Bose Krishnamachari, an acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist, has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in India and internationally. He has worked with a variety of media including painting (abstract and figurative), photography and cultural assemblages. The artist has conducted various unusual experiments as part of his practice that he discussed during his presentation ‘Everything is Art’ at AEI.
He spoke about his previous art experiments, exhibitions and collections like 'Exist', a retrospective of sorts in which he looked back and recreated nearly 15 years of his oeuvre. He worked around the idea of remembrance and memory. His 'GHOST Transmemoir', captured the essence and energy of Mumbai through installation and paintings.
The exhibition included an unusual installation comprising over 100 Tiffin boxes, embedded with LCDs that transmitted thoughts of celebrities and commoners on the city. One of his well-known installations, 'AmUseuM', comprised a series of open, spiral bound books, their pages glued together and painted over, with poems written on them, framed in glass like museum exhibits.
Elaborating on his art philosophy, he has stated: 'Liberation from consistency or styles is the direction of my art.’ According to him, it's important to try out new things.
A piece of art can originate from any ubiquitous object if blended with right intent and intentions. Emphasizing this aspect, Bose Krishnamachari said: “I love all kinds of visual projects, and do not like to stick to a specific linguistic style. You as an artist can get inspired by anything, anytime. It’s up to you when and how you pick it up. In everything around, you can find (out) art. If you are aware of it, you can enjoy the process of discovery. On my part, I am a watchman. I watch everything from an artist’s eye and look for art in everything.”
In his informative and insightful , Bose Krishnamachari also touched upon the art practices of international artists like Tunga, Yinka Shonibare, and Zoe Bradley Ettore Sottsass, whose art, furniture and architecture he deciphered with the help of slides.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sharan Apparao, Menaka Kumari-Shah and Brian Brown on ‘buying art in recessionary times’
Sharan Apparao, Menaka Kumari-Shah and Brian Brown, the three proven art experts, mulled over ‘buying art in today’s recessionary times’ at AEI 2009. Their opinions count because all three are well versed with the ground realities of the art market.
Menaka Kumari-Shah, India Representative of the Christies, brings considerable knowledge and experience of the domain. Starting with a Mumbai-based charity, where she arranged exhibits and auctions. She further developed a career in the arts. She joined Christie’s London (2005) as a coordinator for its biennial Arts of India auction, after apprenticing in the Indian Dept. of the British Museum.
Sharan Apparao has built Apparao Galleries into one of the leading contemporary art avenues in India. She is tuned to the changing trends including globalization of art. Her keen interest and passion for contemporary art drives Apparao Galleries that caters to the aesthetic needs of the eclectic clients. Thanks to her astute insight, the gallery has unearthed some of the most renowned names on contemporary Indian art scene.
Brian Brown, who holds a degree in Finance & Economics from California State University, Sonoma, is a financial and stock market expert with immense passion for art collecting. He is currently focused on creating liquidity in the Indian Private Equity space. He is an avid collector and researcher of contemporary Indian art.
The tone and intent of the talk was extremely positive and encouraging for prospective buyers. Menaka Kumari-Shah observed that there has been a perceptible change in the profile of buyers. The major difference, she noted that, art buying earlier was driven by a sense of patriotism. NRIs connected to their homeland though it. However, after the art boom that happened five years ago, domestic interest in the Indian art scene grew multifold.
According to her, a class of buyers priced out of the market, during the phase is gradually returning to it. Sharan Apparao, unwinding the ups and downs of the market cycle, underlined the fact that ‘investors’ essentially followed market trends, but now true collectors were back on the scene. She noted that even the investor-type-of-buyers were not such a negative force and that she enjoyed working with both sets of buyers.
Brian Brown underlined the fact that markets were currently going through a consolidation phase, having witnessed both the boom and the bust. He observed that people look at art and property as tangible assets compared to something else that may disappear. Pointing to the correlation between the stock markets and the alternate asset classes like art, he emphasized the lag effect and believed that the latter was already on a recovery path.
Menaka Kumari-Shah, India Representative of the Christies, brings considerable knowledge and experience of the domain. Starting with a Mumbai-based charity, where she arranged exhibits and auctions. She further developed a career in the arts. She joined Christie’s London (2005) as a coordinator for its biennial Arts of India auction, after apprenticing in the Indian Dept. of the British Museum.
Sharan Apparao has built Apparao Galleries into one of the leading contemporary art avenues in India. She is tuned to the changing trends including globalization of art. Her keen interest and passion for contemporary art drives Apparao Galleries that caters to the aesthetic needs of the eclectic clients. Thanks to her astute insight, the gallery has unearthed some of the most renowned names on contemporary Indian art scene.
Brian Brown, who holds a degree in Finance & Economics from California State University, Sonoma, is a financial and stock market expert with immense passion for art collecting. He is currently focused on creating liquidity in the Indian Private Equity space. He is an avid collector and researcher of contemporary Indian art.
The tone and intent of the talk was extremely positive and encouraging for prospective buyers. Menaka Kumari-Shah observed that there has been a perceptible change in the profile of buyers. The major difference, she noted that, art buying earlier was driven by a sense of patriotism. NRIs connected to their homeland though it. However, after the art boom that happened five years ago, domestic interest in the Indian art scene grew multifold.
According to her, a class of buyers priced out of the market, during the phase is gradually returning to it. Sharan Apparao, unwinding the ups and downs of the market cycle, underlined the fact that ‘investors’ essentially followed market trends, but now true collectors were back on the scene. She noted that even the investor-type-of-buyers were not such a negative force and that she enjoyed working with both sets of buyers.
Brian Brown underlined the fact that markets were currently going through a consolidation phase, having witnessed both the boom and the bust. He observed that people look at art and property as tangible assets compared to something else that may disappear. Pointing to the correlation between the stock markets and the alternate asset classes like art, he emphasized the lag effect and believed that the latter was already on a recovery path.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Kirsty Ogg underlines a high visibility, importance and awareness about Indian art
The second edition of Art Expo India witnessed participation of several art galleries as well art experts not only from India, but also internationally. The co-curator of London's Whitechapel Gallery, Kirsty Ogg, was one of them. In an insightful talk on the last day of the event, she discussed Indian art from a global perspective.
On eve of her participation at AEI, She was interviewed by Pronoti Datta of TOI. In this post, we reproduce the interesting Q-n-A for the benefit of our readers:
On eve of her participation at AEI, She was interviewed by Pronoti Datta of TOI. In this post, we reproduce the interesting Q-n-A for the benefit of our readers:
Q: What's your view of the Indian art scene?
A: Over the last eight years, the representation of Indian art has been gaining on the international art scene. And not just on a commercial level. Artists have been appearing in exhibitions like Documenta, the Venice Biennale and publicly funded galleries. So there's a high visibility and awareness about Indian art.
There's also a range of media-from new media to photography-being used in India. What's interesting is that there are two sides to it (Indian art)-in terms of the form of the work that can slip into circulation on the international art scene and the context that has an Indian texture.
Q: Does Whitechapel plan to exhibit Indian art in the near future?
A: We're working on a massive show of Indian photography from the 1860s. It will look at the moment when India took control of the camera. There are the first studio portraits by Deendayal. Among the 70 photographers featured are Pushpamala, Dayanita Singh, Sheeba Chhachhi, Raghu Rai Raghubir Singh and Homai Vyarawala.
There's a real mix between fine art practices that use photography as the medium, documentary photography, straight photography and images that are part of NGO projects. The exhibit will be a virtual lesson in history with images from pre and post-partition India and snapshots from Pakistan as well as Bangladesh.
Q: How has the financial crisis affected art throughout the world?
A: England had a wobble but now things have stabilized. The situation was bad for Indian art because it was coming up on the wave. On the positive side, recession made people reassess basic questions like why have a gallery, who is the audience or who are the prospective buyers?
In Britain we've gone through good and bad times. In the late 1980s, there was a recession and galleries closed. People like Damien Hirst organized shows like ‘Freeze', which happened in a building in Canary Wharf. They didn't wait for a gallery. They made their own show. As artists you have to take a bit of authority. The fundamental questions artists need to answer are: ‘Who sees my work and who's buying my work?’
Just because your work sells, it's not necessarily good. You hope it sells to a good collector who takes care of it. Work quickly sold by a collector can undermine an artist's career. In fact, people start thinking whether the work is good or not.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Collector-curator Kay Saatchi, a guest speaker at AEI, receives tremendous media attention
Internationally renowned collector-curator, Kay Saatchi who was an inaugural speaker at Art Expo India 2009, received tremendous media attention. Sample this profile of hers by Vishwas Kulkarni in The Mumbai Mirror (September 27)
“At the Art Expo India at Nehru Centre in Worli on Saturday, the 56-year-old doesn't give the impression of being a media-harried entity. So how has life been after Charles Saatchi? If there is any bitterness, she does not show it. We practically built the Saatchi Gallery together. Then suddenly it was all gone. But one moves on. And one should."The writer then puts the attention back to her favored theme of art, asking whether the economic crisis has affected the art world in London. She quipped:
"You know, the crisis is for those who were playing the auction game, and good for them! The bust is only applicable to those high rollers. I have always attempted to promote the young arts. My group show Anticipations locates the most cutting-edge emerging artists in Britain. My partner Catriona Warren and I source the best student artists from all over the nation. All the works are priced between £500-£1500, and if there is a large work with special materials then it goes up to £8000; but that's only happened once. Also, all 100 per cent of the proceeds gostraight to the artists. My philosophy has always been to ring in the new."
How does she dodge the hip deluge that has swamped the art world across the globe? "I ignore it. That's my advice to everyone. Sincerity is the key word. It's important to work with genuinely dedicated artists, genuinely dedicated art galleries. Or else everybody will be trying to pull off an Andy Warhol act. But the point is that even Warhol has a valid sociological context from which he was operating; it wasn't just tinny, bratty works. I hope the younger lot gets that," she concluded.
(Image source: The Mumbai Mirror)
Day two at AEI: Dr. Rashmi Poddar in conversation with Judith Greer
Collecting has been the journey of my life, quipped art expert Judith Greer in conversation with Dr. Rashmi Poddar on the second day of Art Expo India, The talk was aptly titled ‘Art in Life: the daily pleasure of collecting, because that’s what it really means to the avid art collector.
Revealing how she took to collecting art, Judith Greer turned the clock back to seventies when everything she did in her spare time was art related. Since then it has been a passion for her. She said: “For me, the key is to know the artist and his or her growth trajectory. The decision of buying an artwork should essentially be influenced by aesthetic concerns, something which all new collectors do not adhere to.”
Explaining the importance of developing a culture conducive to collecting, the art scholar pointed to the practice in the US wherein focused community groups actively support local museums, and even major museums are supported by individuals who often donate massive collections to them. “In contrast, the collaborative spirit is not quite there in India. Ideally, a broader and wider level of patronage is important to create conditions conducive for an artist to make good work of art.”
Summing up the essence of art collecting, Judith Greer said: “The key is working out how you are going to live with pieces of art you collect. You need to know the methods to preserve them. You’ve to harbor a strong sense of attachment to your collection. Art can be a very personal part of your life to be treasured forever.
In her concluding remarks, Priyanka Sethi said, “The conversation made us aware of the strong underlying link between philanthropy and art. The art expo, I hope, will play a role in this process, and believe, constructive individual as well as collective contribution will make a difference to the Indian art scene.”
Revealing how she took to collecting art, Judith Greer turned the clock back to seventies when everything she did in her spare time was art related. Since then it has been a passion for her. She said: “For me, the key is to know the artist and his or her growth trajectory. The decision of buying an artwork should essentially be influenced by aesthetic concerns, something which all new collectors do not adhere to.”
Explaining the importance of developing a culture conducive to collecting, the art scholar pointed to the practice in the US wherein focused community groups actively support local museums, and even major museums are supported by individuals who often donate massive collections to them. “In contrast, the collaborative spirit is not quite there in India. Ideally, a broader and wider level of patronage is important to create conditions conducive for an artist to make good work of art.”
Summing up the essence of art collecting, Judith Greer said: “The key is working out how you are going to live with pieces of art you collect. You need to know the methods to preserve them. You’ve to harbor a strong sense of attachment to your collection. Art can be a very personal part of your life to be treasured forever.
In her concluding remarks, Priyanka Sethi said, “The conversation made us aware of the strong underlying link between philanthropy and art. The art expo, I hope, will play a role in this process, and believe, constructive individual as well as collective contribution will make a difference to the Indian art scene.”
Delving into ‘The aesthetics of the erotic’
With help of some visually stimulating slides, Dr. Alka Pande threw light on the sensual side of art through the ages to the contemporary times in a seminar, ‘The aesthetics of the erotic’, on the second day at AEI. Following are some of her key observations on the ‘erotic’ element in Indian art – past and present.
• From earliest times that one can think of, Indian art and Literature has not only been preoccupied with, but also in many ways obsessed with the element of erotica. Imagery both direct and indirect to the sensual and the erotic dots the canvas of Indian art, particularly the ancient and the medieval.
• ‘Rasa’ is the basis of the aesthetic appreciation of Indian art - be it the visual or the performing arts. The ‘shringara’ or the erotic is also the ‘rasaraja’ or the king of the sentiments.
• A rich collection of works exist in which ‘shringara’ or erotica attains a high level of visibility, not only in painting and sculpture - of which Konarak and Khajurhao are brilliant examples of the erotic sentiment in the visual arts - but also in texts like the Kama Sutra.
• Indian Temple Architecture was one of the most important vehicles for the celebration of Indian erotica. In fact, the architecture of the temple speaks of the correspondences with the human coital union.
• The tantric philosophy spilled over into the Indian miniature tradition of painting, be it Rajasthani or the Pahari miniature schools.
• Later, artists like Souza focused on the aesthetics of the ugly, as she put it, in the aspects of harmony, proportion, looks etc. The legendary artist depicted the naked body from an altogether different perspective.
• The contemporary Indian artists tend to deal with erotica in a completely different way. Though linked with the spirit of traditional Indian folk and tribal paintings, the visual language of the modern Indian artist has changed. It witnesses a near-complete break with the visuality of traditional Indian painting and sculpture even while retaining some kind of a link with the metaphysical concepts of Indian Erotica.
Veteran artist Anjolie Ela Menon and renowned legal expert Satish Maneshinde also formed part of this interesting debate on the intriguing aesthetics of the erotic in Indian art tradition.
Friday, September 25, 2009
The much-awaited event on India’s art calendar starts at Nehru Centre
AEI, the much-awaited event on India’s art calendar, got off to a rousing start at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. The who’s who of the art world including renowned artists, art experts, collectors, patrons and aspiring investors thronged the venue to celebrate the throbbing spirit of modern and contemporary Indian art.
Spelling out the agenda, Mr. Vickram Sethi of The Arts Trust, stated at the inaugural session: “A number of free-wheeling conversations are being held to promote the emerging contemporary Indian art in the backdrop of its relationship with the international art scene. A keynote address from Kay Saatchi on how to spot new talent and build an art collection is first in the series of talks over the next couple of days. She agreed to come to the art expo without any precondition owing to her commitment to the cause of art.”
Art Expo India aims to offer the wave of new Indian talent a perfect launch pad on the domestic and international market. An encouragement to young painters so that collectors notice them coupled with a boost to the culture of value-based investing in art is reflected in AEI’s program, which features a series of insightful talks on art related themes.
Acknowledged for her insight of contemporary art trends, Kay Saatchi discussed the nuances of the fine art of collecting art in conversation with in the inaugural session. She has co-curated several exhibitions for the Saatchi Collection. She vigorously promotes young artists in her role as the founding director of the Artists and Collectors Exchange.
Art expert Mallika Sagar Advani conversed with Kay Saatchi who elaborated on the intricate maze of relationships between an artist and a collector, between a dealer and an artist, and a dealer and a collector, hinting that the interlinking of interests has to be based on trust. She provided valuable tips on becoming a successful collector and also offered tips to aspiring curators and gallery owners.
Spelling out the agenda, Mr. Vickram Sethi of The Arts Trust, stated at the inaugural session: “A number of free-wheeling conversations are being held to promote the emerging contemporary Indian art in the backdrop of its relationship with the international art scene. A keynote address from Kay Saatchi on how to spot new talent and build an art collection is first in the series of talks over the next couple of days. She agreed to come to the art expo without any precondition owing to her commitment to the cause of art.”
Art Expo India aims to offer the wave of new Indian talent a perfect launch pad on the domestic and international market. An encouragement to young painters so that collectors notice them coupled with a boost to the culture of value-based investing in art is reflected in AEI’s program, which features a series of insightful talks on art related themes.
Acknowledged for her insight of contemporary art trends, Kay Saatchi discussed the nuances of the fine art of collecting art in conversation with in the inaugural session. She has co-curated several exhibitions for the Saatchi Collection. She vigorously promotes young artists in her role as the founding director of the Artists and Collectors Exchange.
Art expert Mallika Sagar Advani conversed with Kay Saatchi who elaborated on the intricate maze of relationships between an artist and a collector, between a dealer and an artist, and a dealer and a collector, hinting that the interlinking of interests has to be based on trust. She provided valuable tips on becoming a successful collector and also offered tips to aspiring curators and gallery owners.
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