Art News - Frontline

Straddling multiple discourses and standing on the brink of subversion, Hanif Kureshi (1982-2024) embodied the contradictions inherent in the current state of graffiti and street art in India.

Death of a Daku: How Hanif Kureshi radically altered the Indian street

His work, which often played with time and language, challenged the elitism of art galleries and brought creativity to the masses.

Sanchita Khurana

Procession de la Déesse Kali (Procession of the Goddess Kali) by Prince Alexis Soltykoff (1806–1859), engraved by Louis Henri de Rudder (1807–1881). Lithograph on paper, 1841.

DAG exhibition traces Kali’s evolution from deity to cultural icon

Mumbai art show probes Kali’s multifaceted representations across centuries, illuminating her significance in religion, society, and visual culture.

Ishita Sengupta

Counter Culture

Vijay’s GOAT is a film overburdened by its star

While this is not unusual for star films, what is exceptional is the limits to which GOAT stretches this.

Prathyush Parasuraman

The digital medium tends to kill the imagination: Gulammohammed Sheikh

Sheikh on his printmaking journey, the rise of digital art, and art as a way of responding to contemporary issues.

C.S. Venkiteswaran

The Golden Temple, Amritsar (c. 1919) by Charles William Bartlett, Kokka woodblock print on paper.

Land of dreams: A glimpse into India under the Raj

India of a bygone era comes alive in the DAG exhibition of paintings by foreign artists from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Madhulika Liddle

ARPO: Chronicling Kerala’s past for its future

How a small collective of volunteers carves a unique niche in preserving the State’s vanishing heritage.

Saatvika Radhakrishna,Kavya Pradeep

Why is Ukraine’s theatre scene thriving amid war?

Despite air raids and life threats, culture-loving Ukrainians still stand in line for hours or wait months for tickets to catch their favourite plays.

More stories from Art

Sandhya Deb Barma weaving risha.

Can Tripura’s forgotten fabric weave its way back?

Once worn by royalty and commoners alike, the risha tells a tale of tradition, artistry and changing times. A designer is on a mission to revive it.

Souza at his apartment in New York, 1970-71.

Souza’s monsters mirror society’s ugly truths

A moving tribute to artist Francis Newton Souza in his birth centenary year.

Janhavi Acharekar

“Meepao”, choreographed by Surjit Nongmeikapam, from PECDA Showcase 2022.

In a parched landscape, a dance competition keeps artists’ dreams alive

The Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards has created an ecosystem for dancers in India, where resources and opportunities remain scarce.

“Past Disquiet” at Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Art and the political imagination

An ongoing exhibition in Paris upholds Palestinian right to statehood by displaying works by artists from populations uprooted or exiled by violence.

Cartoonist Rachita Taneja. The Bengaluru-based artist was recently honoured with the Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award, alongside Hong Kong’s Zunzi.

‘Sanitary Panels would not have been possible without the Internet’: Rachita Taneja

This election season, the webcomic has covered everything from ethics of NOTA to the media’s softball interview questions to Prime Minister Modi.

Aditya Mani Jha

Ebrahim Alkazi with Amal Allana at Art Heritage gallery, New Delhi, in 2013.

‘I don’t think Indian theatre is at a crossroads’: Amal Allana

The theatre director talks about her biography of her father, Ebrahim Alkazi, a pioneering force in Indian theatre.

The Spanish Pavillion at the 60th Venice Biennale. May 1, 2024, in Venice, Italy.

Art of resistance: Venice Biennale, 2024

At the 60th edition, works on politics, war, sexuality, identity, and anticolonial defiance converge to make a grand statement against oppression.

K.G. Subramanyan in Hyderabad in 2014.

K.G. Subramanyan (1924-2016): Artist, activist, provocateur, teacher

An exhibition celebrating Subramanyan’s centenary asks us to critically engage with his legacy to reaffirm his place among India’s greatest artists.

In 2024, Manoj Bajpayee is really everywhere, appearing in OTT offerings, in theatres, and in film festivals.

Manoj Bajpayee: ‘Hindi filmmakers should go back to the drawing board’

After COVID, Hindi mainstream cinema is confused, and there is a “desperate attempt to entertain” that was not there before, says the actor.

Side view of the sculpture titled “Rhythm” at National Museum, New Delhi. The Central government plans to create a new national museum, replacing the existing one.

Will the plans for a new National Museum put priceless artefacts at risk?

Despite the Centre’s reassurance that the collection will stay in the present premises for the time being, the project remains shrouded in mystery.

Gypsies, Kurukshetra, Haryana, 1966

Raghu Rai: Life in the raw

Stories of grandeur, religious experiences and political ambition jostle with those of everyday ecstasies, hardships, sorrows, humour, even ennui.

Malavika Karlekar

A portrait of Vallalar, born Chidambaram Ramalingam on October 5, 1823.

The saint, the song, and the social revolution

A new music project titled Anbenum Peruveli radically reinterprets the work of the 19th-century Tamil poet-prophet in the year of his bicentenary.

Abhirami Girija Sriram

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