Writing for nearly three decades on contemporary Indian art can chisel one’s thoughts and provide an arsenal that brims on the volume and power of memory.Having penned reviews and observations for major newspapers like Economic Times ,Hindustan Times and Asian Age Uma Nair believes no writing can happen without research.Nair’s obituary of Sayed Haider Raza was carried in Indian Express,The Hindu and the Asian Age.
Nair’s monograph on Arpita Singh’s Wishdream was an essay that was penned as far back as 2005 but published by Saffronart in 2010.Nair’s admiration for Sanjay Bhattacharyya’s works goes back to two decades when she would visit all his solo showings.
In an art world obsessed with installations and art writing in media reduced to barefoot journalism Nair feels art needs to be studied with a certain cerebral absorption .A lot art in India has been reduced to wanton colour strokes with no depth and nearly absent experience. Nair’s notes on Sanjay span nearly two decades and she was able to pick and preen into his past through the prism of the present.In 2012 she curated Sanjay Bhattacharyya’s epic showing of Krishna at Religare in Delhi.
Nair believes that curating too is an exercise that must go beyond the books and walls.It must invite bouquets and brickbats,it must probe the darker secrets of an artist’s sensibility.Nair’s most important curatorial venture has been with the Lalit Kala Akademi in a show called Moderns that has been sent to Jordan, Berlin and Vienna.Her desire is to write and educate and inform.(Uma Nair Blog TOI) (Uma Nair Huffington Post) (Uma Nair Economic Times) (Uma Nair The Hindu)
