Wednesday, February 9, 2011

2001-10: Tracking the major milestones

The years 2001-10 witnessed many interesting and significant developments that changed the face of contemporary Indian art scene.

Internationally celebrated artist from India, Subodh Gupta, became the first from the country to achieve credibility across the globe. After Husain, he probably became the most recognized face in the art circles. He featured in several prestigious charity events like Bono’s RED Campaign. And this certainly wasn’t a flash in the pan kind of a thing.

In fact, there hasn’t been a Biennale or a major international art event in the past few years, which he hasn’t participated in - from Art Basel to the elite Venice Biennale, and most other leading fairs in Zurich, London, Paris, Seoul and Brisbane.

Other talented artists from India such as TV Santosh, Atul Dodiya and Jitish Kallat did acquire an artistic vocabulary, which rightfully internationalized their loyal collector base. Their practice was getting more ambitious and bigger too, prompting galleries and museums to scale up curatorial practices as well as ramp up their spaces to accommodate them. Several female artists acquired centerstage, Bharti Kher and Mithu Sen, to name a couple of them!

Tracking the healthy development, Anindita Ghose underlines the fact that most importantly, this was the decade (2001-10) when the creature termed the Indian art collector really came into being and into its own. The essayist notes:
“Up until this decade, serious collectors of Indian art such as Emmanuel Schlesinger and Charles Herwitz had been European or American. Collectors like Anupam Poddar, Rajshree Pathy and Kiran Nadar are promising additions functioning outside the market realm. Poddar’s 7,500 sq. ft non-profit Devi Art Foundation is in effect India’s first contemporary art museum. And the good news is that the Indian government is working to make this sort of philanthropy tax efficient.”
We shall continue tracking the fascinating journey of Indian art to rewind its past (especially the decade gone by) and also peep into the promising future.

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