Jitish Kallat, Dawn Chorus- 7, 2007. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2009.

The post A Celebration of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art at Christie’s in September first appeared on Indian Art News.

NEW YORK.- After the spectacular success of Christie’s South Kensington sale on June 2008 which set numerous world auction records, this season Christie’s New York is pleased to announce the sale of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art on 16 September. The sale will offer major works from modern masters like Tyeb Mehta, Maqbool Fida Husain, Ram Kumar, and Jagdish Swaminathan, to cutting edge artists such as Subodh Gupta, Riyas Komu, Jagannath Panda, and Rashid Rana. The sale of over 120 lots is expected to realize in excess of $12 million.

South Asian Modern
After establishing the world auction record at $1.9 million Christie’s will be putting Tyeb Mehta in the spotlight again with Untitled (Yellow Heads), 1979 (estimate: $600,000-800,000). Since his early years as an artist, Mehta has used the canvas to express images in his most unique formal treatment that illustrates the struggles of contemporary society. His encounter with minimalist art, especially Barnett Newman, during his year long stay in New York in the late 1960s, has had far reaching influence in the entire opus of the artist’s career. By selectively utilizing formal elements of both minimalism and abstraction, Mehta, through a balance of form and color, reconstructs the figure in a lyrical synchronization—creating a style uniquely his own.

Self-taught artist, Maqbool Fida Husain, played an instrumental role in the development of modern and contemporary art in India. Referred to as the ‘Picasso of India’ by Forbes magazine and a founding member of the revolutionary Progressive Artists Group (PAG), Husain developed a style that merged Cubism, Expressionism, and Abstraction with traditional Indian forms and iconography. Ritual, 1968 (estimate: $600,000-800,000) is one of the most significant works by Husain and a suburb example of the fusion of Indian themes and Modernist style. Adopting the formal attributes of sculpture, Husain gives weight to each line and color constructing an image of female elders in a style which highlights the integral role of women in Indian society. Last spring, Christie’s once again proving its dominance in the market, achieved the world auction record for the artist at $1.6 million.

The sale also features an important figurative work by Ram Kumar who drew upon the influences of Amedeo Modigliani, Edward Hopper, and Fernand Legér. The record for the artist was established at Christie’s when Kumar’s Vagabond was auctioned for $1.2 million. Untitled, 1961 (estimate: $400,000-600,000), depicts a young girl against a dark backdrop. The artist utilizes the characteristically pure line of Modigliani in the oval face and deep dark eyes, balanced delicately on an elongated neck. In this painting spatial depth is created with tonal variation and texture that translates into the artist’s later landscapes; making this work a critical bridge between the two stylistic idioms. This enigmatic and suggestive portrait is a simple yet forceful characterization by a master.

Contemporary Art
Among the contemporary art offerings, Subodh Gupta takes center stage with four works of art. Gupta draws heavily from his own experience in culling material for his art, recasting traditional objects of Indian culture in contemporary media and contexts. This is evident in the stainless steel canisters and utensils used in Miter, 2007, number three from an edition of three, (estimate: $600,000-800,000). These everyday, utilitarian forms are taken out of their normal context and elevated to the status of luxurious commodities. In turn these utensils celebrate Indian tradition and culture through its very exploitation. In June 2008 at Christie’s London, the similar sculpture Untitled, achieved $1.18 million setting a new record for the artist. Like Jeff Koons’ charmed hearts and balloons, the shiny reflective quality ensures that the surrounding environment becomes part of the work. A true multimedia artist, Gupta moves between sculpture and paintings. In his painting, Steal 2, 2007 (estimate: $800,000-1,000,000) Gupta displays his virtuosity as a painter by combining pop and photorealist aesthetics into a uniquely Indian style.

Writer, political activist and painter Jagdish Swaminathan, was known to draw inspiration from folk and tribal art, miniatures and Indian mythology for his paintings. His painting, Untitled (Bird Mountain Series), 1973, (estimate: $300,000-500,000) is an expression of the artist’s perception of the “virginal state” of nature. Mountains, trees, rocks, and birds juxtaposed against pure expanses of color- induce a meditative stillness. Swaminathan’s vision of his mystical
landscape with weightless apparition-like forms floating in a luminous space brings to mind images of Paul Klee and Pahari miniatures paintings. A cornerstone to one of Swaminathan’s most well known series, Untitled, 1973, epitomizes the artist’s ability to capture the poetic grandeur of the natural world and immeasurable vastness of the spiritual realm in a solitary intimate reflection.

Another highlight comes from Rashid Rana, Pakistan’s most celebrated and well-known artist. Two Dimensions, 2007, (estimate: $80,000-120,000) depicts a monolithic skyscraper is a composite image made from ‘pixels’ of everyday Pakistani street scene. Rana uses his native urban environment of Lahore for inspiration and combines single tableaux of day-to-day life in grand compositions of contemporary existence. The duality of the image along with the ‘double take’ it creates is a key feature of Rana’s digitized imagery. Rana’s work has been showcased internationally and was featured at the Grid <> Matrix held in 2006 at the Kemper Art Museum alongside masters such as Piet Mondrian, Agnes Martin, Robert Rauschenberg and Andreas Gursky.

Already holding Riyas Komu’s world auction record, set in Hong Kong, Christie’s is pleased to be offering Designated March of a Petro – Angel (or Desert March), 2006, (estimate: $60,000-80,000). Exhibited in the Arsenale of the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007, this work is part of a larger series of six works featuring the actress from the Iranian film ‘Circle’ gazing in different directions. This painting addresses the plight of humanity in societies targeted by larger power-hungry nations or ‘neo invaders’. Komu depicts the actress enrobed in a head scarf, her gaze transfixed on an unknown object or person beyond the edge of the canvas. Through her anonymity, she becomes the symbol of universal womanhood and Komu’s composition becomes a tribute to the spirit of ordinary people with the extraordinary strength to survive.

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Raqib Shaw’s Chrysanthemum & Bee,which was estimated at £80,000-120 ,000, has been picked up for £103,250 and Anish Kapoor’s After Marsyas, with an estimate of £70,000- £90,000, has sold for £109,250.

At the same time, a Subodh Gupta Untitled (Across Seven Seas), sporting an estimate in the range of £40,000- £60,000 has been bought out for £85,250. In the same breath, T V Santosh’s Man Made Famine and the Rats, which was pegged at an estimate of £40,000-60 ,000, has gone for £121,250. In step, an Anish Kapoor Untitled, assessed to sell between £400,000 and £600,000, has been acquired for £481,250.

In an email to ET from London, Mr James Sevier of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department, said: “The group of works by Indian artists in our major sales of Contemporary Art in London, once again performed exceptionally well. Seven of the nine works offered realised a price that was handsomely in excess of their presale high estimate. We were particularly delighted with the new auction records established for Anish Kapoor (in the Evening Sale) and the leading Pakistani Contemporary artist Rashid Rana (in the Day Sale).”

“The positive results confirm the continued and growing international interest in the Indian contemporary art field. We’re looking forward to building on this again in our Contemporary sales in London in the autumn.”

Incidentally , Pakistan’s Rashid Rana work Veil #6, which showed an estimate of £60,000-80 ,000, shot past the presale value and went for a whopping £325,250. The international section was led by names like Francis Bacon, Anthony Gormley, Richard Prince and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Interestingly, the Basquiat masterpiece, Untitled, from 1982-83 was sold on behalf of the rock band U2 for £5.081 million.

The painting was acquired jointly by members of the band after it was first spotted by bassist Adam Clayton at Robert Miller Gallery in New York. The band acquired Untitled in 1989, and it has since resided in their Dublin studio. A group for 12 works from the Helga and Walther Lauffs collection performed well above expectations when they raised a total of £18.983 million against a presale estimate of £6.470- £8.930 million.

The breakdown of buyers by lots saw Europe leading the way with 49%, US at 39%, Asia 3%, with other regions in the bracket of 8%.

ET Bureau

The post Sotheby’s sees high prices for Indian artists first appeared on Indian Art News.

Rashid Rana occupies a unique position among Pakistan’s contemporary artists and has been a hit internationally
Rashid Rana is a star, whether it’s in Lahore, Mumbai or Hong Kong. The Pakistani artist wowed the crowds who flocked to his Mumbai show in November. And he received an equally rapturous response last month at HK 08, the inaugural Hong Kong Art Fair.
The overwhelming response to Rana’s eye-catching work didn’t come as the slightest surprise to two Mumbai art galleries. Chatterjee & Lal and Chemould Prescott Road jointly organised the show of Rana’s digital photo-montages at HK 08 and they were absolutely certain that it would receive critical acclaim. “It was all sold out,” says Mortimer Chatterjee, partner, Chatterjee & Lal.

Hamra Abbas has transposed the romantic figures of Indian miniatures into a sculpture, Lessons on Love I; Rashid Rana layers his work with multiple images and messages as in the digital photo-montage, Red Carpet II (top), which is actually composed of scenes from a slaughterhouse
Rana occupies a unique position among contemporary Pakistani artists and he has made a huge name for himself internationally. But he isn’t the only artist from across the border who’s attracting the attention of connoisseurs in India.
In the last two months, three shows by Pakistani artists like Bani Abidi, Ali Kazim and Muhammad Zeeshan have been held across Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. And many more are planned in the coming 12 months.
Or take a look at art collector Anupam Poddar, who has built a sizeable collection of contemporary Pakistani art. His Devi Art Foundation is doing the groundwork for a show in March 2009, which will be curated by Rana.
“Interest in Pakistani art is increasing in India,” says Peter Nagy of Delhi’s Nature Morte, who held the first solo show of Rana’s work in India and then helped take his work overseas.
So, is Pakistani art the next Big Thing in India? Many art experts believe the interest in Pakistani art is only natural. Says Chatterjee: “There are so many lines of inter-connection between the concerns of Pakistani artists and the lives of normal Indians that often the subject matter is entirely relevant to an Indian audience.”
There’s also, as Rana says, “a kind of mutual obsession on both sides of the border, fostered by shared histories, the trauma of Partition and the years of hostility and inaccessibility.”
Certainly Pakistani art, like Indian art, is suddenly becoming more visible at international art fairs and auctions. For instance, works by Talha Rathore and Nusra Ali Qureishi sold at auctions held by Christie’s and Saffronart recently.
For Bangalore-based GALLERYSKE’s founder, Sunitha Kumar Emmart who had been following Pakistani video artist Bani Abidi’s work, then, art fairs provided an opportunity to view the work of the Pakistani artist at first-hand. That led to a show by Abidi recently.
“Regardless of nationality or gender, we have been interested in Bani’s work primarily for the strength of her practice and the clarity of her artistic vocabulary,” says Emmart.
The inter-connections between the two countries is attracting Indians to Pakistani art, says Mortimer Chatterjee, partner, Chatterjee & Lal
Abidi’s themes went down well with Bangalore art lovers. In the video piece, Reserved, she shows a city coming to a halt for a political bigwig. It has images of schoolchildren waiting to wave crumpled paper flags at a motorcade that never arrives — it was a theme, obviously, that Indian viewers could relate to.
“I’m interested in talking about a more complex identity formation along linguistic and cultural lines, rather than religious ones,” says Abidi, who was surprised by the response to her show. “This is the first time I’ve had a solo show in India. So, it was a first for me that this kind of attention was given to my work here and I value that,” she adds.
Meanwhile, Ali Kazim’s mastery over watercolours drew a huge response at Delhi’s Gallery Espace. The show was held in collaboration with Green Cardamom, a UK-based institution that promotes South Asian artists.
And in Mumbai, art lovers got to see Muhammad Zeeshan’s contemporary miniatures in his show, What Lies Beneath, organised by Delhi’s Anant Art Gallery.
“There’s a certain understanding regarding art that I find in Indians. And it feels good to be a foreigner only 40 minutes across the border and be identified with my imagery as an international artist,” says Zeeshan, who has shown in Delhi, Agra and Calcutta since 2005.
(From top) Miniature artist Muhammad Zeeshan wants his images to tease the imagination as in Let’s Make A Great Pattern I and Untitled II; Pakistani artists are addressing issues like gender, politics and ethnicity in a language that’s contemporary and international, says art critic Quddus Mirza
India’s interest in Pakistani art has been building gradually. The canvas was prepared by curators like Pooja Sood in India and Salima Hashmi in Pakistan, and institutions like Khoj International Artists’ Association and VASL Artists Residency in Delhi and Karachi, respectively. Khoj and VASL have held artists’ residencies since the late 1980s. Early shows like “Mappings: Shared Histories” curated by Sood too helped.
But till 2004, when Nature Morte held Rana’s first show here, public interest was low. Recalls Nagy: “There was good response from the art community but not from collectors.”
That has changed now. One catalyst was the large show, Beyond Borders: Art from Pakistan, at Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in 2005. It was co-curated by Pakistani artist and art critic Quddus Mirza and NGMA’s then director Saryu Doshi.
“I didn’t realise it would create such a stir. It was the first time that we were recognised as contemporary to India in art,” says Mirza.
Since then, the momentum has picked up, spurred by galleries and artists. Says Muhammad Umer Butt, artist and creative director, Grey Noise, a new virtual art gallery based in Pakistan: “Rashid [Rana] has played an instrumental role in introducing us Pakistanis to India.”
Mirza believes that apart from the “newness” factor, the similarities and differences between the two nations have attracted Indians. Shows like Beyond Borders also revealed that Pakistani artists aren’t “making Islamic calligraphy or veiled women”.
“We’re painting nudes, addressing issues of gender, politics and ethnicity in a language that is contemporary and international. So perhaps that shattering of pre-conceived ideas was one source for the Indian attraction,” he says.
But it isn’t just cultural affinity that’s attracting Indian art lovers to the work from across the border. The fact is that cutting-edge work is coming out of Pakistan. Says Saffronart co-director Dinesh Vazirani: “Wherever collectors are looking at art from outside, they’re looking for innovation.”
Hammad Nasar, co-founder, Green Cardamom, believes this is partly because, “for most of its 60-year existence, Pakistan has remained a cauldron of political and social upheaval.” He adds: “This has proved to be a fertile ground for artists to mine.”
Certainly, it has thrown up a diverse palette. The Pakistani art scene can be broadly divided into two: there are artists working in new media, and there are those that have given a contemporary twist to the miniature tradition.
Indians, says gallerists, are interested in both types of works. The big draw, of course, is Rana with his multi-layered images and messages. Take his Red Carpet photo-montage series — Red Carpet-1 incidentally sold for a record $623,400 at Sotheby’s recent Spring Sale of Contemporary Art. At first glance, the work appears to be a large Persian carpet. But when you look closer, there’s a series of tiny photographs of scenes from a slaughterhouse.
(From top) Bani Abidi’s video piece, Reserved, has images of school children waiting to wave at a political bigwig’s motorcade that never arrives; Hammad Nasar, co-founder, Green Cardamom, says Pakistani artists are keen to show in India
The work reflects, in a sense, Rana’s formal and conceptual concerns. He says in his artist’s statement, “In today’s environment of uncertainty, we cannot have the privilege of a single world-view. Every image or idea already contains its opposite within itself.”
Other contemporary Pakistani artists are also being noticed around the world. There are prominent names like Naiza Khan, sculptor-photographer Huma Mulji, Hamra Abbas, Faiza Butt, Mohammad Ali Talpur, and sculptor Khalil Chishtee, whose recent work includes sculptures with garbage bags. Mulji’s Arabian Delight, for instance, was reportedly picked up by British collector Charles Saatchi for $8,000 at the recent Dubai Art Fair.
At a different level, there are the neo-miniaturists — Indian collectors who are familiar with miniatures are quite enthusiastic about this type of work. Miniature art is a strong discipline at Lahore’s National College of Art (NCA), and it has turned out stars like Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq and Shahzia Sikander, who made a name for herself internationally in the ’90s.
Now there are newer miniaturists like Imran Qureshi, Aisha Khalid, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Hasnat Mehmood, Talha Rathore and Zeeshan. “These artists have taken the South Asian tradition of miniature to new heights, and then moved beyond the page to invent a new visual language, rooted in tradition but of the here and now,” says Nasar.
Take Zeeshan, who began painting porn cinema posters before studying miniature work at NCA, and who combines the beauty of miniature with edgier themes of gender, dominance and violence.
Zeeshan says he enjoys “teasing” the viewer. “And I think my images tease a lot. The oddity of the composition leads the viewer to dialogue and maybe, just for a second, ask, ‘What is this’,” he says.
Pakistan’s rich artistic output owes largely to its strong art educational system, especially since, unlike India, most practicing artists there also teach. “This has honed the critical edge of art here,” adds Rana.
(From top) Ali Kazim’s mastery over watercolours is evident in his creation Red Taveez, 2005; Works like Colourful Conversations by Mehreen Murtaza are receiving online queries from India; Grey Noise’s Muhammad Umer Butt rues the lack of gallery infrastructure in Pakistan. He’s seen here with partner Rehan B Shah and with artist Ayaz Jokhio’s Self-Portraits in the background
Not surprisingly, Indian galleries like Chatterjee & Lal want to tap this further. Says Chatterjee: “It’s a perfect opportunity for Indian galleries to help young Pakistani artists who may not have an outlet.”
For Pakistani artists too, India is an attractive destination, especially since the gallery infrastructure in Pakistan is still very underdeveloped. Grey Noise’s Butt says, apart from a few spaces like Rohtas 2 in Lahore: “We have showrooms but not galleries unfortunately.”
Abidi too says, “The art market (in Pakistan) is almost non-existent and the small one that does exist is very conservative.”
That’s why Butt felt compelled to found Grey Noise. “We’re the first virtual gallery to represent cutting-edge artists based in Pakistan,” he says.
Already, Butt is “overwhelmed” by the response from India on his site. “I get a decent amount of taps from around the world and India takes the lead,” he says. Artists like Ayaz Jokhio, Mehreen Murtaza, Fahd Burki and Amna Hashmi are getting the most queries.
Even Indians living abroad are showing an interest in Pakistani art, according to Prajit Dutta, partner, Aicon Gallery, which is present in New York, Palo Alto and London. Last year, Aicon held two shows with Pakistani artists in London and New York.
This year, it has done solos with Zeeshan and Talha Rathore in New York. Coming up in July is a show with installation and video artists Adeela Suleman, Jokhio and Fareeda Batool. And there’s a possible Naiza Khan show in New York next year. Dutta is also planning to show these artists in India. “We’ve got a great response from Western and Indian collectors,” he says.
The boom in the international art market and growing interest in South Asia have made Pakistani art an attractive proposition, feels Rana, especially since art from South Asia is expected to emulate the global success of Chinese art. “Pakistani art benefits from a kind of trickle-down effect from this tremendous energy in the Indian art market,” he says.
The Pakistanis are obviously eager to make their mark in the booming Indian art mart. Green Cardamom, for instance, is planning two exhibitions in India next year, one by the acclaimed Hamra Abbas, who works in everything from video to animation, miniature painting and sculpture. In her Lessons on Love series, she transposed the romantic figures of Indian miniatures into sculpture.
Says Green Cardamom’s Nasar: “India is a place where almost all our artists are keen to show. So we’ll figure out ways to do this to their best advantage.”
(From top) Restore the Boundaries , a work by leading Pakistani artist Naiza Khan; Awakening, a contemporary miniature by Talha Rathore
Nature Morte too will host a solo with Abbas in 2009 in Delhi and Calcutta. Besides, Abbas and Rana are part of a large canvas project Nagy’s working on with auction house Phillips de Pury in London in November, which will then travel to New York in January.
Meanwhile, GALLERYSKE’s Emmart too plans to mount curated shows by Indian and Pakistani artists. Even Vazirani intends to increase the Pakistan section of Saffronart’s auctions. And he will hold a two-city show with Pakistani artists in Mumbai and New York in 2009.
To be sure, prices are one reason why Pakistani art is suddenly becoming popular here. As Indian art prices soar, there are better bargains to be had across the border. One art critic says that emerging artists from Pakistan offer “much better value than most Indian art now”. Vazirani too says: “There are opportunities to discover new artists.”
According to one gallerist, high-quality miniatures from Pakistan are typically priced between $10,000 and $20,000 though the masters are more expensive. Autumn II, a miniature by Zahoor-Ul-Akhlaq, for instance, sold at Christie’s’ auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art this month for over $39,000.
The artists, though, are sceptical of the commercialisation in the Indian art market. “What we have now is everyone trying to cash in, exploit the artist, and in some cases, the artist exploiting the buyer,” says Abidi.
Yet the artistic exchange seems set to continue — barring the arbitrariness of officialdom. And as Chatterjee says: “This is just the beginning.”

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