Thursday, January 3, 2013

A document that grasps India’s evolving art scene

India’s art and artists have recently been exposed to international audiences through exchanges, museum shows, collaborations dialogue, and of course, the Internet over the last decade or so. The country’s art scene of India has been rapidly evolving since the last two decades, among others catalysts owing to economic growth, new media, technological advancements, and simultaneously seething social as well as cultural tensions.

A new publication, entitled ‘India: Art Now’ (Publishers: Hatje Cantz, Pages: 156; Price: € 35) goes to show how some of our most renowned contemporary artists are engaged in interpretation of realities in the intersection, traversing the global and the local.

It collates insightful contributions from top art critics, scholars, curators, writers, and artists themselves, who discuss several new developments and emerging artistic stances in India and its rising stature on the global art scene. The book is a collective effort of Stine Hoholt, Camma Juel Jepsen, Camilla Jalving, and the Arken director, Christian Gether, with texts by Ranjit Hoskote, Zehra Jumabhoy, Mathias Ussing Seeberg, and Suketu Mehta, juxtaposed with an ambitious exhibition at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art that continues until mid- January 2013.

The prominent artists as well as artist groups who form part of this significant showcase are Rina Banerjee, Sheela Gowda, Shilpa Gupta, Hemali Bhuta, Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Reena Isaini Kallat, Rashmi Kaleka, Vivan Sundaram, Ravinder Reddy, and Thukral & Tagra. Trying to provide a context to the works and familiarize the art lovers in Denmark with the backdrop in which artists like Jitish Kallat work, an essay mentions: “Mumbai is one of the world’s largest, most densely populated cities, with a population of around 21 million if you count the suburbs. In certain neighborhoods around 120,000 people live per sq. km. In Denmark’s most densely populated area, Frederiksberg Municipality, just under 11,000 people live per sq. km. Every sixth person in the word is Indian.”

Described as an extensive presentation of new art trends from the country, the document shows how several talented artists are engaged in interpretation of realities in the intersection, traversing both the global and local influences.

No comments:

Post a Comment