Art exhibition in New York explores the cosmos

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NEW DELHI – A solo exhibition by Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat probes the vast scale of the universe, and is open for public display in New York’s Sperone Westwater Gallery.

The way one sees the world often defines the meaning we derive from it, believes Kallat, who has explored themes like proximity and distance, perception, time, scale, sustenance and the sky, in the exhibition. It closes on June 16.

Titled “Decimal Point”, it exhibits works named “Sightings”, “Covariance”, “Wind Study” and “The Eternal Gradient”.

In his work “Sightings”, Kallat plays around with colours of fruit skins to reveal large inter-galactic views. His preoccupation with the cosmos seeps into other works by him.

In “Covariance”, reptilian eyes, mammalian eyes and the eyes of fish look out at the world simultaneously from all directions on the surface of the sculpture.

An unending transition of lunar phases formed by progressively eaten rotis (Indian bread) is seen in “The Eternal Gradient”.

Why did he engage with the theme of the cosmos?

“I could think of myself as a resident of Mumbai, or India, or Asia, or in a vague sense a resident of planet Earth. I could also, somewhat facetiously, say that I am a resident of the Milky Way Galaxy. This last remark would completely alter the focal length at which I might view the location of my residence, my sense of identity or my limiting identifications, and my immediate neighbourhood,” he told IANS in an email interview on Tuesday.

Besides the solo exhibition in New York, currently Kallat is prominently featured in the Modern and Contemporary Collection section of Centre Pompidou Paris as well as shows at Singapore Art Museum, Whitworth in Manchester amongst others.