Why corporate houses and organizations buy art?

“Organizations that buy art are investing in themselves — and in more than a monetary sense. Art speaks to culture, self-expression and creativity. Corporations appreciate the reasons for art in the workplace more than they did when I started my company, and developers and architects know to consider art at the beginning of a project so it can be visually integrated into the setting.”

The above insightful observations by Jean Efron, an advisor for large corporate art collections and projects, underlines how and why businesses get into the domain of art. In an essay published in The New York Times, she reveals the intricacies of building the portfolio for corporate houses across diverse domains. One company, for instance, wanted to emphasize the fact that it’s a global organization.

“I suggested a series of antique textiles — tapestries, paisley shawls, 18th-century English bed coverings, Indian embroideries, batiks, costumes and ethnographic artwork — from locations around the globe where the company has offices. We were surprised to learn that one of the shawls was a rare textile that experts believed had been lost. The client became so involved in the company’s collection that he was asked to join the board of the Textile Museum in Washington,” She reveals. On the other hand, some organizations aren’t sure what they want when we start together.

People have different tastes, so the committees I work with often make trade-offs. A committee that’s too large doesn’t work well together, and one outspoken member can make the process uncomfortable for the others, she states.

“Once art is installed,” the art expert adds, “I often give clients and their employees a tour of their acquisitions. I discuss the art’s context, including the period when it was made, and tell them about the artist. I go over this with the art committee when the art is selected, but everyone else gets to hear this introduction. Employees who understand why the art was selected are more likely to enjoy it.”

When organizations buy works, they are supporting the arts. That can mean buying from local artists, but it extends beyond that. Art touches lives. People who view the art and know the building’s history have told me that the artwork has brought them to tears, she concludes.

(Image courtesy: The NYT)

An artist shares her passion for Lord Ganesha

Renowned artist Sujata Bajaj's Ganesha works were just on view at Jehangir Art Gallery and Gallery Art & Soul in Mumbai. Here is a quick insight into the artist’s processes, philosophy and the most recent series:

• Her work is has a strong influence of Indian art in it, owing to her PhD degree in Indian art. Drawing inspiration for Raza, her canvasses are characterized by masterly strokes coupled with an abstract undertone. Settled in Paris, the artist says, “There's influence of both Indian and French art in my work. I use a lot of vibrant colors, but balance them with the texture."
  
  
• The works on view comprised Alampata, Avaneesh, Bhalachandra, Buddhipriya, Devarata, Dhumravarna, Durjaya, Dvaimatura, Ekadanta, Ekakshara, Eshanputra, Gajanana (Mixed Media On Paper); Balaganapati, Heramba (Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Fiberglass); Bhupati, Buddhividhata, Chaturbhuja, Haridra (Etching on Collage)
  
  
• She has been quoted as saying in The TOI interview with Zeenia F Baria that her association with Ganapati has been quite strong since childhood. In the summer of 1985, she met with an accident that left her bedridden. She doesn't recall how exactly but she started sketching Ganapati figures and did hundreds of them.
  
  
• The collection has been for her a very intense creative experience, which took her five long years to complete. It’s a tribute to her friend, mentor and guide: Ganapati. She had already worked in the medium of fiberglass in the mid-80s and enjoyed the challenge! She developed three dimensional forms from her earlier sketches and then painted them in acrylics.
  
  
• Color has been an integral part of her works. She reveals: “For me, my art is born of the journey of color. The cyclical changes that are the essence of nature's being, is a part of my creative consciousness. The seasonal shifts translate themselves into color, whether I employ the technique of application. It’s a visual documentation on my journey with Ganesha. I don't feel I’m done with my Ganapati as yet!

Spotlight on Sacha Jafri, whose painting of Sachin got $750,000

• British painter Sacha Jafri’s painting on legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar fetched a whopping $750,000 at the recent Art Dubai, according to media reports. The money would be donated to the MS Dhoni Foundation, working for poor children, it was reported.
  
  
• The elated artist was was quoted as saying: “I’m delighted by this sale and will be donating the money to the MS Dhoni Foundation which provides food, water and shelter to some of the poorest children in India."
  
  
• The painting carries has the handprints of 40 top international players such as Dhoni, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi, Andrew Strauss, Ricky Ponting, and Courtney Walsh, along with Sachin Tendulkar. The frame of the artwork is made from the willow of bats signed by all 12 top run-scorers with six balls signed by top six wicket-takers of all time.
  
  
• Sacha Jafri, is the youngest artist in the History of Art to be offered a 10yr Retrospective visiting the top Museums of the world, mentions Chelsea-based Kings Road Art gallery in an introductory note. His work now typically fetches bids between $250,000 and $750,000. His recent live painting sold in an auction at the Islamic Museum in Doha for $1million.
  
  
• Last year Jafri was awarded with Young Artist of the Year in New York and also received an award from the UN for his artistic and humanitarian contribution, having personally amassed over $14million Dollars from the sale of his work for various charities around the globe.
  
  
• The young and talented artist was recently commissioned to paint the official 1000 day countdown painting for the 2012 London Olympic Games unveiled by HRH Princess Anne at The Natural History Museum, the Lord Mayor’s Olympic painting at last year’s Gala Dinner, a life size painted Elephant Sculpture commissioned by Disney to celebrate the 10yr Anniversary of The Lion King and launching London’s ‘Elephant Parade’, the official painting to celebrate the unprecedented achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson with Manchester United over the last 25yrs.

A staunch feminist’s assertive oeuvre

Rekha Rodwittiya’s protagonists often get elevated to iconic proportions, and can attain multiple personas simultaneously. Born in Bangalore in 1958, the proud daughter of a fighter pilot and one of pioneering women cricketers from India, she did her B.A. (Fine Arts) at Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda and M.A. (Painting) from Royal College of Art, London.

Having practiced photography under Jyoti Bhatt, she later studied Film & Video techniques at Fulham Institute, London (1982-83). A recipient of Inlaks Scholarship, she also featured in a residency project at The Konsthogskolan Art College courtesy Svenska Institute, Sweden.

Among her major solos are 'rekha@fifty', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2008); ‘Second Skin’, The Air Gallery, London (2007); ‘Once Upon A Time….’, Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi (2006); ‘Encrypted Soliloquies’, Singapore (2005); 'Bye Bye Baby!', Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2003); and a show at Art Amsterdam in 2000.

Her recent significant group exhibitions and participations include 'Pause: A Collection', at Sakshi, Mumbai; 'Back to School: Baroda 1979-89', Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi; 'Dali's Elephant', Aicon Gallery, London; 'Singularities', RL Fine Arts, New York; 'Long Gone & Living Now', Gallerie Mirchandani + Steinreucke, Mumbai; 'Zip Files', Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai.

‘Manifestations V', Delhi Art Gallery, Delhi; 'Roots in the Air, Branches Below', San Jose Museum of Art; 'The Intuitive: Logic Revisted', from the Osians Collection at The World Economic Forum, Davos; and 'Finding India: Art for the New century' at Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei are her other noteworthy participations.

A solo of her fresh works, entitled ‘Intangible Interlocution: an Anthology of Belonging’ at the Mumbai based Sakshi gallery, provided a kaleidoscopic view of her oeuvre in three distinct segments. A few years ago, the venue had hosted major retrospective exhibition, encapsulating the core of her life and art practice. The mixed acrylic & oil works tried to balance out the male/ female inequality.

‘Letters of the Universe: When the Sun and the Moon Fall Asleep, Only Then Can I Dance so Naked’, as part of her latest showcase at the gallery, incorporated watercolor paintings with popular stickers plus some personal memorabilia. ‘An Anatomy of Recollection’ comprised digital inkjet prints of intense autobiographic photo-images. Lastly, ‘Diagrams of an Interior Space’ included acrylics and oils on canvases.

Recent exhibitions in India and abroad

• A major show of Indian art takes place courtesy Aicon Gallery in New York. ‘Through the Ages: South Asian Sculpture and Painting from Antiquity to Modernism’ features exquisite works by late MF Husain, Jehangir Sabavala, FN Souza, SH Raza, Ram Kumar, VS Gaitonde, and Jagdish Swaminathan.
  
  
• Another significant exhibition recently hosted at Dubai-based 1x1 Art Gallery, curated by Gayatri Sinha, included some of the top names like Anju Dodiya, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Mithu Sen, Shibu Natesan, and Jagannath Panda. ‘Terrestial Bodies’ well amplified the diversity and depth of their practice. Their engagement with a rapidly globalizing India, and how the country locates itself in the growing city, is one of the sub themes.
  
  In the process partial stories, memory and the free associations of the mind come into play. They tackle issues of feminism as well as post structural thought, informed by Indian modernity. In their paintings and sculpture, the human body, its parts and its gestures extends into multiple spheres, of aspiration, desire and narratives of the self. In their respective oeuvres, the narratives and readings are multi-layered and complex.
  
  
• Mention must also be made of the 9th edition of the Diaspora show, entitled ‘Erasing Borders’ by the Indo-American Arts Council. This year, 41 artists present works in a wide array of media that confront socially relevant issues like sexuality, terror, the environment and racial politics. Curated by Vijay Kumar, the works on view often meld Indian and Western ideas about color, form and subject.
  
  
• Ravi Mandlik studied at the Sir J J School of Art and was a member of the teaching faculty of L S Raheja School of Art and Sir J J School of Art, Mumbai. Among the awards and accolades he has won are the Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium painting competition; the Bendre-Hussain Scholarship; and the Seychelles Visual Art Biennale, apart from the Art Society of India award; Usha Deshmukh Gold-Medal from Sir J.J. School of Art. His latest body of works is on view at Mumbai-based Tao Art Gallery.

Adding a contemporary artistic touch to hospitality

From the basement right to the atrium, the Le Meridien Delhi now offers stunning sensory experiences - be it in the visual effects or the soundscapes like its every other hotel across the world going through a similar transformation. The idea behind the whole exercise is to position the chain as a throbbing hub for creative minds.

The focus on part of the chain’s new owners Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is obviously to offer their elite guests an immersive and holistic cultural experience. For instance, if you take a quick ride up the see-through glittering glass elevator and curiously peep down, the coffee shop in the lavish lounge area will suddenly seem like a captivating canvas – the patterns on the floor appear to exude a surrealistic hue of a cup of espresso or anything your imagination conjures up.

At the recent India Design Forum, some of the brains behind its brand transformation, including the hotel's cultural curator Jerome Sans, and its Senior VP (Design & Innovation) Michael Tiedy narrated the experience. The launch pad for Starwood was ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’, a bestseller by Richard Florida, which put the worldwide creative population at not less than 150 million from across the domains of engineering, the arts and architecture.

The Le Meridien sensed a business opportunity there. The group hired Jerome Sans who has curated prestigious art events like the Venice biennale. As cultural curator, he was handed the task of ‘nourishing the brand experience’. Based on the brief, he conceptualized the LM100 program, forming an elite club of innovators and creators from the diverse fields of cuisine, fashion, art, architecture and design. The famous pop art duo from India, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, has also been invited to be part of the LM100 club.

This unique, full-fledged experience of a curated hotel is imbibed in every aspect of your stay ‘to arouse curiosity, stimulate and lead on to new creative discovery’, starting with the entry door transformed as a canvas at most of its hotels. The guests get a designed key card at check-in - the signature work of a talented contemporary artist they can carry with them as a souvenir.

‘Utopia of Difference’ by artist Vibha Galhotra

A new solo of recent works by artist Vibha Galhotra entitled ‘Utopia of Difference’ takes place at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. She states regarding her work that it narrates the life of a disordered (or hyper ordered) society, with all the clashes and tensions that contemporary life brings.

“People tend to build walls around themselves as if to create order and borders. I’m interested in showing what goes to happen after we negotiate with so-called realities created through our visual vocabulary,” she elaborates. A new solo show of her work at Jack Shainman Gallery well testifies this.

She has shown her work extensively in India and abroad, including the events like Colombo Art Biennial in Sri Lanka; San Jose Museum of Art, US; Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai; Soros Center for Contemporary Art in Kazakhstan; Gutgasteil of Austria; and Europas Parkas, Lithuania. Her art features in several public collections like Devi Art Foundation; the Saga Art College, Japan; and the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Italy.

Her new show marks her debut in the city of New York. The series on view includes pieces meticulously made of metal ghungroos that again are intricately sewn, plus new sculptures that continue to make use of industrial, natural and domestic, materials in order to examine sensitive gender and the environment related issues in contemporary society. She employs abstract forms and images of the crammed urban metropolis for addressing today’s radically shifting topography especially of her home country under the palpable impact of globalization and rapid growth.

The artist sees herself as being an integral part of the random restructuring of complex culture, society and geography, and not merely that of a specific region but in context of the whole world. Responding to the environmental changes as well as rezoning of land, Vobha Galhotra looks to embody jungles of steel and concrete leading to the dense urbanization through some unlikely materials. The idea is to draw our attention to the fast-increasing degradation of nature.

Vibha Galhotra currently lives and works in Delhi.