Date: 16 December – 10 January 2021
Location: Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
Textures and Layers marked Tao’s first post-Covid physical exhibition and Poonawalla’s first exhibition in India this year. Alongside Poonawalla Textures and Layers presented work by five leading artists including Revati Sharma Singh, Kisalay Vora, Jaideep Mehrotra, Kalpana Shah and Shruti Jhaveri.
Curated by Sanjana Shah and Sapna Kar the exhibition celebrated the galleries return to physical shows by presenting works that carried a strong presence and explore what it meant to physically engage with an artwork. Within this context, Poonawalla presented six works that evolved beyond a traditional 2D painting incorporating sculptural elements which bring themselves off the canvas and into the viewer’s space.
Poonawalla’s exhibited works included Blue Wave, inspired by the city of Mumbai, the painting was specially produced for Textures & Layers and references the city through its free flowing language and colour. What if you fly! and Mystical Flight which both feature Pooawalla’s signature butterfly motif – an ephemeral creature that is the result of a metamorphosis – representing both beauty and freedom. Desert Rose which also features butterflies representing the inherent beauty in nature’s patterns as the artist allowed them to fall naturally on the work before affixing each one where they landed; and Golden Flutter whose gold plated butterflies are a nod to the artist’s recent collaboration with Italian design house Inkiostro Bianco. Alongside these Poonawalla exhibited Colours of Life from a new series of abstract paintings produced during lockdown. The work depict the artist’s garden as a vision of positivity and vibrancy as we look to the future in these difficult times.
