Comments on: Sikh Art @ the Rubin Museum

By: balvinder

balvinder — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 02:56:25 +0000

A well intended Exhibition of Sikh Art, titled Â“I See No Stranger: Early Sikh Art and DevotionÂ” has recently been curated at Rubins Museum of Art in Chelsea, a suburb of Boston. An otherwise adulatory art review of this show that the New York Times published (September 18) reminded me of that controversial ad in which an employee derogatorily splits the name of his boss, HARI by saying H for Â‘HitlerÂ’, A for Â‘arroganceÂ’ and so on. For, the review says that the word Â‘SikhÂ’ is pronounced as Â“SickÂ” with an enunciated H. Though the pronunciation tip is not phonetically wrong the choice of its association is surely hurting, particularly when quite a few dictionaries club the phonetic association of Â‘SikhÂ’ with the word Â“seekÂ”, which is both closer to the actual pronunciation as well as rightly indicative of its correct meaning.

Another disturbing aspect of the review is, apart from spelling the name of the first Sikh Guru differently, as Nanek and Nanak, at different places, that in a painting Mardana Â“plays and sings with fervor of a contemporary bhangra starÂ”. Associating Sufi saints, who were the personification of sophistication, with robust modern folk dancers is a serious sacrilege.

In a country where a Sikh was shot dead, as a sordid part of hate killings after 9/11, considering him to be an Arab Muslim, it is perhaps difficult to make those people aware of the soft nuances of Sikhism. Before describing Sikhism, in his peculiar way, the reviewer says at the outset that Â“Few Westerners have even basic informationÂ”. How true he is!

By: DJ Drrrty Poonjabi

DJ Drrrty Poonjabi — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:29:04 +0000

For the Southies in the room, what does "bhang" mean?

C'mon man, you've never ordered a "special lassi" before?

Link has a pic that throws my entire conception on desi Aunties and Uncles into question.

By: dropjes

dropjes — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 01:32:14 +0000

Earlier this year I read a NYT review of Japanese modern dance and of course the critic mentioned manga. The NYT sports reporters were a little out of their depth covering the World Cup, so in their writing they dragged the Fall of the Wall into it. It’s just lazy writing and pseudo sociology, although overall I thought the Cotter piece was quite informative.

By: tamasha

tamasha — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:34:14 +0000

Don't mean to change the subject, but indulge me for a moment... If you're heading to London anytime soon, there's a show at the British Museum (almost abbreviated it as BM!) called Voices of Bengal. Lots of interesting programming too.

By: Raj

Raj — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 23:45:58 +0000

Thanks for the post.

Saw the exhibit last weekend. It was good overall although I would like to have seen different types of art included in the exhibit, as almost all works were from the “miniature” school of paintings. Are there other types of Sikh art?

Also, there is a catalogue of the paintings on sale at the RMA bookstore. Don’t see it on their website yet, but I suppose they’d provide info if you contacted them – 212-620-5000 ext.318 or info@rmanyc.org

By: Sriram

Sriram — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:35:49 +0000

It's always struck me as odd that a dance in celebration of um, bhang, would be quite so energetic.

For the Southies in the room, what does "bhang" mean?

By: Rosie

Rosie — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:30:22 +0000

Well, it’s unlikely that anyone has seen the Indian painting show at the Boston MFA; it is scheduled to open tomorrow.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:17:22 +0000

I can't wait to see the show at the Rubin. Al beruni: as far as I can tell, no catalog has been published, alas.

This is an exciting season in the northeast for lovers of Indian art; there's also the Masterworks of Indian Painting show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston until November 26. Anyone here seen it yet? Did I miss a post about it?

And in other Sepia Mutiny-relevant art news, Pakistani-born, NYC-based painter Shazia Sikander is a 2006 MacArthur fellow. Yay.

By: Amit

Amit — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:30:12 +0000

Wow. I never thought bhangra was about bhang!

By: Umang

Umang — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:07:19 +0000

Bhangra is secular, festive, and pro-intoxication.

It's always struck me as odd that a dance in celebration of um, bhang, would be quite so energetic.