Indo- American Art council's exhibition

"Indo-American Arts Council's Erasing Borders 2009"
2009-11-13 until 2009-12-13
Gallery at Penn College
Williamsport, PA, USA United States of America

The Indo-American Arts Council's 6th Annual Erasing Borders Exhibition (sponsors) features work by 27 artists whose origins can be traced to the Indian subcontinent. Twenty million people of Indian origin shifted countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. Implicit in the term Diaspora are the concepts of change and adaptation. Cultural dislocation generally produces unexpected and powerful results. Subject matter is often drawn from the country of origin, while many of the aesthetic values and political concerns come from the artists new found situations. Included in the exhibition is Antonio Puri who has promoted his work with a Portfolio at absolutearts.com since the websites' inception in 2000.

Indian artists that went abroad after Indias independence from British rule grappled with dual aesthetic concerns (modernity versus tradition) and with the complex issue of identity. The Diaspora artists had to create an authentic artistic language possessing Indian aesthetic components in order to be taken seriously by critics, as well as to reconcile the issues associated with being minorities. Todays Diaspora artists are scattered across the country and are more socio-economically and religiously diverse than their predecessors. These artists are working to make themselves heard in an art world that is at once more competitive and more receptive to non-Western art than ever before. The artists in this exhibition take on diverse subject matter and meld Indian and Western colors and forms in many media, including painting, drawing, and prints; photographs, C-prints, photomontage, and video; and sculpture and installation. IAAC Director of Exhibitions: Amina Begum Ahmed.