When a friend from Khoj International Artist’s Association told me I couldn’t miss A. Balasubramaniam’s show at Talwar, I knew it would be good.  What I didn’t expect was that it would be among the best shows I’d seen all year.  “(In) Between” is sensuous as well as smart, and perfectly conceived for the intimate Neeti Bagh gallery.

The exhibition is executed almost exclusively in white.  Balasubramaniam presents a collection of sculptures and installations that each subtly interrogate the nature of materiality—a vague goal when stated verbally, but acutely engaging as a visual and conceptual presentation.  After all, what is the purpose of successful art if not to exploit the ineffable in-between words that language misses?

One piece I liked in particular was called “Shadow of a Shadow of a Shadow.”  Like most of the show, it was simple and clever—so much so in fact, that I caught myself wondering, “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?”  The installation was exactly what its title describes— except that the title is not written anywhere in the gallery’s interior.  What meets the eye are three sculptures on the wall—clearly grouped together as a single piece, but of uncertain relationship.  The first object on the left is a simple box-like form, and the second is a significantly more complicated box-ish shape.  By the third sculpture, however, the boxiness has disappeared altogether.  There is a vague but nagging family resemblance to the triumvirate.  As it happened, I was led through the show by a bright young assistant who hastened to explain that the second form was produced by casting a solid form in the shape of the shadow cast by the simple box-sculpture at the beginning of the sequence.  The third was, naturally, a shadow of the shadow.  I wonder how long it would have taken me to “get it” if I hadn’t been told the piece’s name.

-- Sophia Powers, International Editor, ArtSlant India

(Images: A. Balasubramaniam, Kaayam 2008, fiberglass, wood, acrylic, dimensions variable; A. Balasubramaniam, Shadow of a Shadow of a Shadow; 2007, fiberglass, wood, acrylic, dimensions variable; A. Balasubramaniam, Link, 2009, fiberglass, wood, magnet, acrylic, dimensions variable.  All images courtesy Talwar Gallery New York / New Delhi.)