IslANDs - Painterly Experiments & Exploded Sculptures

Authors’ Profiles
Rajeev Sethi is a noted Indian designer, scenovgrapher and art curator. He is known for his outstanding designs across the world. Sethi spent his formative
years in Paris, where he first went to study graphic art on a scholarship. Thereafter he trained under painter and printmaker Stanley William Hayter at his
studio, Atelier 17. He was mentored by American designers Ray and Charles Eames. Finally he got a chance to work at studio of French designer, Pierre Cardin.
Meanwhile in 1960, he designed Delhi's first discotheque, Cellar at Regal Building, Connaught Place. He is curator and founder-chairman of the Asian Heritage
Foundation. He designed The Art Walk at the brand new T2 terminal in Mumbai. He is also part of INTACH constituted the first Governing Council. In 1986, he
was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, given by the Government of India.
Richard Vine is the senior editor of Art in America magazine. He holds a PH.D in literature from the University of Chicago and has served as editor-in-chief
of the Chicago Review and of Dialogue: An Art Journal. He has taught as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Conservatory of Music, the
University of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, the New School for Social Research, and New York University. His articles have appeared in various journals, including
Samagudi, the Georgia Review, Tema Celeste, Modern Poetry Studies, and the New Criterion, and numerous art catalogues and critical compendiums. In 2013
he curated the exhibit “Darkness Visible”; a group exhibit of 10 Chinese and American artists, at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing. He is the author
of NEW CHINA, NEW ART, featuring some 150 established and emerging Chinese artist, published by Prestel. Richard is the exhibition curator and main writer
for the travelling multi-media and publication exhibition project “GOlden SectiOns - the global work of Gudjon Bjarnason” launched at Lalit Kala Akademi – The
National Academy of Art in New Delhi, India. Richard is the author of the criminal novel “SoHo Sins” published in 2016 by Hard Crime Books/Titan publishers.
Henry Meyric Hughes is a freelance curator, consultant and writer on art. He is General Co-ordinator of Council of Europe Exhibitions and Honorary President of
the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Paris. He was a co-founder of the European Biennial of Contemporary Art (2003), Manifesta, and President of
the Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1996-2007. He worked for the British Council in Germany, Peru, France and Italy, and was the Director of Visiting
Arts (1994-96) and Director of Visual Arts (1986-92). He was the British Commissioner for the Venice Biennale and the São Paulo Bienal, 1986-92 (Richard
Hamilton, Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor). He was the Director of the Hayward Gallery, including National Touring Exhibitions and the Arts Council Collection, from
1992-96. Exhibitions include Art and Power: ‘Europe under the Dictators 1930-1945’, ‘The Spirit of Romanticism in German Art’, 1790-1990 and the British
Art Show 4. His recent projects include 'Blast to Freeze: British Art in the Twentieth Century' for Wolfsburg and Toulouse (2002-03); the Cypriot Pavilion (Nikos
Charalambidis) at the 2003 Venice Biennale; a touring exhibition of contemporary art in Norway for Oslo (2005-06); and ‘No Borders, Just N.E.W.S.’, a touring
exhibition of young European artists, 2008. He is currently co-curating the XXX Council of Europe exhibition, ‘Critique and Crisis: Art in Europe since 1945’ for Berlin, Cracow,
Tallinn and Milan (2012-2013). Recent publications include ‘AICA in the Age of Globalisation’ (AICA Press, 2010) and ‘African Contemporary Art: Critical Concerns / Art
Contemporain Africain: Regards Critiques’ (AICA Press, 2011, co-ed.). Henry has been an adviser to UNESCO and the Council of Europe and is a Board member of Dox Centre
for Contemporary Art, Prague, the Archives del la critique d’art, Rennes, Arnolfini, Bristol and Matts, London. He was appointed Officer des Arts et des Lettres by the French
Government in 1997 and awarded the Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2002.
Ashok Vajpeyi is an Indian poet in Hindi, essayist, literary-cultural critic, apart from being a noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant.
He remained the chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi India’s National Academy of Arts, Ministry of Culture, Goverment of India, 2008–2011. He has published
over 23 books of poetry, criticism and art, and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award given by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, in
1994 for his poetry collection, Kahin Nahin Wahin. His notable poetry collections include, Shaher Ab Bhi Sambhavana Hai (1966), Tatpurush (1986), Bahuri
Akela (1992), Ibarat Se Giri Matrayen, Ummeed ka Doosra Naam (2004) and Vivaksha (2006), besides this he has also published works on literary and art
criticism: Filhal, Kuchh Poorvagrah, Samay se Bahar, Kavita ka Galp and Sidhiyan Shuru ho Gayi Hain. He is generally seen as part of the old Delhi-centric
literary-cultural establishment consisting of bureaucrat-poets and academicians like Sitakanta Mahapatra, Keki Daruwalla, J.P.Das, Gopi Chand Narang, Indra
Nath Choudhari and K. Satchidanandan.
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