A collector-turned curator’s effort to promote mixed media and new media art

One common element to the works on view as part of ‘Scratch’, Sakshi Gallery’s 25th anniversary show, is that a majority of them are ‘large scale, formidable and fresh. Art collector turned collector Swapan Seth quips that Indian art tends to lack sheer size and scale, and the very spectacle of this exhibition show lies in its appeal. The videos are aesthetically appealing. They may well qualify as works of art on twin counts- they make you pause and think, and are quite pretty to gaze at.

The director of Sakshi Gallery, Geeta Mehra, finds the positive response to be refreshing. Most collectors in India, she thinks, are conservative in their tastes. Her own collection, she concedes, reflects this streak of conservatism. She points out that, the Sakshi Gallery branch based in Taipei, unlike in Mumbai, largely displays mixed media and new media works. One reason she hasn’t emphasized on such works here is the quality of works produced in India.

She blames the lack of local patronage for this. She has been quoted as saying in The Mint: “I hope to influence other people. The different range of art practice that will be on display needs to gain more currency.” Among the works on view, as Himanshu Bhagat elaborates, are:

Akshay Rathore’s ‘Rye ka Pahad’ and Mithu Sen’s floor installation, ‘Lifelong’. The title of Rathore’s work describes what it is—a 4ft-tall, 9ft-wide mound of mustard or rye seeds. The reference is to the common Hindi phrase “rai ka pahad banana”, which roughly translates to “making a mountain of a molehill”.

As Rathore describes it, there are multiple allusions—to hills and mountains, including the ones in Orissa that the tribal population is fighting to save from being taken over by mining companies; as well as to the traditional association of the mustard seed in the Bible as well as in Hindu texts with “faith, soul, the universe”. The mound has been raised from the ground, providing the added “dramatic” element.

According to Geeta Mehra, shows like the ongoing one at LKA, New Delhi will nudge buyers to get more attentive to the various alternative and novel forms of media.