Contemporary India art on display at College of DuPage

"Traditions in Transition," an exhibition of contemporary art of India, features work inspired by folk traditions from regions throughout India.

The exhibit continues through Sunday, Feb. 22, at the Cleve Carney Art Gallery at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. This group exhibition features work by acclaimed Indian artists Durga Bai, Mantu Chitarakar, Suresh Durve, Bhua Devi and Anil Vangad, and is guest curated by Manvee Vaid, a recognized collector of Indian art and founder of the online gallery, deccanfootprints.com.

The art featured in "Traditions in Transition" is inspired by four different Indian art traditions: Madhubani, Gond, Warli, and Bengal Patachitra. Media includes ink on paper, acrylic on canvas, cow dung and water-based color on cotton cloth, and charcoal and gouache on cotton cloth.

In creating the works, each artist has made a conscious effort to shift the parameters of each tradition to a unique, individualistic contemporary creative level. Although different in style and subject matter, all make reference to history, religious beliefs and the social customs of their communities of origin.

• Madhubani, which literally translates into "Forest of Honey," is a small village in northern Bihar. Religion plays an important role in the lifestyle and tradition of the people as reflected in their paintings of Hindu mythology. The contemporary art of Madhubani painting was born in the early 1960s, following the famine in Bihar. The All India Handicraft Board in Delhi recognized the commercial potential of this folk art and urged the villagers to paint on handmade paper to supplement their meager income and alleviate poverty. Today, Madhubani art has evolved into more complex forms depicting narratives that show great vitality and growth.

• The Gond style is alive with images drawn from the ancestral songs and oral traditions passed down by the Pardhans, or poets, of the community mainly found in the state of Madhya Pradesh and its surrounding areas. Their painting techniques, dense but intricate, draw on the delicate stitch-lines of "kantha" embroidery from eastern Bihar and Bengal; in the chain-stitch of the "aari" tradition from surrounding states; and from decorative tattoo art and patterns adorning their bodies. The belief that seeing good images brings good fortune and luck is often a conversation in their art.

• The Warli tribal community descended from Neolithic hunter-gathers who now live in the coastal areas of western India. Warli ritual paintings are storyboard-like narratives with geometric figurations. Traditionally, the married women of the village would paint religious images on the walls of their homes. Their understanding of the delicate balance of the universe with one and each is carefully evident in these paintings. Today, the art reflects contemporary issues like female education and female feticide often shown along with cars, planes and ships but always under the watchful presence of spiritual gods and goddesses.

• Bengal Patachitra is one of the few genuine narrative pictorial folk arts that have made it down to the present times. The artists or "chitrakars" are performers who wander from village to village, singing songs and showing the accompanying art narration on long scrolls of paper. The scrolls are done with sheets of paper sewn together and sometimes stuck on canvas or old saris. The themes are inspired by the sacred texts and also contemporary sociopolitical subjects.

"My burning desire is to open eyes, hearts and minds to the artistic beauty of India - not only for my own country, but for Chicago as well," said guest curator Vaid, a Chicago-based practicing artist and respected curator of Indian art.

Vaid has a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, India. In her own work she experiments with various art media, including acrylic and oils, old gilding, and murals. Her personal collection, which includes works from presidential award winners as well as up-and-coming artists, has been displayed at several universities including the University of Chicago.

Events and admission to the gallery are free. The exhibit can be viewed during regular gallery hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The gallery is open one hour prior to McAninch Arts Center performances in the Belushi Performance Hall and during intermission.

For information about the exhibition and related special events, visit cod.edu/gallery or call (630) 942-2321.