Nasreen Mohamedi’s Lines

Female Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi’s (1937–1990) drawings are mystic, modernist, utopias? that contradict the daily life of India and Pakistan. An early and solitary pioneer of the modernist movement in India, her sketches are untitled, and unnumbered.

I can’t help but think how “unIndian” her art is; leading me to question if her work was imposing some order on the chaos of Delhi where she lived, or reflecting it.  Did she see some clarity in her daily experience? Does her surroundings even matter in the context of her work?  Questions for art-historians.

Some answers and a review of her recent showing in UK The MILTON KEYNES GALLERY UK in Frieze Magazine

Cleaning out an old draw, I found a misplaced ring, the first I ever made over 10 years ago as a senior in High School in Ki Nimori’s Metal Working and Jewelry class.

A stereotypical Karate-Kid Miyagi-san type of teacher - I remember he snapped fingers, scolded with questions and practiced karate before throwing pottery.  He was a master ceramist  and teacher. He taught for 40 years at the American School In Japan, and I was lucky to have taken one of his classes.

While I wouldn’t say he was the most important teacher in my high school experience, looking back I can’t but help think that the ring is a good reflection of who I am (and I think he would be pleased with this even if its aesthetic and craft are amateur). A mix of alloys, dimpled, scoffed, yet durable and quietly gleaming.  The ring is a bronze, silver, iron mix of residue alloys made from old student wastes, flattened into a flat sheet, welded together and dimpled with tools. It still slides on perfectly and shines in silver and bronze streaks.

Read an interview with Ki Nomori

Another ASIJ Alum Gordon Scott shares more Ki Nomori’s influence on his professional work

JIGSAWMENTALLAMA @ DCP SF: worth a peek.  Video / Film highlights include Sonja Nilsson’s “Silence of the Lambs,” a mixed media flashbulb powered dollhouse and Keith Boadwee’s print “Berries”.  Other random items make up the collection for a quick contemporary visual riot.

What I always love about DCP is how un-San Francisco its collections are: no boring graffiti or politically charged left leaning self affirming rants or positiving consciousness items - instead harrowing items from a dark fantasy world that leave you always a bit shaken.  Free. Off the track. Go. More info