A solo exhibition from Indian artist Nakul Mondal: Ankita, on view from January 8 to February 9, with an opening reception on the afternoon of Sunday, January 15 at Gitler &_____ is located in Hamilton Heights, New York City. Ankita is Mondal’s third solo show with Gitler, as well as a clear departure from the previous two. Here the artist presents eight new portraits of girls and young women; vivid, up-close and melancholy, each one is a tender ode to the mother figure and a primal scream for peace in an unjust world.
Mondal’s devotion to his subjects is equaled by his love of country, yet there is a current of mourning that informs each portrait, made evident by his deft application of color – rich skin tones that appear fed by fire and gray-blues that lend some subjects a ghostly quality – and haunting gazes that seem both somber and contented. While each of Mondal’s subjects consumes the foreground, chaos dances on the horizons, floods of fire and smoke loom ominously, yet contented looks remain.
These women have been wounded. They are victims of a turbulent world, of men whose love and desire for women has been perverted. Ankita’s physical scar is an echo of the conflagration that commences behind her. “These people are not strangers,” says Mondal. “The pangs of destruction of this world have engrossed me.”
Nakul Mondal (b.1982, Burdwan, West Bengal, India) completed his MFA in painting from the historic art school Kala-Bhavana, founded by Rabindranath Tagore, where he was exposed to the rich traditions of India’s modernists.
Twenty-five percent of proceeds from Ankita will go to benefit the Indo-American Arts Council. For more info please visit www.iaac.us. Gitler &_____ is located in Hamilton Heights, NYC. The gallery is dedicated to showcasing rising artists from around the world. For more info visit www.gitlerand.com.
