Dabbawala acts as a starter to the contemporary Indian art feast, proclaimed writer Silvia Radan of The Khaleej Times in a recent essay.
Talented artist Valay Shende’s Dabbawala was selected as an opening piece in a major show of the modern & contemporary Indian art retrospective, entitled ‘‘Spectrum’, in Abu Dhabi. The dabbawala, the tiffin box carrier is Mumbai’s highly efficient system of carrying and serving lunch to office goers.
The home cooked food, packed in a box is given to a carrier, who ensures it reaches the right person at the right time. The complexity and efficiency of the system impressed even Prince Charles so much that he invited a few dabbawalas as guests to his wedding ceremony.“
The dabbawala has been perfected to such details that some may call it a work of art, but how can it actually be translated into art, worthy of an international exhibition? The news report provides the answer by mentioning, "If you ask talented artist Valay Shende, he will tell you to create a copper and golden looking metal sculpture of a standing man in front of his bicycle, the man “dressed” in traditional Mumbai attire, made out of small watches and his bicycle packed with “boxes” in the shape of a human stomach."
The art exhibition was recently set up in a new improvised gallery at Emirates Palace.The Indian Embassy had organized it in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage as a gesture of friendship and deepening relations between Emiratis and Indians.
Incidentally, Bose Krishnamachari's ‘GHOST/TRANSMEMOIR' includes over 100 metal cans used by the city's famous delivery men of Tiffin boxes. In this compelling installation the lunch boxes are mounted on iron scaffolding and contain LCD monitors. The tangle of wires, hand straps, headphones and metal containers is a play on the indomitable spirit and energy of the people of Mumbai, a city constantly on the move.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Key ideas on how to invest in art in the current context
It’s vital to establish how to invest in art, so we wish to provide our readers with a few important tips in the current context.
The changed context and connotations of the market also needs to be understood. “Now that the real ‘investors’ are coming back to the art market as it opens up after almost a year-long hiatus, it’s vital to establish who a genuine investor is and if yes, how to invest in art.”
These are the critical issues that art expert Kishore Singh deals with in an insightful essay in The Business Standard. Following is the precious piece of advice on his part:
First as an investor, as he notes, you cannot hope to begin with less than Rs 20 lakh, with an annualized budget to at least match that (you may invest more by turning some of your existing collection around, However, the same should add to the original kitty instead of becoming the kitty).
You need to choose a range of works to start your investment exercise. To put it in other words, buying a single Sakti Burman canvas for Rs 20 lakh cannot be called an investment. Critically, your collection needs to be ruthlessly weeded. Any buying/ selling decision on your part should ideally be dictated by the mind and not the heart even while you can continue to enjoy your choice of art.
To sum up, you should work with galleries and experts, who can take the responsibility for prices and for filling in gaps that, you might find difficult to plug yourself as an investor.The key is not to get carried away or become excessively pessimistic as the market sentiment changes from euphoria to despondency. Simply sticking to one’s basics and instincts can help.
The changed context and connotations of the market also needs to be understood. “Now that the real ‘investors’ are coming back to the art market as it opens up after almost a year-long hiatus, it’s vital to establish who a genuine investor is and if yes, how to invest in art.”
These are the critical issues that art expert Kishore Singh deals with in an insightful essay in The Business Standard. Following is the precious piece of advice on his part:
First as an investor, as he notes, you cannot hope to begin with less than Rs 20 lakh, with an annualized budget to at least match that (you may invest more by turning some of your existing collection around, However, the same should add to the original kitty instead of becoming the kitty).
You need to choose a range of works to start your investment exercise. To put it in other words, buying a single Sakti Burman canvas for Rs 20 lakh cannot be called an investment. Critically, your collection needs to be ruthlessly weeded. Any buying/ selling decision on your part should ideally be dictated by the mind and not the heart even while you can continue to enjoy your choice of art.
To sum up, you should work with galleries and experts, who can take the responsibility for prices and for filling in gaps that, you might find difficult to plug yourself as an investor.The key is not to get carried away or become excessively pessimistic as the market sentiment changes from euphoria to despondency. Simply sticking to one’s basics and instincts can help.
Discovering value in art
We have already touched upon some pertinent points raised by columnist Kishore Singh of The Business Standard in an interesting essay, entitled ‘Hung up on value’.
Now that people are less exuberant and more realistic, the writer raises some pertinent questions regarding the temperament and tenets of a successful investor. Putting things in perspective, he mentions: “Everyone fancied oneself to be an art connoisseur, and everywhere one went, one heard about the immense investment value of art. This was before the art markets suffered last year. All of them wanted to know if the paintings they were planning to buy had investor credibility.”
If you want to position yourself as an investor, you must take into consideration some critical things. We have already considered a few of them. What else needs to be kept in mind? To start with, it need hardly be reemphasized that an investor must be well familiar with the artist / period/ theme/ series of a collection, that competitive pricing be monitored carefully, and that value not be under - or over-stated.
With the minimum base amount of Rs 20 lakh, what is that you can expect the art market to bring to the table? This is what you need to work out. As the expert points out: “Too much weight is given to emerging artists, but it’s best to invest in artists with a proven track record of at least a few years, in a price range of, say, about Rs 5 lakh. You won’t get the best-in-class for even mid-range artists at that price, so you could choose to invest in their smaller works, or perhaps drawings and watercolors, usually priced lower.
Last but not the least, provenance, purchase documents and artist/ gallery validation are other extremely important elements to avoid being spooked by the fake market.
Now that people are less exuberant and more realistic, the writer raises some pertinent questions regarding the temperament and tenets of a successful investor. Putting things in perspective, he mentions: “Everyone fancied oneself to be an art connoisseur, and everywhere one went, one heard about the immense investment value of art. This was before the art markets suffered last year. All of them wanted to know if the paintings they were planning to buy had investor credibility.”
If you want to position yourself as an investor, you must take into consideration some critical things. We have already considered a few of them. What else needs to be kept in mind? To start with, it need hardly be reemphasized that an investor must be well familiar with the artist / period/ theme/ series of a collection, that competitive pricing be monitored carefully, and that value not be under - or over-stated.
With the minimum base amount of Rs 20 lakh, what is that you can expect the art market to bring to the table? This is what you need to work out. As the expert points out: “Too much weight is given to emerging artists, but it’s best to invest in artists with a proven track record of at least a few years, in a price range of, say, about Rs 5 lakh. You won’t get the best-in-class for even mid-range artists at that price, so you could choose to invest in their smaller works, or perhaps drawings and watercolors, usually priced lower.
Last but not the least, provenance, purchase documents and artist/ gallery validation are other extremely important elements to avoid being spooked by the fake market.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Confidence indicator for the Indian art market improves
Art analysis firm ArtTactic’s confidence indicator for the Indian art market has more than doubled, sending positive signals to investors.
In fact, recovery in the Indian art market could occur earlier than expected, according to the latest research report released by the London-based art market analysis firm. The report suggests there is renewed confidence evident in the market that incidentally had dipped to an all-time low only six months ago.
The report holds significance since ArtTactic, set up by Anders Petterson almost a decade ago, is an internationally reputed agency. It comes up with research and commentary by combining both quantitative and qualitative tools. Its studies are backed by an in-depth knowledge of the art market’s .
ArtTactic employs analytical frameworks and methodologies for the art market often employed by economists and the financial experts. Anders Petterson, ArtTactic managing director, elaborates, “The survey sample is a cross-section of key players in the Indian art market many of whom have a long-term interest in it, and hence their answers are not driven by short-term decisions.”
Its confidence indicator for the Indian art market is now pegged just under the 50 mark, at 49. The 50 mark importantly, suggests there are an equal number of negative and positive responses on the outlook for the art market in the near term. In May, the indicator was well in the negative territory, pegged at an abysmally low number of 20.
Clearly, the market is on the threshold of an upswing in terms of investor confidence. This really is a positive indicator coupled with the Indian economy that is showing early signs of revival.
In fact, recovery in the Indian art market could occur earlier than expected, according to the latest research report released by the London-based art market analysis firm. The report suggests there is renewed confidence evident in the market that incidentally had dipped to an all-time low only six months ago.
The report holds significance since ArtTactic, set up by Anders Petterson almost a decade ago, is an internationally reputed agency. It comes up with research and commentary by combining both quantitative and qualitative tools. Its studies are backed by an in-depth knowledge of the art market’s .
ArtTactic employs analytical frameworks and methodologies for the art market often employed by economists and the financial experts. Anders Petterson, ArtTactic managing director, elaborates, “The survey sample is a cross-section of key players in the Indian art market many of whom have a long-term interest in it, and hence their answers are not driven by short-term decisions.”
Its confidence indicator for the Indian art market is now pegged just under the 50 mark, at 49. The 50 mark importantly, suggests there are an equal number of negative and positive responses on the outlook for the art market in the near term. In May, the indicator was well in the negative territory, pegged at an abysmally low number of 20.
Clearly, the market is on the threshold of an upswing in terms of investor confidence. This really is a positive indicator coupled with the Indian economy that is showing early signs of revival.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Jagannath Panda’s works at London’s Alexia Goethe Gallery
London’s Alexia Goethe Gallery presents a solo exhibition of recent works by Jagannath Panda. His realism tends to believe and reside in the existence of Fantasy. In a single creation, the artist within the high rise apartment blocks of the burgeoning India can posit the existence of stylized gods, apparently culled from the old palm leaf manuscripts of his home state.
Assemblage and Collage get divorced from their Surrealist patrimony. His subject matter and ideas are often sourced from the events that unfold around him. As part of his creative churning, the commonplace object acquires symbolic stature, representing aspirations or even rigid dogmas. Environmental and social issues greatly concern this socially aware artist.
Elaborating on his art practice, he mentions: “I’m aware of the fragility of coexistence and also the fact that physical and emotional spaces sometimes act like quicksand.” The ironies of life visible in his surroundings greatly interest him and the unanswered questions arouse his curiosity.
Acting as both mirror and memory, they store preconceived meanings and reflect a contradictory reality that has always intrigued him. He keenly observes the highs and lows of a fast changing society and expresses them either on canvas or other media, drawing on the ambiguities of contemporary life. He states, “You can understand life in many different directions, and that is what I want to paint.”
His deceptively simple visual imagery consists of linear drawing and/or a rendered form or two that appear to float on the surface. Though his drawings are realistic, he refrains from offering a direct reference to the subject’s existence. On occasions he employs tracing sheets, silver foil and thread, to emphasis the reality of the material he uses. Color plays a limited albeit vital role of highlighting form.
Assemblage and Collage get divorced from their Surrealist patrimony. His subject matter and ideas are often sourced from the events that unfold around him. As part of his creative churning, the commonplace object acquires symbolic stature, representing aspirations or even rigid dogmas. Environmental and social issues greatly concern this socially aware artist.
Elaborating on his art practice, he mentions: “I’m aware of the fragility of coexistence and also the fact that physical and emotional spaces sometimes act like quicksand.” The ironies of life visible in his surroundings greatly interest him and the unanswered questions arouse his curiosity.
Acting as both mirror and memory, they store preconceived meanings and reflect a contradictory reality that has always intrigued him. He keenly observes the highs and lows of a fast changing society and expresses them either on canvas or other media, drawing on the ambiguities of contemporary life. He states, “You can understand life in many different directions, and that is what I want to paint.”
His deceptively simple visual imagery consists of linear drawing and/or a rendered form or two that appear to float on the surface. Though his drawings are realistic, he refrains from offering a direct reference to the subject’s existence. On occasions he employs tracing sheets, silver foil and thread, to emphasis the reality of the material he uses. Color plays a limited albeit vital role of highlighting form.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Indian art heritage is as rich as most of the established art based countries like Egypt, Greek, China, Japan, France, Italy and Spain etc.
Indian art heritage is as rich as most of the established art based countries like Egypt, Greek, China, Japan, France, Italy and Spain etc. It has a specific manifestation in the field of Indian society, art, religion and human sentiments. It touches every sphere of human being and its adaptation is so wider even simple palm leaf and rock wall speaks its merits of beauty, aesthetics and pleasure. Each part of the whole nation express the spectromic echoes of art pleasure. It links urban to a rural, layman to a super human, poor to rich but not tired of to lubricate the long passed echoes of Indian artists spirituality, rather has become an integral part of our everyday lives.Indian Traditional Art was remained in the hands of the rural artisans. They used to deal with the indigenous materials, organic and inorganic materials readily available in their locality. Art activities were well linked with our religion, ritual and everyday lives. A group of people accepted art activities as their main profession who were well known as Kalakaras, they accepted the profession from father to the son, mother to the daughter without much variation in form, style, color, pattern, design and the subject matters. They were not only the painters, sculptors and architects but had good depth on literature, texts and allied grammatical resources.
Indian art is understood through its own grammar of Rasa theory, Sadanga(six principles of Indian art), attitude to Indian art principles of image making etc. It was based on India mythology, poetry of romantic love stories, raga-raginis on the value of Indian society, religion. beauty aesthetics and pleasure. Art education is completely based on ones attachment to the process and entirely not accomplished through an art institution said Sir Baladev Moharatha, Head of Deptt. Painting (Indian Style), He said, “ Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of LIVES-LIFE of values and life of valuables, values are left aside and when values are ignored the person concerned gets devalued. While the commodification of art is a slogan all-around, some people are still there experimenting with the values of art which is beyond commercialization”.
Smt. Sailabala Nayak, Instructor Deptt. Of Painting(Indian Style) said, “ The Tradition and culture are the real identity of a civilized status or of a family. Now in the process of globalization it is difficult to protect and preserve the tradition and culture. Likewise when the student of an art institution displays a picture or submits for exhibition or competition, interestingly enough, the beholders or jury members search for modernity, then in facing the remark that the pictorial language is not readable. Such contrast opinion compels a student, sometimes, to be confused and express him/her- self in a vaguely modern way. But this should not happen”.
It seems reasonable to assume that the Indian art has the potential in terms of both artists and buyers to rival the recent gains made in the Chinese art market and to present itself as a real global participant in the international art market. However, there are some key issues that concern the potential players. These issues have to do with India’s moribund art market infrastructure, which is simply not robust enough to support a major art market. India must develop structures and professionals who can bring order to what in many cases is seeming chaos. Its rich cultural heritage should be come out in form of art works. If this chaos is allowed to continue unchecked, the long term credibility of both India's art and its artists could be irrevocably undermined.
Ashok Nayak
Sunday, November 22, 2009
‘Liminal Figures Liminal Space’ by K. S. Radhakrishnan
Celebrated sculptor K. S. Radhakrishnan's work comprises many finer elements, collated together into a giant form. One of the most noteworthy names among the new generation of sculptors he has ushered in a definitive resurgence in contemporary Indian sculpture.
A figurative sculptor, he is renowned for modeling and bronze casting technique. A new solo exhibition of sculptures by the veteran artist is on view at Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA), New Delhi. His sculptures, marked for their immediacy, are an outcome of his quest for the form he spontaneously seeks and constructs, in keeping with the subject matter.
K. S. Radhakrishnan adopts neither a derivatively tribal folk style nor a referential, self-consciously avant-garde approach for his larger than life-size sculptures evoke a superhuman persona. Opting to draw from the mystique and myths of the Hindu mythology, his passion for the potency of ritual performances and dances exudes through his works.
His new exhibition, earlier held in Kolkata, and slated to be staged in his home state Kerala next, focuses on liminality, as the title suggests, “of yearning to be in another space”. It includes figures, like fireflies, that could perceived to be “collectively descending” or even perhaps ascending, from a peculiar barrel-like spot; the artist positions it as a collective wish for “evolving to a landing space” though not “a landed space” as yet.
Over the years, the sculptor has experimented with alternate sculpting mediums - Plaster of Paris, molten bronze and beeswax. The end product emanates from a tactile engagement with the varied mediums as the process of working with them itself becomes a performance.
A figurative sculptor, he is renowned for modeling and bronze casting technique. A new solo exhibition of sculptures by the veteran artist is on view at Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA), New Delhi. His sculptures, marked for their immediacy, are an outcome of his quest for the form he spontaneously seeks and constructs, in keeping with the subject matter.
K. S. Radhakrishnan adopts neither a derivatively tribal folk style nor a referential, self-consciously avant-garde approach for his larger than life-size sculptures evoke a superhuman persona. Opting to draw from the mystique and myths of the Hindu mythology, his passion for the potency of ritual performances and dances exudes through his works.
His new exhibition, earlier held in Kolkata, and slated to be staged in his home state Kerala next, focuses on liminality, as the title suggests, “of yearning to be in another space”. It includes figures, like fireflies, that could perceived to be “collectively descending” or even perhaps ascending, from a peculiar barrel-like spot; the artist positions it as a collective wish for “evolving to a landing space” though not “a landed space” as yet.
Over the years, the sculptor has experimented with alternate sculpting mediums - Plaster of Paris, molten bronze and beeswax. The end product emanates from a tactile engagement with the varied mediums as the process of working with them itself becomes a performance.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
A new series of works by Dayanita Singh
The passionate photographer acts as the story teller who does not allow a viewer to get too comfortable in what they’re seeing.
Dayanita Singh has attained international fame as an accomplished photographer. Exploring the varied possibilities and inherent limitations of color film seen in the traditional sense, without the assistance of computer manipulations or digital photography, she produced the series ‘Blue Book’.
She showcases her first color images that are set in an industrial landscape. Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke presents a new set of photographic works by the renowned New Delhi based artist photographer. This is her second solo with the gallery.
Born in New Delhi in 1961, Dayanita Singh studied at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and focused on documentary photography and photojournalism at New York’s International Center of Photography. Her largest single body of color work is ‘Dream Villa,’ in which she explores the mysteriousness of ordinary spaces that are obscured in darkness.
It’s one project mostly devoid of human presence from an artist who is associated with black and white portraits of India’s urban well-to-do families. The vacant, quiet, anonymous spaces in the series let the drama of light and shadow acquire centre stage. On the other hand, ‘Blue Book’ comprises images of industrial landscapes mostly shot across the country.
Dayanita Singh explores the color as found all through the day, examining the possibilities of color film in the traditional sense, as mentioned above.
Dayanita Singh has attained international fame as an accomplished photographer. Exploring the varied possibilities and inherent limitations of color film seen in the traditional sense, without the assistance of computer manipulations or digital photography, she produced the series ‘Blue Book’.
She showcases her first color images that are set in an industrial landscape. Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke presents a new set of photographic works by the renowned New Delhi based artist photographer. This is her second solo with the gallery.
Born in New Delhi in 1961, Dayanita Singh studied at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and focused on documentary photography and photojournalism at New York’s International Center of Photography. Her largest single body of color work is ‘Dream Villa,’ in which she explores the mysteriousness of ordinary spaces that are obscured in darkness.
It’s one project mostly devoid of human presence from an artist who is associated with black and white portraits of India’s urban well-to-do families. The vacant, quiet, anonymous spaces in the series let the drama of light and shadow acquire centre stage. On the other hand, ‘Blue Book’ comprises images of industrial landscapes mostly shot across the country.
Dayanita Singh explores the color as found all through the day, examining the possibilities of color film in the traditional sense, as mentioned above.
Friday, November 20, 2009
A celebration of Paresh Maity’s creativity
The new exhibit series ‘Montage Moments Memories’ in Mumbai comprises sculptures, paintings and photographs by the prominent artist.
Considered one of India's most gifted painters, Paresh Maity is having another solo show – his 52nd- at Jehangir Art Gallery first and later at Art Musings. In a testimony to his talent, the proficient artist has won several prestigious awards, including one from the Royal Watercolor Society, London; Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; Harmony Award, Mumbai; College of Art, Delhi and AIFACS, Delhi.
He describes ‘Montage Moments Memories’ as one of his most expansive shows that spans huge paintings (Mystic City), truly monumental sculpture series (Face to Face), massive black & white photographs (Faces of Life) and a video film on the monsoons (Kolkata to Kozhikode).
In all, there are six paintings and 12 sculptures in bronze and those made from scrap motorcycle parts. Delving into the theme of his new collation, Paresh Maity has mentioned that it goes back to his childhood memories and comprises treasured memories from a coastal town in West Bengal, Tamluk, engulfed by crystal clear water and green fields.
His sojourns across the world also form part of the memories. The artist mentions in an interview: “I have shot a film on tracing the monsoon from Mumbai to Kerala and to Kolkata."A short film that covers his life and art in the last five years or so is another attraction.
Inspired by legendary artist Pablo Picasso's experimental streak in life and art, Paresh Maity has been working with new mediums. In his twin shows, one can see a reflection of his spirit to innovate.
Considered one of India's most gifted painters, Paresh Maity is having another solo show – his 52nd- at Jehangir Art Gallery first and later at Art Musings. In a testimony to his talent, the proficient artist has won several prestigious awards, including one from the Royal Watercolor Society, London; Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata; Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; Harmony Award, Mumbai; College of Art, Delhi and AIFACS, Delhi.
He describes ‘Montage Moments Memories’ as one of his most expansive shows that spans huge paintings (Mystic City), truly monumental sculpture series (Face to Face), massive black & white photographs (Faces of Life) and a video film on the monsoons (Kolkata to Kozhikode).
In all, there are six paintings and 12 sculptures in bronze and those made from scrap motorcycle parts. Delving into the theme of his new collation, Paresh Maity has mentioned that it goes back to his childhood memories and comprises treasured memories from a coastal town in West Bengal, Tamluk, engulfed by crystal clear water and green fields.
His sojourns across the world also form part of the memories. The artist mentions in an interview: “I have shot a film on tracing the monsoon from Mumbai to Kerala and to Kolkata."A short film that covers his life and art in the last five years or so is another attraction.
Inspired by legendary artist Pablo Picasso's experimental streak in life and art, Paresh Maity has been working with new mediums. In his twin shows, one can see a reflection of his spirit to innovate.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Jayashree Chakravarty’s artistic realm
For the senior artist, painting is a process of making sense of the chaos around. It’s a form of meditation to her – a journey back to the self. She mulls over the images that give an expression to her thoughts before she weaves actually paints them on canvas.
Jayashree Chakravarty is fascinated by this intriguing journey that leads to a creation, filled with many unforeseen challenges, making her to launch an inquiry, an investigation. This mode of communication, introspection keeps her going.
She elaborates, “The way I relate to and identify with string of thoughts before I put them on canvas, and then the laborious execution, are all part of a complex chain. All my understanding and state of mind needs to reflect in my work; that’s the real challenge. A piece of art is an individual’s creation and once others relate to it, it becomes universal in nature.”
Recounting her development as an artist, the artist mentions that she used to scribble on notebooks during her school days. One of her schoolteachers in Tripura, who was a prolific painter, encouraged her to draw. She narrates: “Act of painting always interested me. Even my parents, especially my father was very supportive. Instead of thrusting on me his likes or dislikes, he let me tread my own path, and follow my own instincts.”
Her compositions have several layered images, uneven sheets of colors, and also black & white pats. As a painter, she reacts to lines, which for her is akin to a word or a stroke. According to her, they (the lines) are very meaningful; very vital, and lead her to a different thought process. Summing up her artistic philosophy, she adds: “The aesthetic elements matter to me more than mere reflection of moral or social issues."
Jayashree Chakravarty is fascinated by this intriguing journey that leads to a creation, filled with many unforeseen challenges, making her to launch an inquiry, an investigation. This mode of communication, introspection keeps her going.
She elaborates, “The way I relate to and identify with string of thoughts before I put them on canvas, and then the laborious execution, are all part of a complex chain. All my understanding and state of mind needs to reflect in my work; that’s the real challenge. A piece of art is an individual’s creation and once others relate to it, it becomes universal in nature.”
Recounting her development as an artist, the artist mentions that she used to scribble on notebooks during her school days. One of her schoolteachers in Tripura, who was a prolific painter, encouraged her to draw. She narrates: “Act of painting always interested me. Even my parents, especially my father was very supportive. Instead of thrusting on me his likes or dislikes, he let me tread my own path, and follow my own instincts.”
Her compositions have several layered images, uneven sheets of colors, and also black & white pats. As a painter, she reacts to lines, which for her is akin to a word or a stroke. According to her, they (the lines) are very meaningful; very vital, and lead her to a different thought process. Summing up her artistic philosophy, she adds: “The aesthetic elements matter to me more than mere reflection of moral or social issues."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The wondrous world of watercolor
Watercolors hide a certain beauty and softness, and carry a touch of delicate feminine quality. The medium tends to spread and dry easily and the various hues that can be depicted with it come across with a great sense of simplicity.
Many leading Indian contemporary artists are renowned for their command over painting in watercolor, not easy to handle and master. Prominent among them are Akbar Padamsee, Lalitha Lajmi, Shruti Nelson, Jehangir Jani , Subhash Awchat, Laxman Shreshtha, Prabhkar Kolte, Papri Bose. These are some of the artists who explore the versatile and rewarding medium of watercolours.
Even though watercolor is a well-established medium, it does not always get its due. Spontaneity, layers, surprises are keys to successful employment of watercolors. In fact, the major difference between usage of oils and watercolors is that an artist cannot afford to make any mistakes while working in the latter.
Akbar Padamsee elaborates in one of his statements on joys of watercolor: “The first stroke creates two spaces, the second four; the third creates eight spaces, with each stroke the spaces expand exponentially. At a certain point of infrastructural complexity, the reverse process begins, silencing the manifested structures in order to release the single unique form which can finally be named, the thought process starts once again, and the ‘void’ is filled with voices."
Late Shyamal Dutta Ray is known as an artist to have added a depth and intensity to the medium of watercolors when the Bengal school of Art traditionally used light and watery colors. For Prabhkar Kolte, the medium is akin to “an extension of my inner being”.
Lalitha Lajmi and Papri Bose also love the medium for its yielding and sensitive quality that imparts greater transparency. Samir Mondal and Prashant Prabhu too are known for their watercolors. Julius Macwan’s watercolor paintings have a lovely abstract quality to them.
Many leading Indian contemporary artists are renowned for their command over painting in watercolor, not easy to handle and master. Prominent among them are Akbar Padamsee, Lalitha Lajmi, Shruti Nelson, Jehangir Jani , Subhash Awchat, Laxman Shreshtha, Prabhkar Kolte, Papri Bose. These are some of the artists who explore the versatile and rewarding medium of watercolours.
Even though watercolor is a well-established medium, it does not always get its due. Spontaneity, layers, surprises are keys to successful employment of watercolors. In fact, the major difference between usage of oils and watercolors is that an artist cannot afford to make any mistakes while working in the latter.
Akbar Padamsee elaborates in one of his statements on joys of watercolor: “The first stroke creates two spaces, the second four; the third creates eight spaces, with each stroke the spaces expand exponentially. At a certain point of infrastructural complexity, the reverse process begins, silencing the manifested structures in order to release the single unique form which can finally be named, the thought process starts once again, and the ‘void’ is filled with voices."
Late Shyamal Dutta Ray is known as an artist to have added a depth and intensity to the medium of watercolors when the Bengal school of Art traditionally used light and watery colors. For Prabhkar Kolte, the medium is akin to “an extension of my inner being”.
Lalitha Lajmi and Papri Bose also love the medium for its yielding and sensitive quality that imparts greater transparency. Samir Mondal and Prashant Prabhu too are known for their watercolors. Julius Macwan’s watercolor paintings have a lovely abstract quality to them.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Work out your approach towards collecting art
A key to become a successful investor is to work out your approach towards collecting art. This implies understanding what type of a buyer you are. There are two broad types of buyers in the art market. There’s a category of buyers for whom the idea is to buy art purely to harness their passion and love for art. In this case, fascination and fondness for art inadvertently results in adding colour and richness to one’s precious portfolio.
Rightly or wrongly, this breed of investors is now rather less common. Most buyers, in the contemporary art market, originate from an aware financial background. This is the dominant sophisticated class of buyers that increasingly drives the market. This second class of buyers wants to support its buying decisions purely based on financial parameters. It’s not hard to understand why art increasingly forms part of the balance sheet of prestigious private clients of many portfolio advisors and wealth management firms.
Keeping aside the moral side of the debate on investing for passion or money, you need to honestly assess your buying behavior and temperament apart from reasons for which you want to buy art. Is it really advisable to fall in love with your holdings (in this case, artworks) acquired from a pure investor’s perspective? This can be decided by paying attention to two simple facts.
You need to decide whether you do not mind considering the art world and its movements similar to the way you look at the way the stock market works and behaves – part speculative and part value and fundamental driven. The second thing to consider is whether you perceive the price boom as a cyclical one, or you see it as part of a long-term trend that will sustain itself, resulting in prices of art pieces you hold scaling new peaks.
Of course, the answers may not be definitive, but it is vital to keep them in mind before following the footsteps of new breed of buyers with the idea of making quick bucks. Remember, patience pays.
Rightly or wrongly, this breed of investors is now rather less common. Most buyers, in the contemporary art market, originate from an aware financial background. This is the dominant sophisticated class of buyers that increasingly drives the market. This second class of buyers wants to support its buying decisions purely based on financial parameters. It’s not hard to understand why art increasingly forms part of the balance sheet of prestigious private clients of many portfolio advisors and wealth management firms.
Keeping aside the moral side of the debate on investing for passion or money, you need to honestly assess your buying behavior and temperament apart from reasons for which you want to buy art. Is it really advisable to fall in love with your holdings (in this case, artworks) acquired from a pure investor’s perspective? This can be decided by paying attention to two simple facts.
You need to decide whether you do not mind considering the art world and its movements similar to the way you look at the way the stock market works and behaves – part speculative and part value and fundamental driven. The second thing to consider is whether you perceive the price boom as a cyclical one, or you see it as part of a long-term trend that will sustain itself, resulting in prices of art pieces you hold scaling new peaks.
Of course, the answers may not be definitive, but it is vital to keep them in mind before following the footsteps of new breed of buyers with the idea of making quick bucks. Remember, patience pays.
Indian art in recovery mode
A recent article in prestigious publication Financial Chronicle penned by Jhupu Adhikari proclaims that Indian art is on road to recovery.
The writer, a noted painter who has won numerous advertising design awards, points to a spate of newspaper reports, heralding a revival in the Indian art market, and er hastens to add:
The painting, showing $1 bills painted side by side in grey with a blue treasury seal, had been acquired by, Pauline Karpidas, a London-based art collector in 1986. It went for a price 100 times higher than what he had paid. Christie’s International sale held simultaneously though managed to raise just $74.2 million through the sale of 85 per cent of the lots put up on auction.
In this context, the writer drew attention to a new ArtTactic report suggesting that the Indian art market’s recovery could take place earlier than expected.
The writer, a noted painter who has won numerous advertising design awards, points to a spate of newspaper reports, heralding a revival in the Indian art market, and er hastens to add:
“However, this comes along with the other news that state one should not make too much of these reports as the prices of Indian art have not shown any real signs of revival.”As he notes: “The problem lies in the fact that we had this wonderful period when works even by lesser-known artists were commanding high prices. They had been used to selling at high prices and the past year and a half has indeed been hard for them to adjust to.”This is why we now have many artists who are keen to seek new styles and new venues. They are turning to photography to reach out to newer audiences. The columnist mentions.
"Some have given up on the tried and tested locations and have even moved away to different cities to come across new buyers, the columnist observes. This is to be expected, since an artist can’t be removed from his or her creativity and an outlet must per force be found where this can flourish.”He also refers to an article on auctions in NY – specifically Sotheby’s recent sale. Legendary artist Andy Warhol’s work of $200 bills painted over a 2.3 m-wide silk screen canvas, went for $43.8 million.
The painting, showing $1 bills painted side by side in grey with a blue treasury seal, had been acquired by, Pauline Karpidas, a London-based art collector in 1986. It went for a price 100 times higher than what he had paid. Christie’s International sale held simultaneously though managed to raise just $74.2 million through the sale of 85 per cent of the lots put up on auction.
In this context, the writer drew attention to a new ArtTactic report suggesting that the Indian art market’s recovery could take place earlier than expected.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Nasreen Mohamedi retrospective
‘Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism’ is the title of a show courtesy Lunds Konsthall, Sweden that presents three simultaneous exhibits offering distinct perspectives on the cinema and art of the Indian Subcontinent in context of recent history and today.
Nasreen Mohamedi (1937–90) is considered one of the most significant artists of her generation from India. Her photographs, paintings and drawings done in the early 1960s until the late 1980s, are recognized as a key body of work put within the modernist canon.
The artist was greatly influenced by an earlier generation of abstract artists like V.S. Gaitonde. She is sometimes compared to Agnes Martin or Kazimir Malevich. Putting her work in perspective, a curatorial note mentions: “Nasreen Mohamedi’s uncompromisingly abstract drawings produced from the 1970s onwards deserve to be considered on their own terms.
"Not only that they also invoke a range of cultural references. This becomes particularly clear in her photographs, in which meticulously cropped details of historical architecture and everyday life create aesthetic links to both contemporary culture and an Islamic visual heritage.”
The exhibition brings together some rarely seen drawings, paintings and photographic works. These are presented along with a set of unique archival material drawn from Nasreen Mohamedi’s studio. The show has been curated by the duo of Grant Watson and Suman Gopinath. It is initiated and organized by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
‘Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism’ was first shown at Oslo office of Contemporary Art Norway and later at Milton Keynes Gallery based in England. This slightly extended version being shown at Lunds konsthall will travel to Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland.
The works in the exhibit have been lent by the Mumbai based Sikander family, Shireen Gandhy and the world-famous Glenbarra Art Museum in Japan.
Nasreen Mohamedi (1937–90) is considered one of the most significant artists of her generation from India. Her photographs, paintings and drawings done in the early 1960s until the late 1980s, are recognized as a key body of work put within the modernist canon.
The artist was greatly influenced by an earlier generation of abstract artists like V.S. Gaitonde. She is sometimes compared to Agnes Martin or Kazimir Malevich. Putting her work in perspective, a curatorial note mentions: “Nasreen Mohamedi’s uncompromisingly abstract drawings produced from the 1970s onwards deserve to be considered on their own terms.
"Not only that they also invoke a range of cultural references. This becomes particularly clear in her photographs, in which meticulously cropped details of historical architecture and everyday life create aesthetic links to both contemporary culture and an Islamic visual heritage.”
The exhibition brings together some rarely seen drawings, paintings and photographic works. These are presented along with a set of unique archival material drawn from Nasreen Mohamedi’s studio. The show has been curated by the duo of Grant Watson and Suman Gopinath. It is initiated and organized by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
‘Nasreen Mohamedi: Notes – Reflections on Indian Modernism’ was first shown at Oslo office of Contemporary Art Norway and later at Milton Keynes Gallery based in England. This slightly extended version being shown at Lunds konsthall will travel to Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland.
The works in the exhibit have been lent by the Mumbai based Sikander family, Shireen Gandhy and the world-famous Glenbarra Art Museum in Japan.
Deciphering Meetali Singhs’ works
Most of Meetali Singhs’ works are a reflection of an artist’s mindset and thought processes. She reveals, "I tread a territory between real-life emotions and sheer imagination. Hence the images are surreal, dreamy in nature; it’s like capturing swings of the pendulum. I try to capture its movement and the moods – of that’s subtle, surreal zone between the extreme poles.
"I try to paint my inner emotions. My paintings are a reflection of my desires, my aspirations and my feelings. It’s a purely individual experience. I do not belong to any particular school of art, and do not believe in making a statement through art. Painting for me is a quest to answer self-posed queries. "
It has been a long journey for her personally, from Benares to Baroda where she arrived to study in the mid-nineties and then chose to settle. The holy city of Benares is full of ironies. On one hand, religious sentiments fill your heart with a deep sense of containment; on other hand, you somehow feel desperate to break free. Taking up art was not an easy choice, but I was committed to art and was determined to overcome all barriers, she notes.
She states,” I paint what I visualize at a given point of time; what excites and thrills me at that particular moment. None of my works are planned. There may not be a logic or reason to the sequence of images. When I start conceptualizing my work, there’s just an idea that takes root in my mind. I develop it at a sub-conscious level. An artist has no control over the start, the end or even the intermittent pauses. I let a painting take its own course, and opt not to direct or divert its flow. I am involved in it, but still feel detached from it.”
"I try to paint my inner emotions. My paintings are a reflection of my desires, my aspirations and my feelings. It’s a purely individual experience. I do not belong to any particular school of art, and do not believe in making a statement through art. Painting for me is a quest to answer self-posed queries. "
It has been a long journey for her personally, from Benares to Baroda where she arrived to study in the mid-nineties and then chose to settle. The holy city of Benares is full of ironies. On one hand, religious sentiments fill your heart with a deep sense of containment; on other hand, you somehow feel desperate to break free. Taking up art was not an easy choice, but I was committed to art and was determined to overcome all barriers, she notes.
She states,” I paint what I visualize at a given point of time; what excites and thrills me at that particular moment. None of my works are planned. There may not be a logic or reason to the sequence of images. When I start conceptualizing my work, there’s just an idea that takes root in my mind. I develop it at a sub-conscious level. An artist has no control over the start, the end or even the intermittent pauses. I let a painting take its own course, and opt not to direct or divert its flow. I am involved in it, but still feel detached from it.”
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Eliciting notions of identity through art
Primarily a figurative painter, Théodore Mesquita’s creations strive to elicit notions of identity constructed through specific representations of symbols, signs and the body in art. For him, signs and symbols manifest themselves, in a state of cultural pluralism, wherein the archetypal figuration is reflected, recognised and regained, through the environs of the imagined and real.
The images contained in his painting are soaked deep in faith, in the art and covenant of picture making, rooted in continuum, of the human, the singular, the communal, the one, the many; in the presence of its histories, in the presence of our lives.
His work records body culture, and its corroboration within the articulation of signs and symbols. It delves into the archetypal recognition of a broad psychological landscape, redefining the pluralistic cultures, which connect and discern the existence of the times and space of our lives, those having definite sounds and visions, pregnant with supernal meaning.
Elaborating on his artistic processes, the artist says, “In the foundation of my artistic endeavour, I have been consumed with the primal urge….to deliver and to sustain my expression, to achieve contemporary articulation, innovation, exploration and reflection - in the extended frame of time and space.”
Signs and symbols for him offer infinite possibilities to explore the inherent associations present in the animate and inanimate subjects of contention and thereby forms of expression and understanding, as the artist believes they cut across the worldwide cultural divide of confusion and acrimony – arriving and contributing into a profound and perceptive communion.
“As I evolve continuously from the meditative experiences that evoke my creativity…” the artist reveals, “I am beckoned into the realms of the absent navigator, who guides the motions of perception…The extinct traditions, that shelters the stream of consciousness…The recalled gesture, that defines the repository of images…The voice of the prophet, which sustains the cannons of manifestation…The rites of fertility, that invigorates the spirit of realization…All this and more as I rethread the motifs of birth and incantation, life and confinement, death and bewitchment…”
The images contained in his painting are soaked deep in faith, in the art and covenant of picture making, rooted in continuum, of the human, the singular, the communal, the one, the many; in the presence of its histories, in the presence of our lives.
His work records body culture, and its corroboration within the articulation of signs and symbols. It delves into the archetypal recognition of a broad psychological landscape, redefining the pluralistic cultures, which connect and discern the existence of the times and space of our lives, those having definite sounds and visions, pregnant with supernal meaning.
Elaborating on his artistic processes, the artist says, “In the foundation of my artistic endeavour, I have been consumed with the primal urge….to deliver and to sustain my expression, to achieve contemporary articulation, innovation, exploration and reflection - in the extended frame of time and space.”
Signs and symbols for him offer infinite possibilities to explore the inherent associations present in the animate and inanimate subjects of contention and thereby forms of expression and understanding, as the artist believes they cut across the worldwide cultural divide of confusion and acrimony – arriving and contributing into a profound and perceptive communion.
“As I evolve continuously from the meditative experiences that evoke my creativity…” the artist reveals, “I am beckoned into the realms of the absent navigator, who guides the motions of perception…The extinct traditions, that shelters the stream of consciousness…The recalled gesture, that defines the repository of images…The voice of the prophet, which sustains the cannons of manifestation…The rites of fertility, that invigorates the spirit of realization…All this and more as I rethread the motifs of birth and incantation, life and confinement, death and bewitchment…”
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Abir karmarkar’s critical artistic concern
Abir karmarkar’s critical concern is depiction of flesh in all its materiality and corporeality.
Working with a mixture of readymade or found images including his own images and other photographic references from personal and archetypal iconography, he reuses and transfigures them, manipulating them to make them relevant to the intended artistic output in oils on canvas. The artist takes advantage of technology to juxtapose these images in his work that mostly show two personas residing within a single body.
The images, carrying a touch of eroticism, come with a touch of melancholy and accentuate the feeling of isolation, which is inherent in his creations.
An amalgamation of photographic and painterly techniques, they depict his alternative ego, ‘the feminine being hidden within me’, as he reveals, “I look to blur boundaries between the feminine and masculine, by questioning such notions.”
His compositions incorporate an unconventional subject matter that he portrays in his own inimitable style. His photo realist images - sharp and edgy, sensual and satirical - are as real as a picture, but as phantasmagorical as a quirky piece of art.
The Baroda based artist employs an innovative technique to narrate an imaginary autobiography on the canvas. He explains, “I create a virtual reality, a sort of parallel world, to explore my ‘other’ self, and convey or question certain prevailing concepts and notions related to sexuality that I find odd and unjustifiable.”
He pays minute attention to detailing, color and lighting in his works that portray a different shade of sexuality with a hint of intimacy and eroticism. He says, “To some extent, I dramatize or magnify the core concept, but the idea is to get to the root of it, and not to provide a shallow representation. It’s part real, part fictional and part autobiographical. One cannot demarcate the boundaries! I am neither propagating any ideology nor passing any message. I merely articulate my viewpoint through my works. As an artist, I am more concerned with enhancing the visual, conceptual quality of my works.”
Working with a mixture of readymade or found images including his own images and other photographic references from personal and archetypal iconography, he reuses and transfigures them, manipulating them to make them relevant to the intended artistic output in oils on canvas. The artist takes advantage of technology to juxtapose these images in his work that mostly show two personas residing within a single body.
The images, carrying a touch of eroticism, come with a touch of melancholy and accentuate the feeling of isolation, which is inherent in his creations.
An amalgamation of photographic and painterly techniques, they depict his alternative ego, ‘the feminine being hidden within me’, as he reveals, “I look to blur boundaries between the feminine and masculine, by questioning such notions.”
His compositions incorporate an unconventional subject matter that he portrays in his own inimitable style. His photo realist images - sharp and edgy, sensual and satirical - are as real as a picture, but as phantasmagorical as a quirky piece of art.
The Baroda based artist employs an innovative technique to narrate an imaginary autobiography on the canvas. He explains, “I create a virtual reality, a sort of parallel world, to explore my ‘other’ self, and convey or question certain prevailing concepts and notions related to sexuality that I find odd and unjustifiable.”
He pays minute attention to detailing, color and lighting in his works that portray a different shade of sexuality with a hint of intimacy and eroticism. He says, “To some extent, I dramatize or magnify the core concept, but the idea is to get to the root of it, and not to provide a shallow representation. It’s part real, part fictional and part autobiographical. One cannot demarcate the boundaries! I am neither propagating any ideology nor passing any message. I merely articulate my viewpoint through my works. As an artist, I am more concerned with enhancing the visual, conceptual quality of my works.”
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Prasanta Sahu’s art practice
Prasanta Sahu as an artist has always tried to investigate relationships and transformations between the self and the world as he perceives it, through his paintings. It’s a survey into the human existence, with his own body serving as the most simplest and complex of subjects.
He reveals: “For me the human body is the most familiar two dimensional image by which I can express unspoken feelings, pain etc. It is an important part of my art making to be aware of the cultural environs and socio-economic climate. As an artist brutality, mindless violence, carnage arouses in me strong vehemence and protest; as to how this is expressed in art is a highly personal choice.”
His paintings often seem like mechanical reproductions. According to him, at every level in his working process, there’s a constant play between opposites. The image is painted very painstakingly using paint-brush technique which is time-consuming. Yet, he deliberately aims to erase any sign of human touch in the final painting.
The artist tries to create a tension, a pull between two opposite factors- that of mechanical reproduction and manual rendering.. In his recent series ‘human skin’ was in focus. He stated: “We are all quite familiar with the human preoccupation with skin, and its connection to obsessions with youth, beauty, age and race. The underlying socio-political issues are universal and yet very personal. Metaphorically it is a disguise, a skin glove, a mask.
"The studio is the Operation Theatre where I cut, treat, arrange & re-arrange images of human skins & human figures. A tiny square inch of human skin is enlarged multiple times, transforming it a floating mass of strokes. In the process the animated quality of the human body is transformed into a dead, inanimate surface. “
As Prasanta Sahu puts it, this is representative of the “arranged” second hand violence which we confront every day via the media, viewed clinically from the comforts of our known space.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Transition in G. R. Iranna’s thought process
G. R. Iranna is a down-to-earth artist from a modest rural background. He is counted among the leading artists of his generation in India and internationally, and is known for his sensitive portrayal of socio-political issues, affecting common people. His work and his figures are illustrative of the spirit of human experiences that is timeless and immortal.
The artist looks to strike a chord with the viewers through his works. He cherishes their response as much as the critics’ pat. To begin with, his work was largely based on my personal memories and experiences. Gradually, his oeuvre expanded to encompass broader social concerns and issues affecting common people. This, he believes, has given his work an added depth and intensity.
G. R. Iranna’s concerns regarding the present socio-political scenario find an echo in his work. Spelling out the influences on him as a painter, he explains: “Critics have often observed that my work weans away from postmodern logic, and that it subscribes to the idealistic, representative language of Indian contemporary art. My way of working and the material, which I employ, may indicate so! But I personally think my approach as an artist goes much beyond the terms such as modern and the post modern.”
He hails from a farmer's family, and was born and brought up in a rural environment. G. R. Iranna recounts: “When I migrated to a city, I could relate my experiences of urban India with my childhood life in a village. This gave me an entirely new perspective of life and its extremities.
"My artistic growth would not have been complete, and my art would not have reached its present point of maturity and understanding without either of the experiences. I can relate to both the worlds – urban and rural. Having been a witness to the diametrically opposite lifestyles, my art has attained a new dimension, and an added sensitivity. “
Sunday, November 8, 2009
What drives Arunanshu Chowdhury’s artistic passion?
“My work happens to move with time and life around. The latter is ever changing, and so are my creations,” this is how Arunanshu Chowdhury sums up his art practice. His work is broadly based on the ubiquitous urban environ.
He employs metaphors that strike a peculiar relationship with the broad theme of his compositions. Derived from diverse sources such as advertisements, television, newspapers and personal memories, they all form part of a curious repertoire of motifs that the artist has employed abundantly in his creative processes.
His art is inspired by changes in immediate social and physical landscape of which he is a keen observer. His creations are replete with objects and images encountered commonly. They capture a curious reflection of daily activities associated with routine lifecycle.
The artist effortlessly weaves various living and non-living objects, as diverse as flora, insects, butterflies, birds, ants, musical instruments, knives, spoons, chair, etc. into his seamless compositions. But their juxtaposition is never random. He applies a certain thought behind the construct of his images that harbour a strong visual and conceptual link to each other. They together build on the pictorial surface a unique artistic language imbued with immense socio-political significance. Significantly, he repeats the same thought and often the same composition, modifying it for a completely new ‘version’.
According to him, it’s a chain of thoughts that elongates itself. One work leads to another, and to a newer thought. I tend to look at the same thought, the same composition in a new light. The resultant artistic output is a take-off from the one that precedes it, employing the same image like an afterthought.”
It’s a continual process, he adds, “Thoughts and ideas are bound to overlap and spill over as I indulge in reinterpretation of the same thought or incident. In fact, this holds true for many artists who create different version of the same subject.”
He employs metaphors that strike a peculiar relationship with the broad theme of his compositions. Derived from diverse sources such as advertisements, television, newspapers and personal memories, they all form part of a curious repertoire of motifs that the artist has employed abundantly in his creative processes.
His art is inspired by changes in immediate social and physical landscape of which he is a keen observer. His creations are replete with objects and images encountered commonly. They capture a curious reflection of daily activities associated with routine lifecycle.
The artist effortlessly weaves various living and non-living objects, as diverse as flora, insects, butterflies, birds, ants, musical instruments, knives, spoons, chair, etc. into his seamless compositions. But their juxtaposition is never random. He applies a certain thought behind the construct of his images that harbour a strong visual and conceptual link to each other. They together build on the pictorial surface a unique artistic language imbued with immense socio-political significance. Significantly, he repeats the same thought and often the same composition, modifying it for a completely new ‘version’.
According to him, it’s a chain of thoughts that elongates itself. One work leads to another, and to a newer thought. I tend to look at the same thought, the same composition in a new light. The resultant artistic output is a take-off from the one that precedes it, employing the same image like an afterthought.”
It’s a continual process, he adds, “Thoughts and ideas are bound to overlap and spill over as I indulge in reinterpretation of the same thought or incident. In fact, this holds true for many artists who create different version of the same subject.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Quality is coming back into collecting
“Thankfully, quality is coming back into collecting accompanied with a new drive to display private collections in public spaces. Not every Indian collector is trying to be the next Henry Clay Frick or Dominique de Menil, whose private collections are significant museums. But they are keen on sharing their newfound enthusiasm….”
This is a pertinent observation made in a recent essay, titled ‘Buyers' Market’ by Jyoti Thottam in the reputed international publication, TIME, which goes on to add: “The market has already boomed and bottomed but the serious collectors remain — and their sustained commitment is quietly transforming the Indian art world.”
Clearly, the world is the stage for contemporary Indian art. In keeping with its rising stature, a new breed of art collectors has emerged. Their passion and fortunes seem to have only risen along with India's booming economy. Significantly, the new age collectors are not spending their riches on the established masters - either of India or the West. They happen to seek out young artists including those just out of art school, and gather their works with rigorous, passionate interest.
To understand where Indian art is heading, it helps to look back, the writer notes. The fine arts in the country largely depended on royal patronage - well into the 20th century. Post-independence, the few industrialist families turned the most important collectors. Over the past decade or so, India's economic boom has created a new class of affluent professionals.
As a result, the collector base has really widened. This new burst of demand pushed up prices. Artists, too, started harboring unrealistic expectations. "Everyone wants to be Damian Hirst overnight," states art expert-collector Jai Bhandarkar. On the positive side, more Indians are being exposed to art than ever. To prove the point, Mumbai painter Papri Bose is quoted as saying, "It's almost becoming like a way of life."
This is a pertinent observation made in a recent essay, titled ‘Buyers' Market’ by Jyoti Thottam in the reputed international publication, TIME, which goes on to add: “The market has already boomed and bottomed but the serious collectors remain — and their sustained commitment is quietly transforming the Indian art world.”
Clearly, the world is the stage for contemporary Indian art. In keeping with its rising stature, a new breed of art collectors has emerged. Their passion and fortunes seem to have only risen along with India's booming economy. Significantly, the new age collectors are not spending their riches on the established masters - either of India or the West. They happen to seek out young artists including those just out of art school, and gather their works with rigorous, passionate interest.
To understand where Indian art is heading, it helps to look back, the writer notes. The fine arts in the country largely depended on royal patronage - well into the 20th century. Post-independence, the few industrialist families turned the most important collectors. Over the past decade or so, India's economic boom has created a new class of affluent professionals.
As a result, the collector base has really widened. This new burst of demand pushed up prices. Artists, too, started harboring unrealistic expectations. "Everyone wants to be Damian Hirst overnight," states art expert-collector Jai Bhandarkar. On the positive side, more Indians are being exposed to art than ever. To prove the point, Mumbai painter Papri Bose is quoted as saying, "It's almost becoming like a way of life."
Exploring photorealism on canvas
Increasing number of artists who source their inspiration from real-life images resort to fresh idiom for raising issues related to personal or socio-political identities. If a section of them treat their works as a documentation of historical reality in terms of painting and look for clues of social changes, others express the self and record their personal lives with the same technique.
The latter exhibit their personal content and concerns. For example, Atul Dodiya has moved on from his photo- realism of the 1980s to an allegorical dramatization of his dilemmas as a painter in the epoch of installation through a series of oblique self- portraits and witty tableaux. Another case of potent self-representation through a photo installation is ‘Vilas’ (meaning erotic pleasure) by artist Subodh Gupta. Broadly, his painting marries a pop/photorealist style with surrealist touches.
Photorealism on canvas is not exactly a modern trend. Such paintings involve thorough reproduction of details. In painting the results were nearly photographic. Of course, painters had always been working from photographs since the early days of photography. Apart from the US, the Photorealism movement had been strong in Europe, termed as super-realism.
Elaborating on the phenomenon, art historian Dr Alka Pande writes in an essay: “The importance of lens-based work, specifically photography, in the enterprise of finding an interface between documentary ‘evidence’ and the social imaginary is gaining ground in this new age.
"Even for itself, photography may be said to have enlarged its intrinsic value as an art form - of being, as it were, an ‘imprint’ of the real - by entering the expanded frame of installation art, whether this is object-based or sculptural ensemble, or video and new media installation. Thus photography begins to share the peculiarity of the phenomenological encounter that the museum/gallery space encourages.”
Monday, November 2, 2009
George Martin evokes a magical reality
George Martin's works portray the world around us, including his acrylic abstractions that exude energy. In his visual extravaganza, he merges multiple colors and cultures.
He has explained in an interview: “In the contemporary context of life, ‘moments of truths’ are fleeting. The sporadic linkages among random visuals create a virtual notion of reality. As an artist, I look to go beyond them for the linkages that would eventually connect the artistic representation with the memories of the fleeting visuals.”
A sculptor by training, the artist has always explored new mediums and artistic possibilities. His new body of work presented by New Delhi based Vadehra Art Gallery is a testimony to his keenness to experiment. Primarily known for his sculpting skills, he has painted several beautiful canvasses that dig deep into the mysteries of life. His densely populated paintings resonate with the transitory and disunited true nature of our world. They enact the enigmatic drama of contemporary life. His luridly colored sculptures and canvases are dotted with scenes from dense urban spaces.He ably captures the outer layers of urban spaces, which reflect the postmodern sense of reality.
These postmodern architectural structures dispel the sense of unity from a closer distance though they show transparency and a feeling of progress, scientific achievement etc from a considerable distance. The enigma of the human drama begins where the sense of reality is displaced or destabilized from its own immediate surroundings. His works throb with the same sensibility, both as acceptance and critique.
George Martin maneuvers the same images to stimulate new expressions and evoke a magical reality. The new works are titled with a sense of strong perceptivity as conveyed in ‘Crude sanctum’, ‘Urgency of the present/ the redemption of the past’, ‘Forgone conclusion’, or ‘Laugh & re-memorization’; all of which suggest a synthesis of ideas that have coagulated to raise each work.
They display an organic process of artistic development, which can be mapped thus, by following the drawings and installations. Entitled ‘Objective Voice’, his new series comprises drawings on paper and series of installations. Done in fiberglass, vinyl and aluminum, these comprise sculpture works, neon and light emitting diodes.
He has explained in an interview: “In the contemporary context of life, ‘moments of truths’ are fleeting. The sporadic linkages among random visuals create a virtual notion of reality. As an artist, I look to go beyond them for the linkages that would eventually connect the artistic representation with the memories of the fleeting visuals.”
A sculptor by training, the artist has always explored new mediums and artistic possibilities. His new body of work presented by New Delhi based Vadehra Art Gallery is a testimony to his keenness to experiment. Primarily known for his sculpting skills, he has painted several beautiful canvasses that dig deep into the mysteries of life. His densely populated paintings resonate with the transitory and disunited true nature of our world. They enact the enigmatic drama of contemporary life. His luridly colored sculptures and canvases are dotted with scenes from dense urban spaces.He ably captures the outer layers of urban spaces, which reflect the postmodern sense of reality.
These postmodern architectural structures dispel the sense of unity from a closer distance though they show transparency and a feeling of progress, scientific achievement etc from a considerable distance. The enigma of the human drama begins where the sense of reality is displaced or destabilized from its own immediate surroundings. His works throb with the same sensibility, both as acceptance and critique.
George Martin maneuvers the same images to stimulate new expressions and evoke a magical reality. The new works are titled with a sense of strong perceptivity as conveyed in ‘Crude sanctum’, ‘Urgency of the present/ the redemption of the past’, ‘Forgone conclusion’, or ‘Laugh & re-memorization’; all of which suggest a synthesis of ideas that have coagulated to raise each work.
They display an organic process of artistic development, which can be mapped thus, by following the drawings and installations. Entitled ‘Objective Voice’, his new series comprises drawings on paper and series of installations. Done in fiberglass, vinyl and aluminum, these comprise sculpture works, neon and light emitting diodes.
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