Art of Concern:Indian Young Artist Vinod Manwani

A clock with no hands, a rocking horse with scratch marks, a rocking chair – these are the central theme for Sindhi artist Vinod Manwani. Concerns for the environment, the sudden rise of India’s “Nuclear Family”, family values and a more personal story all of which are displayed in all of the paintings.Vinod Manwani is the third child to Mangharam and Gopi Devi Manwani. Born in 1966 at Avantika, Ujjain a holy religious town near the bank of Kshipra river in Central India.

Each item has story to tell. The clock with its missing hands tells us how we need to STOP rushing in our lives. The rocking horse with scratch marks are of a more intimate nature displaying the scas of what he saw on his father’s forehead and his grandmother’s eyes and how they lost everything.

However, his passion for painting came from his trips to the temples of across ujjain with his mother. The brightly painting ceilings and domes of the Gods, Goddesses and other intricacies of workman ship displayed for all to view, to be inspired. When Vinod Manwani sits down to paint these days in his residence cum studio in Malad, two feelings concern him and his canvas. Nostalgia and empathy for metros escalating multiplex culture and more importantly, ‘Tiger Conversation’. These two series can be seen at his studio.

A casual conversation got translated into a series of paintings that keep the kitsch-ness of Bollywood film posters animated in the 18 paintings. “I wanted to make the paintings in a simple manner. I painted whatever I could recall in my memories, just as I saw it,” he explains about his style of painting.An active member of the BNHS, Manwani feels strongly about the declining numbers of the tiger species. “My paintings will perhaps work as references for my children when they grow up. I show a clock without hands to show that the time to save these glorious species is over. We have reached a sad stage where nothing much is happening to preserve tigers,” he says. Manwani also reasons on physical spaces that a congested city like Mumbai lives in. Manwani’s narrative style that makes a comment on the decline of the tigers and the multiplex culture is sure to get viewers to ponder. His works are showing online at Ashok Art Gallery and you can see original on display at India Art Summit 2008

Contemporary Artist Review: Ashok Art Gallery.

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists.Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.