It will be recalled as the recovery year. The first few months of 2009 were not the best for Indian art, with the prices swinging towards the lower end of the graph and galleries reluctant to showcase major shows, but the post-monsoon art season brought relief with the red dot again finding a place alongside artwork. And as the New Year rings in, the art frat hopes that the upswing will continue. Each of them is at it, planning a calendar that will interest art aficionados.
2010 will begin with a bang. Veteran artist Krishen Khanna will showcase a retrospective at Lalit Kala Akademi on January 23, comprising artwork from the 1940s till now. Before that, however, head to the same venue for a solo show of Jayasri Burman. Organised by Art Alive Gallery, the exhibition titled “The Mythical Universe” will include paintings and sculptures that will draw from Indian mythology.
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After travelling to London, “Dream Villa” , a series of photographer Dayanita Singh will be exhibited in India at Nature Morte on January 15. The colour photographs had Singh travel to different cities to explore how night transforms what seems ordinary by day into something magical. Following his 2008 retrospective, photographer Raghu Rai will present his series of photographs of musicians at Lalit Kala Akademi on February 25. Even as Parul Vadehra, director Vadehra Art Gallery, sifts though his images, she will send invitation cards for solo shows of the artist couple Anju Dodiya in January and Atul Dodiya in March.While Atul will be reconfiguring his shop shutters from 3D objects to oil on canvas,
Anju’s series “Necklace Of Echoes” in charcoal and watercolour will reflect on mortality.
International artists too will continue to make an appearance in Indian galleries. Gaurav Assomull of Marigold Fine Art will have acrylic on paper by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Henri Matisse at his gallery in DLF Emporio and Nidhi Jain of Ragini Art will bring to India works of US-based artist Siri Khandavilli in August. Renu Modi, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of Gallery Espace, will host an exhibition featuring the works of Tejal Shah and Chinese artist HanBing in March. “This will be in the form of a dialogue between the two artists. Bing will present performance art piece,” notes Modi.
At Pallette Art Gallery, Rohit Gandhi is shortlisting artwork of Riyas Komu, Pakistani artist Faiza Butt and Italy-based Serena Scapagnini, among others, for a group show “The New Order of Beauty” that will be held in February, and in the same month Gallery Threshold will have Girish Sahane-curated “Legacy: A Vanguard” that will comprise work of Prabhakar Barwe and the influence he had on subsequent generations through the work of Madhu Imartey, Prajakta Palav, Parag Tendal and Yashwant Deshmukh.
Another group show will mark the inauguration of Latitude 28 gallery in Lado Sarai on January 18. Bhavna Kakar has got 18 artists to work on the theme “Does Size Matter”. The 1,500 sq ft gallery will open with Manjunath Kamath’s set of 12 gauches from the series titled “Small Lies” and Jayashree Chakraborty’s work — a 10×12 ft scroll juxtaposed with a 2×2 inch scroll. N Pushpamala will have a large print juxtaposed with postcard size photograph of 6×4 inch titled Lady riding a Bicycle. “This depicts the coming-of-age of women in India,” says Kakar.
Just before tourists visit the Capital for the Commonwealth Games, in August-September, Talwar Gallery will present a retrospective of Rummana Hussain, comprising sculptures and installation from the post-Babri Masjid demolition months. During this time, Religare arts.i will exhibit a group show curated by Gayatri Sinha featuring 20 contemporary artists and Sunaina Anand of Art Alive will have in her gallery recent works of Thota Vaikuntam. “The solo is much awaited,” says Anand. The art enthusiasts have a lot to note in their dairies through the year
By – Vandana Kalra
Indian Express
