Autobiographic art

From September 27 to October 13, 2008 Bombay’s Sakshi Gallery showcased senior artist Jehangir Sabavala’s 35th solo exhibition and also released a comprehensive DVD and CD-ROM on his life and work. Titled "Ricorso,” the collection comprised 20 paintings which took the 86-year-old artist over two years to create. After showing in Bombay, the exhibition traveled to London in October-November where Sabavala’s last solo exhibition had been held in 1969, and will proceed to New York in January-February 2009. Both the shows, in London and New York, will be held at the Aicon Gallery.

"Ricorso is an autobiographical trajectory… that revisits the important milestones of my artistic journey,” Sabavala told The Hindu of October 12, 2008. "I felt the need to have a summation of my attitudes and thoughts, more for myself than for anyone else. In Ricorso I have included… works from series that have been landmarks or personal favorites, such as The Purdah series, The Monk series or The Harvest series. Ricorso is an Italian word that means a ‘record.’ It was a term coined for my show by eminent art writer Ranjit Hoskote, who, when he saw what I had compiled, realized that it is actually a walk down memory lane to revisit what I had created,” the artist explains the genesis of the exhibition.

However, Sabavala informed The Hindu that "While Ricorso takes stock of my work in the past, I’m an artist who believes in infusing something new in each work rather than sticking to the tried and tested singular palettes. For instance, the trilogy of red mantle, blue mantle and green mantle portrays women who are compassionate, seductive and poignant; something that a viewer has probably never seen of me in a single show but that’s precisely why I still showcase my work.”

The artist’s "love of muted tones, nature and a fascination for the changing light and colors” is evident in this collection. "Apart from looking back, Sabavala offers a whole new range of works in startling colors and imagery,” notes the 4to40.com website.

Alongside Ricorso, and complementing the exhibition, on October 8, 2008 Sakshi Gallery also hosted a poetry reading titled "The further shore” in which Rohinton Daruwala, Mustansir Dalvi, Jerry Pinto, Arundhati Subra-maniam and Hoskote participated.