China is embracing India, at least in art. A major contemporary Indian art exhibition this summer in Shanghai promises a cultural bridge between the two giants of Asia.

The India Xianzai exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai reflects the growing cosmopolitan nature of the two countries, as well as their shared cultural sensitivities. It also marks the increasing importance of Indian contemporary art in Asia and worldwide.

Organizers say the goal is to present “the best of Indian contemporary art” in the first major museum show of its kind in China. Twenty-one Indian artists will be featured, including Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Jagannath Panda, Mithu Sen and other internationally acclaimed figures.

According to curators, India Xianzai will examine the “processes, narrative structures and aesthetic strategies that focus on the question of culture as an agency in artistic expression.” A common thread of active political and social engagement runs throughout, as well as exploration of “Indian-ness” in various national, hemispheric and global contexts. The exhibition also addresses cultural assimilation, a concern not just for India, but for every country in our increasingly smaller and flatter world.

India Xianzai features nearly 60 works including paintings, photography, video and installations. Much of the work on display comes from private collections. Several artists like including Riyas Komu, Suhasini Kejriwal and Schandra Singh created new works especially for the exhibition.

The common thread of active political and social engagement with one’s country and how each reacts to the Indian-ness outside the country can be seen running throughout the exhibition.

Other artists represtented include Anju Dodiya, Chitra Ganesh, Fariba Alam, Hema Upadhya, Justin Ponmany, Probir Gupta, Reena Kallat, Suryakant Lokhande, Susanta Mandal, Thukral and Tagra, TV Santosh, Vivek Vilasini and Vibha Galhotra.

India Xianzai runs from July 16, 2009 – August 31, 2009 at MoCA Shanghai, Gate 7, People’s Park, 231 Nanjing West Road, Shanghai, China. Various special lectures and screenings will be held throughout the run. A panel discussion featuring artists, Jitish Kallat, Mithu Sen and co-curators Alexander Keefe and Diana Freundl will be held July 16th.

For a taste of India Xianzai and the latest in Indian contemporary art, enjoy the gallery below! All images courtesy of MoCA Shanghai.

Take Away on Wall, Riyas Komu

Portrait of Zindi, Anju Dodiya

Neo Camouflage, Vibha Galhotra

Nature Gallery, Thukral & Tagra

Scrap Management, Probir Gupta

Under Scrutiny2, Susanta Mandal

The Lucky One, Chitra Ganesh

Saat Samundram, Subodh Gupta

Aquasaurus, Jitish Kallat

The post India Xianzai: Contemporary Indian Art at MoCA Shanghai first appeared on Indian Art News.

The ShContemporary is a sign of a mature Chinese art market.

Come September, and eight galleries from various Indian cities will be travelling to the Middle Kingdom.

Their desintation, the ShContemporary 2008, or the Asia Pacific Contemporary Art Fair as it’s formally called, held in Shanghai from September 10-13. This is only the second year of the fair, which was instituted as something of a meeting ground for the best of contemporary art from the East and the West.

Quite successfully, since as many as 130 galleries from 23 countries participated last year, along with dealers, curators, museum representatives, artists and visitors numbering around 25,000. The Indian presence was not inconsequential (considering that Indian galleries are relatively recent to the art-fair scene).

Four galleries � Bodhi, Chemould Prescott, Sakshi and Nature Morte; three artists in the “best of discovery” curated section, showcasing young and promising talent � Shilpa Gupta, Sharmila Samant and Ravikumar Kashi; and another three in the “best of artists” section for the more established names � Jittish Kallat, Sudarshan Shetty and Zarina Hashmi.

Sales were good says Geetha Mehra, founder of Sakshi Gallery, adding “There was a lot of energy in the air.” Nivedita Magar, director with SKE Gallery in Bangalore, reports much the same.

“Many inquiries are still coming in,” she says. The gallery, which specialises in new age, mixed media kind of work, was recommended for participation at the inaugural ShContemporary by Pierre Huber, a Geneva-based dealer who was artistic director of the fair (he has since stepped down after allegations of “conflict of interest”).

Despite a few glitches like very high import duties � which meant Magar spent far more on transporting the art works within China than she did shipping them from India � and taxes on Chinese nationals buying foreign art, the Shanghai experience was valuable, Magar feels, “as it set off a network”.

This year, the Indian contingent to Shanghai is far larger than 2007’s � eight galleries, with such established names as Gallery Espace, Vadehra and Threshold, among them. The “best of discovery” section announced already has six Indians � Deeksha Nath (curator and critic), Tushar Joag, Vibha Galhotra, Ved Gupta, Sumedh Rajendran and Suhasini Kejriwal.

But there’s more to the China-India art encounter in recent times than the ShContemporary. The most important here is the 2006 exhibition at the Arario gallery in Beijing, “Hungry God”, which had a large selection of contemporary Indian artists like Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Tallur L N and Sonia Khurana.

Lately, these isolated encounters look set to become two way. “We already collect Chinese art and have been showing them selectively in our group shows at Sakshi,” says Mehra.

In art, as in their economies, there is a tendency in the West to see the two countries together as the two Asian giants with the most “happending” art that collectors must watch out for.

To give just one example, last year’s Rencontres D’Arles, arguably the most important international photography festival on the calendar, focussed on both India and China. The truth, however, is a little more complicated. While we celebrate the record $2.48 million that Souza’s “Birth” recently went for at a Christie’s auction, Yue Minjan’s 1995 oil “Execution” went for $ 5.9 million last year at Southeby’s, while the “Mask Series 1996 No.6” by Zeng Fanzhi fetched the highest price ever by an Asian artists � $9.7 million, at Christie’s Hong Kong auction in May.

High prices, of course, don’t mean anything. But fairs like the ShContemporary, especially the importance they are given by galleries and curators globally, show how much more mature the Chinese art market is.

The post Fair Ground first appeared on Indian Art News.