SCRATCH AND TELL: These depictions tell stories of the status of women in a patriachial society

You've seen them hanging in roadside Dhabas, in Dingy Darzi shops and at paan stands; they decorate the interiors of trucks and modest homes alike. If calendar art is anything, it is democratic as everyone can afford to purchase the goddess, bride, sister or sexpot of their dreams.

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Now calendar art has gained chic status and is gracing the walls of art galleries and sleek sitting rooms, not only in India, but in the US as well. The latest avatar of this gaudy, surreal art is the Indo-Center of Art and Culture in Chelsea, Manhattan, where the walls have been painted a rosy pink to reflect the seductive glow of the women whose tales these calendars tell.

POSTER PERFECT: Screen icons and films like Bobby (right) inspire calendar art

"From Goddess to Pin-up: Icons of Femininity in Indian Calendar Art" encompasses the public view of women in India. Walk through the gallery and you see idealised images of women as society perceives them-all powerful goddesses, benign mothers, devoted sisters, glamorous movie stars, sex objects. But there's much more below the surface. Each tells an insightful stories about women's status in a patriarchal society.

These images are from a collection amassed over 30 years by Patricia and J.P.S. Uberoi and show through devotional, nationalistic images as well as glamorous pin-ups the popularity of bazaar art and how commercial, political and social interests converge on the depictions. The exhibition comes to New York after touring India, Holland and Japan and will be on view till January 19, 2002.

Women's many roles are shown through diverse images of Madonna and Childl; Krishna with his foster mother Yashoda; buxom beauties in whom you can catch glimpses of Madhubala and Meena Kumari; and teenage girls copied from foreign models. "In the classic calendar pin-up, the woman is little more than a sex object, an erotic image made available to a mass public through modern commercialised processes of mechanical reproduction." writes Uberoi. The pictures evoke nostalgia, but they also make you think about women's dilemmas. Not only do these calendars objectify women, but even commodify them, by associating them with consumer products. As Uberoi points out, "Calendar art melds imperceptibly with the medium of commercial advertising in which the woman is deployed to sell not only the product, but also herself."

The exhibition, which is co-curated by Patricia Uberoi and Pooja Sood, has already drawn a diverse audience. It is supplemented by screening of Bobby, Raj Kapoor's classic film, Hey Ram and other Bollywood offerings which seem to be inspired by and inspire calendar art; and interactions with South Asian artists and music video industry insiders on the portrayal of women in popular culture. "We use the exhibition as a launch pad to make people think," points our Karin Miller-Lewis of the Indo-Center.

Lowly bazaar art is finally getting some respect.