French artist Michelle Roy lived for a long time in Beijing, which might explain her inability to articulate fluently in English
Write. Word. ArtFrom Today to July 5 (6.30 pm to 8 pm)
Whereu00a0 The Art Loft, Valentino Rest, first floor, above Patel Store, Mehboob Studios, Bandra (W).
Call 9930483966
French artist Michelle Roy lived for a long time in Beijing, which might explain her inability to articulate fluently in English. Even so, her written words to us convey her fondness for culture and all things beautiful, especially in the world of art and calligraphy.
"Calligraphy teaches me that the apparent simplicity in art is the most difficult to obtain," Roy tells us over e-mail. "I discovered the importance of tradition and realised that tradition does not imply a brake on
creation if we try to understand it." Roy is exhibiting her works at an art space in Bandra. Her works largely experiment with Chinese, Korean and Devanagari script, almost as if they are chalking out Roy's life itself, considering she has lived in Beijing, Seoul and now, is in India.
"When I arrived in China what struck me was the importance the Chinese give to the art of calligraphy. For them, it is the best of all arts. I arrived from Europe and our pictorial tradition is difficult to understand. I had the impression that if I studied calligraphy, I could start understanding Chinese culture. So I started to read about paintings and calligraphies. In China, the writing is everywhere: any advertising or any name is a place for calligraphy," Michelle explains.
Michelle grew up in Bordeaux, where she studied Chinese. She went on to get a scholarship to study in Beijing, where she started studying Chinese calligraphy. "The art of calligraphy is like music; you have to repeat and repeat. Every stroke that composes a character has to be drawn in the same sequence and generally, you have to write the character in a square, a sort of an interior limit. I like this kind of art and discipline because we cannot feel liberty without a limitation or frontiers."
After working in Taiwan as a consultant for the National Palace Museum, she moved to Seoul in South Korea where she started learning Chinese calligraphy at an academy that was her "little paradise". Three years back, her husband got a job in India and she moved again.
She says, "India is such a different world that it took me a long time to feel well but now I am starting to really enjoy what India has to offer me."
Can you be proud and sing 'I am whatu00a0I am'?On Saturday, 10.30 pm onwards
Where blueFROG, Zeba Center, Mathuradas Mills Compound, NM Joshi Marg, Lower Parel.
Call 61586158
Entry Rs 500 post 9 pm
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) parties, now taking place with increasing societal sanction, are perhaps getting the best venue available for partying this weekend: Blue Frog. Even as the New York gay pride celebrated the legalisation of same-sex marriage last weekend, the city will see a Queer Night with musicians, a stand-up comic, poets and a versatile set of performers entertaining audiences. Apart from stalls by D Kloset and Azad Bazaar, singers Alisha Batth and Leon De Souza will belt out a few tracks, while Ma Faiza will spin from her playlist including Gloria Gaynor's I Am What I Am.
Do your bit for these real 'star kids'On Today, 6.30 pm
Where Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
Call 22824567
A lack of education, the bane of our society, is being slowly and quietly fought by the Sujaya Foundation, which gives underprivileged children and youth an opportunity platform to launch them into the dignified and bright future they deserve. All through summer, volunteers of the Foundation have been readying 34 of the kids they work with, for the Sujaya Language Show, that will be performed today.
Kids from fourth to the seventh grade will be performing short, minute-long plays on themes ranging from Aamchi Mumbai to What is Success. Even if the auditorium is full and you are compelled to watch the performances on the big screen to be put up outside, we suggest you do your bit
and be there to give a standing ovation to these deserving little stars.
Ou00a0my love, Priya Bawari or more Piya?On Sunday, 2 pm (English), 4.30 pm (Hindi) and 7 pm (Marathi)
Where Experimental theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.
Call 22824567
Tickets Rs 200, Rs 250 and Rs 300
For the first time ever, the same play will be performed by the same set of actors in three languages ufffd English, Marathi and Hindi. The play is based on Bhasa's Sanskrit classic play Madhyam Vyayog. Through this play, an effort has been made towards reviving the principle of Natyashastra with a modern and contemporary approach. In the play, Hidimba, who is fasting, orders her son Ghatotkacha to bring a man from the forest to eat at the end of the fasting. Ghatotkacha stops a traveling Brahmin family in the middle of the forest. To save his parents and two brothers, the second son Madhyama gets ready to sacrifice himself. But what happens when Bhima, the Madhyama Pandav, faces Ghatotkacha instead? Find out.
