotic bestiary; the Underground is a giant earthworm, Big Ben merges with a giant rooster, and British urbanites are bats that come out to play at night.
I Love My India
An ironic and poetic visual journey through urban India, I Love My India confounds our sense of the real and the surreal. Artist Avinash Veeraraghavan charts his way through roads, by-lanes and alleys, making the habitual appear extraordinary and playfully unsettling the viewer. A witty account of street life, kitsch and popular culture, this exhibition of mixed-media prints is accompanied by a DVD loop. Previous venue locations include Hangar Bicocca, Milan; Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris; and Watching Me, Watching India, Frankfurt.
Beasts of India
Featuring animals drawn in different styles by several Indian tribal artists, this exhibition thematically explores the astonishing variety of Indian visual traditions. This stunning bestiary, taken from the pages of the handmade title Beasts of India, is also a celebration of the art of bookmaking. The exhibition was first displayed at The Nehru Centre in London in October 2003, in association with TRIBES, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Government of India. Previous venue locations include: The Nehru Centre, London; Lucid GmbH, Fuerth; De Boekhandel, Middelburg; Kunsthal, Rotterdam; University Gallery, Bishkek.