By Krishna Purohit
The first part of Ranbir Kaleka’s exhibition Fables from
the House of Ibaan: stage 1 at Bose Pacia is a careful negotiation between the
precision of the waking world and the fluid quality of dreams. His mixed media
installations utilize canvas and video projections to create surreal world in
which a single moment becomes an epic.
The show features three works, which vary in their cinematic range and
complexity. From the cryptic "Man with Cockerel -2" to the highly involved
“Fables from the House of Ibaan: stage 1,” Kaleka delivers a narrative trio that
breaks the threshold between art and its audience.
The exhibit’s namesake is a large installation, which features a man
pensively seated at a table. Flanked only by a milk jug and votive
candleholders, the static image serves as the front piece for a projected film.
The central scene unfolds in an airy hallway amidst the easy domesticity of a
central family unit. The son runs in and out of the plane, as the mother
carefully refills the symbolic glass pitcher. This sense of comfort is quickly
tempered by Kaleka’s deft handling of time. The artist dissembles and
reassembles the viewer’s sense of space by playing with the concept of indoor
versus outdoor. Also, his rich attention to detail underscores the work’s
sublime quality and transports the viewer into a suspended realm.
Initially named “The Jug” and created for the Khushii’s India on Canvas 2007
fund-raiser, the work draws its influences from the minutiae of daily life.
“It was formed by the rhythms of the house,” Kaleka said in an interview with
Barbara London at Bose Pacia. “Also, because so little happened, everything was
very acute.”
In a similar vein, He Was a Good Man dismantles the
boundaries further. Built off a former piece titled Man Threading Needle, the
principal act unfolds heedless of world moving behind it. Ultimately, the
industrious threader departs for his “final journey” and slowly solidifies from
a moving figure to grisaille. Kaleka creates a self-reflective work that
encompasses art and audience, through superimposed shadow figures that
dismissively comment on the man’s portrait. The work’s wry tone tests the
conventional methods of studying art and life. The surprising sensation of the
brain shifting gears to accommodate a moving man and then image is almost
palpable when looking at the piece.
Kaleka’s directorial ability to slow down the passage of time and readjust
modes of thinking is the key to his art.
“His work is interesting,” Rebecca Davis Associate Director of Bose Pacia
explains. “Instead of his video being inspired by video, it is inspired by
cinema. The way he tells stories draws you in.”
By freely employing cinematic touches, the artist invites the viewer to come
in and experience the entire weight of a single moment in minutes. Black and
white shots leave behind a surprising sense of nostalgia, given the work’s short
duration. A la film noir, large shadows and focused light mark his exhibit.
The overall effect is akin to seeing a silent film and simultaneously
attempting to argue Plato. The exhibition challenges the viewer to process its
multi-layered visual information and then reach beyond it for enigmatic
implications.’
The second part of Kaleka’s exhibit at Bose Pacia opens September 2008 and
will feature paintings by the artist.
Published April 20, 2008
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