Saturday, May 11, 2013

Scholarly perspectives on dynamic South-East Asian art scene

Top international sales of miniature paintings, sculptures, as well as both modern & contemporary from India and the whole of South Asia have yielded impressive results in the last few years, setting record prices, in the process. The art in spotlight from the region encompasses countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, the Philippines, Burma, Cambodia apart from Nepal and Tibet in the ravishing Himalayas region, enjoying a greater exposure alongside that from Japan, Korea, China, and India.

No surprise then that top auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s now offer a wide variety of artworks that range from the exquisite sculpture of India dating from as early as the 1st century to the thought-provoking paintings by renowned modern artists as well as cutting-edge creations by emerging practitioners of the new millennium. Their integrated Southeast Asian art showcases have evolved in recent years, with specialized teams are devoted to the new hub of the global art world, so to say, attaining strong prices.

Indian art, in particular, is clearly very much in focus with many top international museums and noteworthy art institutions hosting exhibits of works by artists from Zarina on view at the Guggenheim Museum in currently, New York currently. Rashid Rana’s retrospective has opened at the Mohatta Palace, Karachi recently. Atul Dodiya’s first solo in the US opened at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center last month. Rina Banerjee, Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta, Vivan Sundaram and Ravinder Reddy participated at the ‘India: Art Now’ show at the Arken Museum, Copenhagen. The idea is to highlight the eclectic artistic styles that reflect extreme socio-political and economic change.

Many of India’s modern and contemporary artists often traveled to the US and Europe, absorbing and inventing new techniques as well as ideas. This has led to works that explore notions of identity, reconfiguring and juxtaposing the contemporaneity with classical traditions and history.

No comments:

Post a Comment