O Sole Mio - Koushna Navabi Richard Wentworth Ruth Whaley Lekha Poddar Parasol unit
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O Sole Mio
ISSUE 06 20 May 2020
Koushna Navabi
Richard Wentworth
Ruth Whaley
Lekha Poddar
Parasol unit
foundation for contemporary art
Learning to Look with all Our Senses at their surroundings. Sometime in the
early 1980s during one of my usual
he would draw their shape at a larger
scale and in close proximity to the fibre.
gallery visits, I came face to face with This intriguing practice allowed Fisher
a cast bronze sculpture that looked like to create a sizeable series of works on
Among the profusion of information, to the lockdown, being bumped into, by the outline of a cat. It was an intriguing paper which would never have come
guidance and comments we continue to other people’s backpacks, shopping bags object, something like a drawing in into existence were it not for his keen
receive during the Covid-19 pandemic or even their limbs, was an everyday the space. My interest in looking
some are helpful, some are really good part of life. I recall the frustration of interest grew intently at those
and others are just great. Whether or being hit right and left in aeroplanes or considerably paper surfaces.
not within the next few months we can simply on the street and looking back when the artist Later, he ventured
revert to where we stood in our life prior with nostalgia to those days when it Joel Fisher to make sculpture
to the pandemic, one thing is certain, the was considered disrespectful to come explained his by turning some
current change and pace of life that we into physical contact with other people work to me and of the two-
have submitted in public places. the process dimensional
to will have a through which drawings into
lasting effect Another welcome this Untitled three-dimensional
on our senses, life experience is sculpture had works and this
bodies and minds. having relearned come about. is how his
to be in touch Fisher used to Untitled work had
To protect their with one’s handmake paper, been realised.
citizens, some surroundings. I a process which Naturally, I was
countries closed am not altogether in itself requires amazed by this
their borders, sure what has patience and a elaborate process
others restricted contributed to love of creating. and exercise in
movement this change of He would place perseverance and
altogether by attitude. Is it the the paper to dry patience. In the
excluding travel necessity of being on some rough 1980s, such a
both within on the lookout felt he had in practice seemed
their own or for potential his studio and, special but could
to a foreign danger and being not surprisingly, have happened,
country. As a cautious before some felt but in subsequent
result, frequent acting or is it fibres would decades such
travelling has simply due to inevitably adhere artistic mindsets
for now become having more time to it. On close have become
an activity of yesteryear. Fortunately, to consider options as opposed to acting examination increasingly
we human beings are flexible enough on necessarily hasty decisions? For of the paper’s rare among
to adapt to new circumstances and, myself, I am glad to have this time. surface, Fisher artists. However,
thanks to technology, have been able to discovered that some of the felt fibres with the current lockdown we are all
communicate on many levels with the Let’s keep in mind this renewed had interesting shapes, which was experiencing, it has once more become
outside world. ‘Social distancing’ implies enjoyment of looking carefully at things enough to incite him to further his a welcome practice to take time to
that touching people in public is to be but go back to our artistic discussion exploration of a new body of works. gaze with our eyes and to think more
avoided and that, after all, can perhaps and examine some examples of how Fisher first identified which of the felt consciously with our minds.
be seen as a welcome restriction. Prior artists have looked or are still looking fibres interested him, then with a pencil
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Among the numerous contributions I work is its seemingly practical nature, concerns. Together, they speak vividly of taking us this far back in time, Whaley
have had the good fortune to receive whereas the work itself is the result of the intense inner feelings of both these also gently reminds us that hope has
from artists in response to the O considerable thought and deliberation. women. Farrokhzad’s daring yet poetic always been alive in the human mind.
Sole Mio project, I realise that many It is therefore not surprising that for exploration finds a kindred spirit in
of them put considerable importance his contribution to O Sole Mio he has Navabi’s highly loaded imagery. From another part of the world, in India,
on the act of gazing, on scanning presented a work which incorporates, Lekha Poddar offers her reflection on
their surroundings, and on the careful as he says, ‘fleeting stuff’ in a ‘chipped Ruth Whaley’s intimate painting The the confinement we are all currently
observation of minute details. Not glass prism’. How marvellous indeed to Gaze has two distinct parts, an angel experiencing, no matter where we live on
surprisingly, they found that the process encapsulate in one minuscule object, and a freshly blooming rose, both planet Earth, and our potential faith and
had markedly heightened their sense endless hours of reflection. hugely symbolic. The figure of the angel hope in a future recovery. Harnessing
of perception. The four contributions I was inspired and copied after a large the power of creativity and art, Poddar
took pleasure in selecting for this sixth ‘I Shall Salute the Sun Once More’ is wall painting at Santa Felicita, entitled presents a work by Iqra Tanveer entitled
issue of O Sole Mio, which considers the the title of a translation by the artist Annunciation (The Virgin Mary), 1528, Paradise of Paradox, which like all other
theme of learning to look with all our Koushna Navabi of a well-known poem by Pontormo. With The Gaze, Whaley works in this issue is about seeing and
senses, include works by three artists, by one of Iran’s foremost modern plays conceptually on several layers discovering hope.
Richard Wentworth, Koushna Navabi and poets, Forugh Farrokhzad. The poem is of thought. The wall painting at Santa
Ruth Whaley, and a reflection by Lekha commonly translated into English as ‘I Felicita not only takes us to another Ziba Ardalan
Poddar, an art collector and founder of Will Greet the Sun Again’. In this special era, but the Archangel Gabriel’s intense Founder, Artistic and Executive Director
the Devi Art Foundation in New Delhi. work, Navabi connects with the deceased gaze at the Virgin Mary bears good news
During this time of required isolation, poet on a personal level, which could and heralds hope for a bright future. By
she sees in an artwork parallels with be seen as a homage to Farrokhzad,
the inspiration to be found in the but could also signal Navabi’s interest
iconic song ‘O Sole Mio’. Each of these in engaging intellectually with this
contributions focuses differently on singularly daring and innovative female
the act and the art of gazing intently poet whose untimely death at the age of
and it is certainly enlivening not only 32, in 1967, left the Tehran intelligentsia
to discover their thoughts and their short of many insights and inspirations.
art but also my pleasure to thank
them profusely for having created such Here, the impulsive freedom of modern
thought-provoking works for the project. poetry is juxtaposed pictorially with
various sections of a very tall tree which
A leading figure in British Sculpture and now exists only in an uprooted state on
a proponent of the New British Sculpture the ground. In its current condition, the
movement of the 1980s, Richard fallen tree is photographed by Navabi
Wentworth is a conceptual artist whose from an angle that accentuates its
work and ideas have had considerable length. By definition, an uprooted tree
influence on younger generations of lies somewhere between life and death,
artists, often encouraging them to or without having any defined attribute
explore chance and coincidence in their or vertical territory. The two works here,
work. one by Farrokhzad in written language
and the other in pictorial language Images: Joel Fisher, Untitled, 1988. Painted bronze, 163.5 x 126 x 31 cm (64¼ x 49½ x 12¼ in). Pencil drawing on
A special characteristic of Wentworth’s by Navabi, express complementary handmade paper, 16 x 17 cm (6¼ x 6¾ in)
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Koushna Navabi, Fallen Tree / I Shall Salute the Sun, 2020. Poem by Forugh Farrokhzad, translated from the Farsi by
Koushna Navabi Koushna Navabi. Photography courtesy the artist
Fallen Tree / I Shall Salute the Sun, 2020 Click to view the full work in the online issue 06.
When Ziba Ardalan asked if I would Koushna Navabi’s practice encompasses I Shall Salute the Sun Once More
contribute to O Sole Mio it was at the sculpture and painting and frequently
beginning of the lockdown with all makes use of traditional handicrafts I shall salute:
those strange and unsettling feelings and materials in ways that weave
that none of us had experienced before. specific realities into the memories she The sun once more
Being accustomed but now unable to revisits in her works. Her exploration of The rivulet that once ran through me
work in my studio made it even more diverse aspects of identity, estrangement The clouds that were my expansive thoughts
eerie. I wanted to contribute a work that and artifice result in disturbing
responded to the concept and title of the manifestations of both inner and The poplar garden’s painful growth
exhibition but looking through my archive collective feelings, along with a strongly That passed through dry seasons with me
I didn’t find anything that fitted. On my symbolic sense of ‘home’.
daily walk one day I came upon a fallen The flock of crows who gifted me the night-farm’s fragrance
tree, which I found very moving. When In 2019, Koushna Navabi exhibited
I got back home I opened an old book works in two related group shows, The My mother, who lived in the mirror like my aged self
of Forugh Farrokhzad’s poems, which by Spark Is You: Parasol unit in Venice at
chance fell open at ‘I Shall Salute the the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto My lust, repetitive and turbulent
Sun Once More’. Marcello, Venice, and Nine Iranian Artists like the earth’s craving to fill its core with green seeds.
in London: The Spark Is You, at Parasol
Coronavirus, home, iPhone, laptop. unit, London. Forugh Farrokhzad, translated from the Farsi by Koushna Navabi
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Richard Wentworth I’m a retriever, typical of my generation,
idly acquisitive, learning by doing, glad
memory of these weeks.
Marking Time (Spring 2020), 2020 that things talk.
Once asked by Richard Long how he
But this is ‘here and now’. came to art, Richard Wentworth replied,
‘When you walk away from things, you
Sitting on the meeting rail of a south- walk into others.’
facing sash window sits a chipped glass
prism, a survivor from the mechanics Encounter and happenstance sit at the
of a tank periscope. Beyond, assorted heart of Richard Wentworth’s sculpture
plants and trees interfere with the fall and photographic work, mixed with a
of light, the buds and leaves of a fig, long-standing respect for how things
a clematis, a stand of poplars and a occur, where they come from and how
middle-aged ash. There are a few brief they are wrought.
intervals every afternoon when sunlight
makes it through this obstacle course Richard Wentworth, born 1947 in Samoa,
to arrive at the lens. This fleeting stuff, now lives and works in London.
like the whole mischievous world of
shadows, mostly lacks witnesses.
Richard Wentworth, Marking Time (Spring 2020), 2020.
The happenstance of these few Photography by the artist. Courtesy the artist, Lisson
Gallery and Peter Freeman Gallery New York.
encounters may come to dominate my
I don’t like curtains or blinds, I like Templates contemplated.
waking to light and its mood ... I
usually know the hour. Fall of light has been the engine of
travel. Light describes the length of my
In the most spectacular of English days, the intensity of shadows, the new
springs that I can recall, the plasticity cultural conduct.
of time and the tautness of territory,
has alerted me to much that I had I envy worlds before they were
never fully considered in seven decades professionalised. Worlds where the
of watchfulness. Maybe it’s just that curious, not always the privileged,
every perception is heightened? escaped the plague and mixed their
maths with their music, their poetry
Language changed. Familiar words and with their astronomy. Staging plays
expressions suddenly caught in amber, meets designing palaces. Inquisitive
colliding with the new unfamiliar printers stumbling towards photography
technical sprache. and its mad gene pool.
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Ruth Whaley From ‘O Sole Mio’ to The Gaze
The Gaze, 2020
The lilting melody of ‘O Sole Mio’ is Ruth Whaley’s paintings are inspired by
both a love song and a celebration of her childhood in England and Germany.
life. In addition to the original lyrics, By drawing on family conversations,
the music has been used in a hymn, photographs, letters, and anecdotes,
‘Down from his Glory’, and as a rock she evokes specific emotions and the
song, ‘It’s Now or Never’. Its rhythm vividness of past feelings. Her main
echoes the phases of the day and inspiration comes from old black-
years, from glorious sunrise to softer and-white and sepia photographs. One
darkness, from ecstatic celebration to snapshot often leads to several paintings
quieter peace. We each get different of varying degrees of realism and colour.
meanings in response to music. I Working mainly in oils and watercolour,
remembered the wonder of Pontormo’s she uses monochrome and muted tones
hesitant angel, gazing up at a young to acknowledge the uncertainty of
woman in a blue cape in Santa Felicita, memory and subtle changes in colour
Florence. That led to my small painting temperature and saturation to adjust
The Gaze. emotional moods.
Within washes of warm to cool colours Ruth Whaley, born in England, now lives
I placed an angel and a rose. In and works in New York City.
Western literature and art these images
are frequently motifs of love and
religion. A figure looking up and a
flower opening, morning to dusk, as
the Earth turns – just as ‘O Sole Mio’
suggests the daily turning from light
to darkness and back, offering hope for
future renewal.
Ruth Whaley, The Gaze, 2020. Gouache on cold-pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, 22 x 22 cm (8¾ x 8¾ in).
Courtesy the artist.
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Reflection by Lekha Poddar Upcoming Issue
As we find ourselves confined
physically, in an unprecedented
moment in time, it’s natural
to ponder about things as we
knew them and to wonder. The
work that’s been drawing me in
these days is an installation by
the artist Iqra Tanveer. Looking
at this work entitled Paradise
of Paradox is an exercise in
seeing. What is one looking at,
the dust or the light or nothing
and everything, at once? The
dust won’t be seen without the
light and the light without the
dust would just be the banality
of brightness in a pitch-black
room. The dust suspended and
moving in circles against light
is not an alien sight, most ISSUE 07 featuring works by
would remember it as effectively
‘staring into nothing’, gazing
at the particles dancing in the Darren Almond
ray of light shining through the Shezad Dawood
window at a particular hour
of the day – a fitting visual Ana Elisa Egreja
representation for ‘O Sole Mio’ – Reflection by Layla Diba
and a hope, for there cannot be
any light without the dust, the
darkness.
Art collector, Lekha Poddar,
is the founder of the Devi Art
Foundation, one of India’s most
innovative, not-for-profit art
Iqra Tanveer, Paradise of Paradox, 2011. Light and dust particles. Dimensions variable.Installation view at Deeper Words by Ziba Ardalan, Koushna Navabi, Richard Wentworth, Ruth Whaley and Lekha
Within its Silence group show in Okhla, South Delhi. Courtesy the artist. and Devi Art Foundation. Poddar. Copy edited by Helen Wire. Design by Chahine Fellahi and Kirsteen Cairns.
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