A Tribute to my Father... Springs of Inspiration This year, Harvest 2014 is dedicated to Shri DK Jain, the chairman of Luxor Pens, art collector and philanthropist, who was a constant source of joy and inspiration to Arushi Art Gallery and an active participant in all its activities. His sensitivity to modern artistic expression and his constant search for a harmonious and humanitarian cultural ambience was always an inspiration to us as also to the artists that he befriended, sharing their hopes and aspirations for a better tomorrow. This exhibition in many ways reflects his perspective, as in our inclusion of the works of MF Husain in the show. He was an avid collector of husian's work, with his company actually producing a limited edition of a Parker Pen on the theme of Gajagamini for Arushi Art Gallery which is now a rare collector's item. So, in this exhibition too, we are showing his unusual works reflecting hope in a better future as a tribute to both the artist and the collector. Apart from Husain's works, we have chosen to exhibit works of artists whose styles reflect the different springs of inspiration in our modern art. Perhaps the most powerful of these is our folk and tribal art traditions whose different aspects we see in original works of Dhavat Singh, Kalam Patua, Jayasri Burman, Chhotu Lal, Paresh Maity and Seema Kohli. Each exhibits unique works that differ from mere decorative art in size, content and style. Another Poerful trend that this memorial exhibition has chosen to reflect is the specific non-figurative art of India that draws its inspiration from the forms and colours of our natural environment and evolves unique symbols out of them. We are exhibiting some of the most powerful exponents of this genre, like SH Raza, Ram Kumar, Zarina Hashmi, Manish Pushkale, Shobha Broota, S.Harshvardhan and Mona Rai. Then there are the outstanding modernists who have been largely responsible for the projection of our contemporary art since the eighties and nineties all over the world. Among Them we have chosen to exhibit the works of FN Souza, Satish Gujral, Krishen Khanna, Neeraj Gowswami, Amitava Das, Arpana Caur. Then there are the romantics whose works range from the powerful blend of form, colour and textures of Sanjay Bhattacharya to those on the border line of the non-figurative, like Bhagat Singh nad Meena. Finally we have the contemporaries who use elements of neo-realism to to clothe their harmonies of colour, texture and form, blending them into a mix of photo-realism, surrealism and even Kitsch as we can see in the works of Roy Thomas, Saptarishi Naskar, Arunkumar H.G, Venkat Bothsa and the Korean Artist, Jeong Hyun Sook. What this exhibition represents in essence is the tribute of a daughter to her father whose eye she learnt from and developed as her own independent vision which she carries forward in Harvest 2014. Indeed, it is both this continuity and moving ahead from the past that contribute to the popularity of art in our present day society and the desire to live with it and understand the global relevance our contemporary art has acquired that we are representing this year. Suneet Chopra Art Crttic, Writer 2014