India-China look to build bridges in the domain of art

Arario Beijing was probably the first commercial gallery in China to host a major group show of contemporary Indian art (‘Hungry God’; 2006) in response to the growing demand for Indian works from clients in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

It then managed to sell three works for roughly $200,000 to Beijing collectors, whereas, it sold not less than 30 works to Chinese buyers worth $2.5 million in three solos for artists Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta and Nalini Malani, in 2007-08. In the ACRO Madrid, Abir Karmarkar’s work interested a Chinese collector, and a buyer from Hong Kong was keen to acquire a piece by Sarika Mehta. Clearly, China seems to be a new unexplored market for Indian art, where spending on art is not as unthinkable as other badly hit economies of the world.

The museum show at MoCA, Shanghai (2009) was one of the largest ever contemporary Indian art collection ever displayed in China, including top names like Jitish Kallat, Reena Saini-Kallat, T V Santhosh, Subodh Gupta, Hema Upadhyay, Riyas Komu, Jagannath Panda, Anju Dodiya, Justin Ponmany, Schandra Singh, Suhasini Kejriwal, Chitra Ganesh and Suryakant Lokhande. ‘India Xianzai’ (India Now) touched upon the topic of cultural assimilation concerning not only India, but also many expanding Asian countries.

‘The Silk Road’, a show of artists from the Asian subcontinent last year courtesy The Saatchi, alluded to the ancient trade routes established between Europe and Asia that linked in particular China as well as the Middle East via India as early as from the 2nd century BC. The exhibit offered an overview of the most recent artistic production from the three regions, drawing attention of the international art world.

One may state that a common thread that binds art connoisseurs from the two countries is their mutual appreciation and admiration of each other’s traditions, histories and cultures, bringing them closer.