“They are talented artists who have a lot of potential,” says curator Bhooma Padmanabhan as she introduced a group of ten artists whose work is on display at Travancore House in an exhibition titled “Urgent: 10 ml of Contemporary Needed!” Organised by Vadehra Art Gallery, this brings together artists who may not have emerged as winners of the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art award but were nevertheless considered promising by the six-member jury comprising artists Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, NS Harsha, Shilpa Gupta and art critics Annapurna Garimella and Anshuman Dasgupta. “The exhibition aims to bring together a variety of work conceived by them. There is no binding them, but the willingness to experiment acts as the binding factor,” noted Padmanabhan, as she glanced around the hall showcasing artworks in diverse medium and drawing attention to a variety of issues.

While 30-year-old Rajesh Ram portrayed the hard life of rural folk through his canvases, Sakshi Gupta narrated the history of Bori village in Rajasthan through an installation. Ved Prakash Gupta invalidated the idea of “big people” through dwarf protagonists and Chinmoy Pramanick managed to invite accolade from photographer Ram Rahman for his mixed media work titled But Somewhere I belong To Them/ Looking Around. “It is interesting,” noted Rahman, as he stopped by Baroda-based Pramanick’s work, which has prying enamel eyes pasted across the board painted with black patches depicting smoke and innumerable wooden houses placed around the corner of its frame. “It reflects endless desires of people,” explained the 31-year-old artist.

The room adjacent had Mumbai-based Baptist Coelho wooing connoisseurs through an installation titled How To Be Your Self (Chapter 02- You Get Dressed). Made using 354 meters of hand-painted cloth, this also comprised a video featuring one-liners like “you do not wear clothes so revealing that they embarass others” and “you tip the person who shampoos your hair”. “These have been taken from the book How to Be a Lady by Simpson-Giles. I found it offensive that the book attempted to guide women regarding behaviour. A woman today knows what she wants,” observed Coelho, who may have missed out on the FICA award, but managed to win the Art India promising artist award last year. “I’m not really disappointed. This show has given me a platform to showcase my work,” he smiled.

The verdict? The packed hall, with artists Madhavi and Manu Parekh and curator Sushma Bahl in attendance, was indicative of a good start. And as Padmanabhan, put it, “There is always space for more talent.”