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MANSI BHATT
The Mattress Factory works
October 1 — 31, 2007
Opening Reception: Monday, October 1, 7 — 9 pm
In her photographs, Mansi Bhatt essentially presents portraits and figures — a diverse collection of them — spanning cultures and genres. Her exaggerated typecasting gives rise to characters that take after Matthew Barney’s film personae — like the woman with pointed ears —, from Commedia dell’arte, 18th century European chinoiserie, and from older animation films. With attention and concentration focused on the figure, she allows the backdrop to recede, and presents the figure in varying perspectives and positions. In works where different perspectives of the subject are simultaneously depicted, the qualifying factors of the artistic medium change. Photography is now no longer necessarily the sole and exclusive medium. Rather, sculptural precision on the one hand and theatrical potential on the other, gain importance. The construction of the figures, their modeling, their plastic dimension as well as their performative, dramatic potential is visible. The purposefully smooth, artificial surfaces of parts of the face, and the accessories — such as hats and garments, make the figures appear like oversized dolls. Mouth, eyes, hands and brows on the other hand, remain alive and lively. The ambivalence between animate and inanimate, between the transformation into a plastic model and at the same time its animation, is essential to the works of Mansi Bhatt. She has chosen photography as her form of representation — less staged photography, more photographic production. A sculptural, cinematic, performative transformation is in effect in her photographs.
Christian Goegger, September 2007
(Christian Goegger is curator at ZKMax in Munich)
Mansi Bhatt was born in 1975 in Gujarat, India. She attained a BFA in Painting at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai. Recent exhibitions include Nynan Kismarra organized by Chatterjee & Lal at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, Mumbai, 2006 (solo), The Gallery at the Mattress Factory Art Museum, Pittsburgh, 2007, and 1st Anniversary Exhibition, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai, 2007. She lives in Mumbai.
GALERIE MIRCHANDANI + STEINRUECKE
2 Sunny House, 16/18 Mereweather Road, Behind Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba, Mumbai 400 001
+91 22 2202 3030/3434/ 3636, info@galeriems.com, www.galeriems.com
Hours: Mondays — Fridays 10 am — 6:30 pm, Saturdays 11 am — 4 pm
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