Visions Art - Indian Art News

From M F Husain, Raja Ravi Varma to Tyeb Mehta, Indian artists set new price records; no note ban effect, says study

visionsart — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 06:29:41 +0000

The study shows that demonetisation has not affected the sale of Indian arts. This can be said as 34 out of 55 records were created after the implementation of currency ban.

We all have heard about the magnificent paintings of M F Husain, Raja Ravi Varma and other Indian artists. These artworks have been appreciated across the globe and a recent study concluded that 55 Indian artists have established new price records over the past 20 months. The study provides data that Raja Ravi Verma’s oil canvas ‘Radha in the Moonlight’ was sold at a whopping price of Rs 23 crore in Mumbai at Pundole’s art auction. Similarly Tyeb Mehta’s artwork ‘Women on rickshaw’ was sold at Rs 22.9 crore at Christie’s annual South Asian Modern Contemporary Art sale in London, Hindustan Times reports.
The study shows that demonetisation has not affected the sale of Indian arts. This can be said as 34 out of 55 records were created after the implementation of currency ban. The study shows that legendary painter M F Husain is at number second spot in terms of the 50 leading Indian artists based on turnover in auctions globally since 1965. The study also reveals that 5 out of top artists works were sold in the month of January 2017. Out of them one is the most expensive Indian works ever sold.
The study gives data on leading 10 artists amongst the record creators: Here I have chosen the top three record creators. Topping the list in November 2016 was Raja Ravi Verma and auctioneer was Pundole’s. Tyeb Mehta created the record in may 2017 and Auctioneer was Christie’s. Akbar Padamsee created the record in September 2016 and auctioneer was Saffronart.
In terms of a year, the study suggests that 2016 was best as it fetches Rs 609.3 crore from sale of Indian artworks. This was followed by 2017 during which artwork of Rs 505.4 crore was sold.
Artery India is an Indian art market Intelligence and advisory firm that owns and operates the world’s largest financial datacenter and knowledge bank focused on Indian art sales globally.

By: FE Online | New Delhi

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Faulconer Displays Gaur Collection Of Indigenous Indian Art

visionsart — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 05:00:48 +0000

From top to bottom: Dr. Umesh Gaur presenting “Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India,” visitor admiring the collection the Gaur’s brought to Faucloner Photos by Helena Gruensteidl

Last Friday Sept. 22 , Dr. Umesh Gaur presented a Faulconer Gallery talk titled “Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India.” Gaur and his wife, Dr. Sunanda Gaur, own what is reputably the largest collection of contemporary Indian art in the United States. During the talk, Gaur discussed the new Faulconer exhibit, which features indigenous art created in post-independence India.

“Our rapidly growing collection of this genre focuses on the art of Gond and the Warli tribes, women artists in the Mithila region of Bihar and the narrative scroll painters of West Bengal,” Gaur wrote in an email to The S&B. “Our collection consists of more than 300 paintings, drawings, prints and photographs. My personal favorite painting in this exhibition is Jangarh Singh Shyam’s ‘[(Untitled)] Tree and Panther.’” Some of the major artists in the exhibit include Jangarh Singh Shyam, Jivya Soma Mashe and Venkat Raman Shyam.

Previously, the Gaurs did not think that indigenous or folk art could constitute high art and hold a place in a museum. However, in 2005, they encountered contemporary Indian art at an Asia Society exhibition called “Edge of Desire,” which had gained great renown.

“The Grinnell exhibition reflects our relatively recent interest in collecting contemporary indigenous art from India,” Gaur wrote. “Growing up in India, we were always surrounded by folk arts and crafts. We grew up around hand-painted pottery, carved furniture and hand-knitted rugs in our homes. On religious holidays, our mothers and aunts would draw ritualistic images on the walls and floors to prepare the house for festivities. While all these folk arts and crafts were vibrant and decorative, we never considered them as collectible fine art.”

Umesh and Sunanda Gaur have collected art since 1995. He remembers the inception of his collecting vividly.

“We walked into the preview of Sotheby’s inaugural auction of modern and contemporary Indian art in New York. The artworks on sale immediately appealed to us at a visceral level, and before we knew it, we were owners of a rapidly growing collection of modern Indian art.”

As the partners continued to collect art, they discovered they enjoyed making it accessible to a larger viewership, especially, “working with museums in promoting modern Indian art in America,” Gaur wrote.

In 2002, the two curated a multi-collector exhibit at Rutgers University, in their neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey. From there, the collections have traveled all over, from Fairfield University to the University of Pennsylvania and the Georgia Museum of Art.

Over the years, the Gaur’s collecting has culminated in a gallery of their own, the BINDU Modern Gallery. This gallery presents exhibitions of their collected art on rotation. According to Gaur, BINDU “serves as a nucleus from which we promote modern Indian art with our engagement with museums, art scholars and the community.”

Caryn McKechnie
mckechni@grinnell.edu

Source http://www.thesandb.com/arts/faulconer-displays-gaur-collection-of-indigenous-indian-art.html

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An Uphill Task

visionsart — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 16:40:00 +0000

In his monograph on Manaku, art historian BN Goswamy reconstructs the life and art of the 18th-century Pahari painter

When BN Goswamy introduced us to the complete portfolio of Nainsukh in 1997, the miniature painter from the hills of Punjab was a relatively little-known entity in the contemporary art world. Goswamy’s discerning biographical sketch not only brought him recognition, but also became a handbook for Nainsukh’s work. Two decades later, the art historian has dedicated a publication to Nainsukh’s elder brother, Manaku. Like his sibling, Manaku, too, was a master practitioner, who painted evocative miniatures and carried forward the tradition inherited from their father Pandit Seu, a leading painter in Guler, a small state in the Punjab hills, at the turn of the 18th century. Unlike Nainsukh, who had several patrons, such as Raja Balwant Singh, Manaku is not known to have a specific patron.

“The project is very close to my heart from the very beginning. Manaku was an extraordinary painter,” says Goswamy, 84. He confesses to being partial to Manaku, who is considered more “conservative” than Nainsukh. It was, after all, his Hiranyagarbha, the depiction of the cosmic egg (considered the seed of all creation) in an opaque watercolour, which Goswamy declares as one of the greatest works of Indian art, also included in his 2014 publication The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works, 1100-1900.

The illustration belongs to one of Manaku’s acclaimed folios, the Bhagavata Purana, which the Pahari artist is believed to have painted on the sheer basis of its style. “I am convinced that Manaku moved to the realm of the gods at night, conversed with them as if they were equals, and came back in the mornings,” said Goswamy, during the Delhi launch of the publication titled Manaku of Guler: The Life and Work of Another Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State.

One of Manaku’s works published in the book

The narrative in the 512-page book begins from where Goswamy’s own research on artistic traditions began in the 1960s. In an article published in the journal Marg in 1968, titled “Pahari Painting: The family as the basis of style”, Goswamy had argued that stylistic differences in Pahari paintings can be better understood if connected to artists’ families rather than only to princely patrons. An important source for him were the genealogical records or registers of visitors maintained by the pandas or priests in Haridwar, Varanasi and Kurukshetra. “I remember going to Haridwar as a child with my father and writing my name in English and misspelling it,” says Goswamy, adding, “But that got me thinking that pahari painters would also have been pilgrims. Pahaad mein kehte hain ki aap jeeteji Haridwar na gaye, toh mar ke aap zaroor jaayenge. (In the mountains, they say, if you didn’t go to Haridwar in your life, you will go there once you’re dead).”

He found one entry for Manaku, in the register of Sardar Ram Rakha, a tirtha purohit in Haridwar. Reproduced in the book, here Manaku notes that he is a native of Guler, a carpenter, son of Seu, and grandson of Hasnu. While this two-line entry is the only text in the hand of Manaku that has survived, Goswamy also presents two portraits of him that are known to exist — both tinted brush drawings; one where Manaku is estimated to be close to 40 years of years, ascribed to Nainsukh, and another from the National Museum collection, where he looks visibly older.

A portrait of Manaku from the book

In the publication, Goswamy chronicles and discusses each work produced by Manaku according to the one anchor for which he has precise dates: the ‘Gita Govinda’ series — based on poet Jayadeva’s 12th-century Sanskrit love lyric — dated 1730. Every known work by the artist has been recorded in the monograph. Among the earliest is the ‘Siege of Lanka’ series, which, Goswamy infers, could have been a continuation of the ‘Ramayan’ series left unfinished by Manaku’s father, which he adopted on a grander scale.

Manaku gave it “a certain naturalism in the treatment of figures and faces”, but never completed it, and the last few folios were brush drawings in black on uncoloured paper (like in the case of the Bhagavata Purana). Goswamy draws similarities between this set and his next, the ‘Gita Govinda’. “There is much in common between these two series; from the broad, red borders and thin rules and the generally neatly inscribed verses in Devanagari at the back, to the flat, monochromatic backgrounds, high horizons, boldly stylised trees and arbitrarily placed curving rims suggestive of planes in the background,” he writes in the book.

Author of over 25 books, Goswamy, however, does not reject conflicting arguments. Instead, a section in the book is dedicated to the writings of other scholars on Manaku. “I am not holding anything back. As an art historian, I feel responsible to present the different sides,” he says.

Written by Vandana Kalra | Published:September 25, 2017

http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/an-uphill-task-bn-goswamy-art-historian-manaku-painter-4859527/

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Artist Manu Parekh on the art market, Rabindranath Tagore, and pop culture

visionsart — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 05:30:00 +0000

Portrait of Gandhi | Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Annapurna Garimella: What does it mean to be an artist working in his seventies? You started painting when you were sixteen and have been making art for seven decades. What does making art mean to you today?

Manu Parekh: My first reaction to your question is that I still feel excited. I feel – I can see – that there is space to create many things. As an Indian, in this kind of an environment, there is a great deal of possibilities, a lot of inspiration, as well as a lot of issues.

What do you mean by ‘as an Indian’?

In India, the most interesting thing for me is the Indian mind. If I am a Gujarati, then I will look at things from a Gujarati angle, and so on. But I also feel that I am a popular culture man, influenced especially by the world of Hindi films, from which a person of one culture can learn about other cultures. Moreover, because of my involvement with craft and theatre, I learned about other [Indian] cultures, so I never fully feel that I am only from Gujarat and can only enjoy that. I have been fascinated by people of other states and cultures, and have been fortunate to travel all over India. That is why I used the words ‘as an Indian’.

The other thing, which is a treasure chest, is what is in the rural areas. The sensitivity that is there, even the problems that are there, the ways of making them better, their way of understanding, the relationship between men and women, especially between women; in urban India, there is not much knowledge about this. Interestingly, the popular film feels rich to me – because of the way it has absorbed various influences (especially those from vernacular cultures and rural milieus) – this is the real India [the rural areas]…if one wants to enjoy India.

Portrait of Souza. Credit: Manu Parekh

Perhaps right from your childhood, from the beginning of your interest in art, these things must have felt interesting…but the perspectives or directions that you saw, the fascination you had for village life, for instance, must be different now. You are talking about village life and the fascination it has for you, but that world does not exist anymore. Yes, a village is still a village, but the village has changed. So, what do you think about this? The shifts that happen in an artist’s life, the way Rabindranath Tagore saw a zamindari world and over time his thoughts changed, and then he chose not to participate in Congress-style nationalism but instead he began to bring something of the Santhals who lived in the villages around him into the institution he founded in Santiniketan, and at the same time he was also aiming for and desiring a universal humanism, a very Modernist way of thinking. Souza too started in Mumbai and then went to London and left that and went to New York, then kept returning to a transforming India (Goa too had changed in this time). What has happened to you between age sixteen and the present that has impacted your art and your thinking?

First of all, I am not from a village. I am from Ahmedabad. My connection to the village is through my grandmother who lived near Nadiad, where we went during our summer holidays and through Madhvi, my wife, who is from a village as well.

My father was a barber. The way his hands moved was miraculous, it was craft. He was a great film and theatre buff – he gave this to me as my inheritance. From about age eight, I began to go to the movies with him.

We always bought the lowest priced ticket. Once we went to see Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Shaheed’ and when we reached the window after being in line, it was sold out. My father asked, ‘Shall we sit in line for the next show?’ That was his nature, he was passionate.

When I got the Padma Shri, Dilip Kumar was sitting in front of me in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. When we came out, and a crowd surrounded him, I stood apart, lost in thought. I was back at Kishan Cinema on the footpath and was thinking about that day with my father. Both he and Madhvi’s father, a Gandhian, whom I knew since I was twelve, have been such big influences in my life. In the days when I went to J. J. [School of Art], there were only two places that attracted me – Paris and Kolkata. I had a huge attraction to these cities; Kolkata because of painting, theatre and Rabindranath Tagore, who I already felt was a great painter. When I reached Kolkata in 1965, and would argue the case for Rabindranath as a great painter, very few would agree or accept – there was a doubt about his status as an artist. Today he is accepted.

Jaswant Thakkar, the great theatre actor, introduced me to Tagore’s Muktadhara, which we staged in Gujarati for Tagore’s birth centenary (I was twenty-five and played the role of eighty-year-old Viswajit). Because of Jaswant Thakkar’s involvement with the Indian People’s Theatre Association, many of its members were very friendly with us; whenever Prithviraj Kapoor or Balraj Sahni came to town, they came to meet us and I have rehearsed in front of both of them. IPTA and its members had a great impact during that period, the Communist Party was not divided and socialist thinking inspired work like Balraj Sahni’s Do Bigha Zameen and the works of Shailendra, Sahir Ludhianvi and Inder Raj Anand (the screenwriter for many of Raj Kapoor’s films).

The dancer. Credit: Manu Parekh

What was the impact of IPTA on your art?

In 1963, I joined the Weavers Service Centre, an initiative of the All-India Handloom Board, under the leadership of Pupul Jayakar. To leave the theatre world and then take up the job – I only ever had one – in craft was the impact of both Gandhian thinking as well as IPTA. To understand the problems of village people…

Are you bothered by the changes in Indian art?

No. When I started making money from painting, people criticized me a great deal. I appreciated that and I used that criticism. Many people never could do substantial work because of which they struggled financially all the time. Because of the changes, I was able to paint full-time.

Excerpted with permission from Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, by Manu Parekh, Aleph Book Company.

The forest. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Portrait of landscape. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

The family. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Graffiti of Goddess in wood. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Flower vase in the landscape. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Movement of spirit. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

The family IV. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Banares landscape. Credit: Manu Parekh. Courtesy: Manu Parekh: Sixty Years of Selected Works, Aleph Book Company.

Credits : Scroll.in
https://scroll.in/magazine/851409/artist-manu-parekh-on-the-art-market-rabindranath-tagore-and-pop-culture

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First ASEAN-India Artist’s Camp gets underway at Udaipur

visionsart — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 05:11:00 +0000

An ASEAN-India Artist’s Camp has got under way at Udaipur to mark the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-India Dialogue.

The event, which is being organised by the External Affairs Ministry in collaboration with NGO Seher, will run September 21-29 at The Ananta in Udaipur. It was launched in the national capital on Wednesday in the presence of Secretary (East) Preeti Saran.

Work by Mahaveer Swami

A collection of 20 paintings, created extempore, will also be displayed in a special exhibition, which will be inaugurated at the ASEAN-India Summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modu in January 2018 in New Delhi.

By IANS | Published: 22nd September 2017 08:22 PM

http://www.indulgexpress.com/culture/art/2017/sep/22/first-asean-india-artists-camp-gets-underway-at-udaipur-3639.html

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Round About | India Modern: Art of the matter

visionsart — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 17:40:00 +0000

The art show of works by Indian masters of modern art in the city is not to be missed

‘Kamdhenu’ by Gogi Saroj Pal on display at the Punjab Kala Bhawan, Sector 16, in Chandigarh.(HT Photo)

Describing the wave of abstract art in the US way back in the sixties, American cartoonist Al Capp quipped with this pronouncement: ‘A product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered’. Similar dismissal is given to modern art in general till date in the Indian sub-continent with everyday viewers staring hard at a painting and then asking ‘Par yeh banaya kya hai?’ (What is it all about?) or ‘Changaji, ehnu kehande ne modern art!’ (So this is called modern art!)

This brings to my mind a story of two Pakistani painters, Iqbal Rashid and Ahmad Zoay. Both are no more but in the 1980s they were cult figures and in 1986 they decided to cross the Indo-Pak border at Ferozepur sans passports or visas as they were convinced that as artists of the sub-continent they had the artistic right to see Khajurao or Agra. They told this story to the Colonel and he realized that they were harmless decided to test their artistic talent. When he saw Zoay’s abstract works he dismissed it as no art but admiring the realistic work of Rashid pronounced him an artist. He commanded Zoay to improve his art! The two were kept in Ambala Jail till papers were readied to escort them back to the border they had strayed in from.

Before I get into telling more tales, let’s get to the heart of the matter of the remarkable exhibition ‘India Modern: Narratives from 20th Century Indian Art’, which showcases works of 41 artists, at the Punjab Kala Bhawan, who dared to cross the borders from tradition to modernity and excel in their art and become names to reckon with. The reason why this show is evincing so much of interest is that it is a look-back at a very significant period in our country’s art history and also demystifies it for students, connoisseurs, writers and even practitioners and teachers of art. It is not easy to make the transition from tradition to modernity in any field and so also in art.

Most noteworthy facets of these pioneers and their work is that although influenced by the West, with western art education coming to Indian schools in colonial times, it took the West a very long time to accept it. They were comfortable with Indian miniatures and iconic sculptures but ignoring the painters and sculptors who reached great heights in their works in the fusion of the west with the east. Interestingly, the only Indian painter who figured in a western compilation of the great Indian painters of the 20th Century was Rabindranath Tagore, whose work is also showcased here in the Indian Moderns.

It was heartening that Indian collectors and galleries recognized many others while the west shied away. For long reputed auctioneers like Christie’s and Sotheby’s were content to promote the traditional but the game-changer came when Indians living abroad started investing in the artists of their soil be it Tyeb Mehta, Jamini Roy, MF Husain, Ram Kumar, Vasudeo Gaitonde and many others.

Also, what is it that makes the works of the Indian moderns different from their counterparts? The answer is simple but significant the artists of the east never cut themselves off from their roots to just practice a Western fad. It was impossible to cut off the umbilical cord and reckless too with a rich centuries-old tradition of iconography and a versatile tradition of folk art. Neither did they dismiss their milieu, their people, and their emotions. So what happened was that they told their story in their own language or metaphor if you choose to call it so and thus was born a new genre called India Modern that calls out for fresh narratives.

Nirupama Dutt

Hindustan Times

http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/round-about-india-modern-art-of-the-matter/story-KzK128DUIqIo8JdSUsTsxJ.html

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How St+Art Changed The Way People View Street Art In India

visionsart — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 18:00:00 +0000

The urban India we live in today is divided on the era before and after street art. Courtesy of a group of socially responsible young adults who felt like it was their duty to give back to the cities and the inhabitants a sense of creativity and imagination that had never even been up for consideration before. Contemporary art in the country has undergone a perceptional makeover because one foundation decided it was time that art changed the face of the country—not just for outsiders; but, even for the residents of the nation.

© From L to R – Akshat Nauriyal, Content Director, Hanif Kureshi, Art Director, Giulia Ambrogi, Festival Curator, Thanish Thomas, Project Director & Arjun Bahl – Festival Director_ Photography by Naman Saraiya

In 2014, a bunch of artists came together and started a movement; although an understated one at the time, that went on to become an artistic revolution. Thereafter, Indians came to know a form of street art, through the visions and creations of St+Art India; a non-profit organization that has been adding color and creativity to the barren walls and districts of the prominent cities in the country, ever since.

“It all started back in the day when I was shooting a video for one of the first group walls that had happened, in the Hauz Khas lot. The wall was painted by Bond, Daku, Zion and a few more artists. That’s when I got in touch with the street art community,” says Akshat Nauriyal, Content Director & Co-Founder of St+Art India. At the time, Nauriyal used to share a studio with Hanif Kureshi, Art Director & Co-Founder, who in turn, introduced Nauriyal to Arjun Bahl, Festival Director & Co-Founder. Giulia Ambrogi, who at the time had been traveling in the country for an art festival in Khirki, New Delhi as well as to meet some of her Italian artist friends, came on board as the curator at the St+Art festivals. Together, the four of them, along with Thanish Thomas, Project Director & Co-Founder, paved the way for an art form that had previously been as non-existent as the advertisements on the walls.

“The idea was to move away from the elusive nature of the uptight art gallery concepts that the cities have to offer,” Nauriyal tells me. “It’s like a novelty of the rich and elite. Even someone like me feels really suffocated and constricted in an art gallery; like I’ll drop something on the art work. It’s difficult to even breathe; that’s the aura it creates.” At the time, the most one got out of supposed street art was the rather brash political signage and the in-your-face ‘gupt rog’ information that defaced the walls of the cities. What it meant was there was no background to street art and there was no connotation at all like in the West. Because of graffiti culture and vandalism, it earned a rather negative connotation. That’s where the urge stemmed from. Nauriyal reminisces one of the earliest projects they took on under the St+Art India banner, at Shahpur Jat, New Delhi. “We literally went around knocking on people’s walls, asking them if we could do this and they had no idea what we were talking about. So, we would have to show them pictures of what we had in mind,” he narrates. He explains that every new community shows an initial bit of hesitation and resistance that only comes from the fact that they don’t know what they want to do. But once they started, the entire community really opened up.

“We essentially wanted to make art more democratic,” says Nauriyal. “We want people to look at public spaces as not being sterile, plain, or non-interactive structures; but something that could also initiate conversation and, in some form, inculcate a thought process which extends from painting beautiful things to painting deeper meanings via projects and spaces that have a deeply rooted social context.” St+Art, from its inception, worked as an Indian platform for Indian artists to be exposed on a global stage which was definitely not happening before. It was to create an ecosystem around street art.

The difference was instant. The conversations changed; as did the perceptions. Before long, people were flocking to the prominent areas where, in a matter of days, art had cropped up that was worth marveling at and talking about. While earlier, any and all talks of art existed in a very small chamber—most of which was restricted to art galleries and high teas—now, every street side vendor, every kid next door and every pedestrian were discussing street art. A museum might get anywhere between 100 to 200 visitors a day; on the grandest of occasions; the St+Art India foundation had, in a short span of time, gained footfalls that crossed thousands in a day! They had started the conversation, and from there various other projects. Other artists, too, began to look at public spaces as a canvas.

Over the years, Akshat tells us they’ve worked with over 20 cultural institutions across the board. “You name a country and we’re probably speaking to their consulates over here,” he quips confidently. On an average, the organization works with approximately 25 to 30 artists, per festival. It means that by now they will have worked with over 100 to 150 artists, at least, across all festivals and projects; Indian and International. Most of their funding comes from the sponsors and partners; Asian Paints being a recurring one; year-on-year. “They see value in what we do. They understood where we were coming from and it wasn’t about just about branding. We were clear about the purpose of art being paramount and not venturing into a commercial space,” Akshat says. But, that’s just one aspect.

Being a non-profit organization that may or may not gain favour with governments and local authorities posed one of the biggest challenges initially for St+Art to grow. “When we were doing the first few festivals, it was a bit difficult working with the authorities. But, we tried to create a few landmarks within the city and activate spaces that are not really inhabited and bring art into the spaces,” Akshat says. With the creation of the Lodhi Art District, in Lodhi Colony, New Delhi and the Dadasaheb Phalke Mural in Mumbai, conversations became easier.

“People have this opinion of the government being this close-minded institution; but they are pretty open-minded, progressive and forward thinking. It may sound strange,” he reveals. “Of course, they come with their own set of obstacles but those are fairly negotiable and are also within realistic demands. It’s understandable because there’s a lot of red tape bureaucracy involved and most people have bosses that want things done their way. The point is these are partnerships we’re creating; not one-sided conversations.” Akshat and his team present sketches to the authorities following which, they identify an artist and a surface. The plan is then presented at every stage to ensure transparency. “There are ways of winning their trust which we’ve explored in our own way now and we have a certain format of approaching these projects which is why the government has been great to work with,” he further explains.

Together, the organization has worked with various government bodies, like the Delhi Police Headquarters, the BMRC in Bangalore and Mumbai. “The government also sees value in these projects; especially, with the whole idea of smart cities coming up because that’s where the world is moving. Art and culture is a huge part of building a smart city. So things are changing as well. It’s difficult for people, yes. But, overall it’s been great,” he reiterates.

As an organization, St+Art India has done approximately 6 large scale festivals so far; they’re gearing up for the next edition, soon enough. “With every festival we do, we try to have projects that are a balance of things that are good to look at versus things that are socially relevant and contextual,” Akshat explains. “I’d be lying if I said all the projects we do are socially relevant and I’d be lying if I said all the projects are just aesthetically pleasing.” Depending on the artist that they’re working with the team decides on a project basis on the location. This also means having some boundaries of the kind of work that they put out in the public domain. “We stay away from overtly political and religious statements, or picking sides on news events. This doesn’t mean that we don’t make statements, or don’t challenge the society and the norms on things that are happening,” he shares.

In 2015, for instance, St+Art, along with the government body, got Olek, a well known crochet artist, to create a massive artwork on the walls of the famous night shelter in Sarai Kale Khan to attract the homeless and make them aware of the Rain Baseras project—a project of night shelters created around the city by the government for the homeless. Similarly, in 2016, Banglore-based artist, Shilo Shiv Suleman teamed up with a government foundation called, Sewing New Futures—an organization that works for the betterment of women forced into sex trafficking in the Najafgarh area—and, along with volunteers from the foundation, painted one of the walls in the Lodhi Art District. The mural itself, tells the story of an older woman telling a younger woman that life is going to get better and to not lose hope. In yet another collaboration, St+Art came together with the Aravani Art Project in Banaglore which works with transgender people; bringing them out in the public spaces to let them paint, get them visibility and show people that they are skilled at many other things in life, rather than just the small opportunities that society gives them.

Art can be the ideal medium for putting out a social message. The role that St+Art as an organization plays today is not just to brighten someone’s day up with beautiful artwork; but, to provoke a socially relevant statement. It’s an important measure, as a reflection of society and an artist. “Because of the massive projection and reach it can have, as a medium, it stands to be able to project a lot more voices to a lot more people than most mediums we have today; especially compared to the gallery structure which is marginalising people,” Akshat opines.

Like any emerging scene, it takes time to get the mass’ attention and the artists to get to the purview of the masses. But, the important point is, the conversation has begun. The word is out and it’s spreading, like wildfire—wall to wall; city to city. “When we started off there wasn’t some ‘How To Do Street Art Festival In India’ manual. We’ve written that manual as we went along,” Akshat reminds us. Thanks to the digital boom, St+Art has become a global medium based on imagery. “Maybe the whole country doesn’t know about street art in India; but that doesn’t mean that worldwide we’re not visible,” Akshat quips. “Our audience is global. We have an organic following built on the basis of the work and appreciation. It’s okay to cater only to the people who care about you rather than catering to 10,000 people out of which 9,000 people don’t care.”

http://www.mensxp.com/culture/arts/39512-how-st-art-changed-the-way-people-view-street-art-in-india.html

Credits – DESSIDRE FLEMING SEP 12, 2017

The post How St+Art Changed The Way People View Street Art In India first appeared on Indian Art News.

ArtBAB Working To Communicate Art Across Borders

visionsart — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 17:16:00 +0000

ArtBAB has worked with artists of India and had an excellent participation. Amid great participation from India, there has been a fantastic interaction with Indian artists

ArtBAB (Art Bahrain Across Borders), an initiative under patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of the King of Bahrain is an international fair and hosts leading artists from all over the world – UK, Russia, Africa, Bahrain, France, Ukraine, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, India, Italy and USA among other countries. The latest edition of the Fair is going to be organized from 14th to 18th March 2018 in Bahrain.

ArtBAB has played an instrumental role in promoting Bahrain’s contemporary art scene with Art Select.

Kaneka Subberwal Fair Director of ArtBAB told BW Businessworld, “I have developed a relationship with Bahrain since my first trip in 2008. I took special interest and fondness to the artists of Bahrain, who are extremely talented, very diverse in their technique, exposure, and expression. I felt there was a need to communicate their talent across borders and connect the world through art to Bahrain.”

ArtBAB has worked with artists of India and had an excellent participation. Amid great participation from India, there has been a fantastic interaction with Indian artists.

Artists should not be restricted to tiers. The art fair has stands where artists can purchase stands and showcase their art. If an artist has the knowledge, exposure, then there isn’t any issue with selling as well.

India has a plethora of artists so selling art should not be an issue and that is something very niche to ArtBAB.

Kaneka shared, “We have something called BAB Pavilion. We give out an open call to nationals in Bahrain. They apply for the pavilion and are selected by a panel which allows three works per artist. All this is sponsored by the government for empowering the artists.”

ArtBAB wants to connect the Bahrinian artists across the world and bring them to Bahrain, because of its rich legacy, heritage and the power to observe art. One of the main spines of the project is agency Tamkeen, a funding company which focuses on employment.

The art fair brings ample opportunities for a number of people involved in designing. Any kind of exchange of human capital bridges the gap.

Kaneka shared, “I see a lot of art movement in India. As an audience, Indians are very versatile in their approach. There is huge education; art has been going on for generations. There is a huge capacity to take up roles, which we are also banking on for our artists.”

About the total participation in the International art fair, she added, “We had 48 participants in the first year and 65 last year, which is a considerable improvement. We are hoping to go much higher this year. We did revenue of around Rs 2.5 crore and are planning to go 1.5 times higher this year.”

We have an education program, where artists interact with each other and gain experience. The main aim is to support artists and building bridges with the countries.

This year in India, ArtBAB has partnered with a philanthropist Rouble Nagi to showcase a first of its kind art initiative welcoming Bahraini contemporary artists and connecting creative enthusiasts from India and Bahrain through an unparalleled exchange program of artist involvements. Under the initiative, Bahraini artists will visit India to display their 30-35 exclusive art works in Delhi and Mumbai in the months of October and November respectively.

Credits : http://businessworld.in/article/ArtBAB-Working-To-Communicate-Art-Across-Borders/06-09-2017-125469/

Rajguru Tandon

The post ArtBAB Working To Communicate Art Across Borders first appeared on Indian Art News.

Why the fine art auction world is in flux

visionsart — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 17:09:00 +0000

The art world is evolving to cope with the fragmentation of the market. Traditional auction business models are now facing tough competition from exclusively online auctions, with lower running costs

When you think of an art auction, what do you picture? A man with a gavel, standing next to a priceless masterpiece while a well-dressed audience make bids with furtive hand gestures; twitch, and you might accidentally lose a small fortune. Yes, it’s thrilling theatre, but it can also be a little daunting.

Enter Tim Goodman. After a career spanning 40 years in the auction business, he is a man on a mission to shake up the industry.

While the internet had a massive effect on many auctioneers, the worlds of fine art and antiques remain dominated by the same few historic houses. But for how long? “I believe the future lies in a new business model for fine art auctioneering,” says Goodman, formerly Australian head of Bonhams and later Sotheby’s. “The traditional auction business model is no longer sustainable.”

That is why Goodman has just launched an online auction: Fine Art Bourse (FAB). His desire is to refresh the entire auction world and attract completely new audiences. The aim of FAB, he says, is to “democratise the secondary art market and make more art more accessible to more people”.

FAB’s first sale, “Erotic, Fetish & Queer Art & Objects”, takes place on 25 September, and has already attracted controversy following Facebook’s refusal to post advertisements for the sale.

The images include La Toilette by Bernard Fleetwood-Walker and a 19th-century silver cigarette case featuring a nude after the French Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme. Facebook blocked the images and locked FAB’s account on grounds of indecency.

Following what he saw as unfair censorship, Goodman addressed an open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, expressing his outrage over the platform’s inability to distinguish between pornography and fine art.

“Facebook seems to be using its monopoly over social interaction to impose absurd standards of political correctness,” he wrote. “The problem is not… conservative advertising guidelines, [but] a system that doesn’t allow for real judgement.”

But Facebook is not the only big name that Goodman is now up against. His new venture is adopting digital technology to break apart the stronghold of the industry’s power players. Unlike traditional auction houses, with their expensive galleries and doorstopper catalogues (which are environmentally unfriendly, says Goodman), FAB focuses on what really matters to both buyers and sellers.

“My model lies in slashing costs in three areas: bricks and mortar, human resources and printing,” explains Goodman. Auctions take place purely online, specialists are hired for specific projects as needed and there are no printed catalogues.

These cost efficiencies, combined with locating the business in Hong Kong, which has no indirect tax nor copyright and artist resale royalty charges, have allowed FAB to offer the tempting prospect of 5 per cent premiums. With fees at traditional auction outlets nearing 20 per cent for sellers and 25 per cent for buyers, Goodman sees the internet as a way to overturn the more old-fashioned models of auctioneering.

It’s not just about cutting costs; FAB offers impressive flexibility, too. “As the world unremittingly grows more dependent on mobile devices,” says Goodman, “it only makes sense for art to join the ranks of industries disrupted by digital technology.

“With each coming generation, the leap to purchasing art online gets smaller and smaller, with portals like Instagram changing the dialogue by providing a platform for a new generation of younger people to admire influencers, source artists and purchase art without third-party intervention.”

Credits – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/barnebys-auctions/why-fine-art-auction-world-is-in-flux/
Tom Jeffreys

The post Why the fine art auction world is in flux first appeared on Indian Art News.

GST bad for already struggling art industry: Jagannath Panda

visionsart — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 12:16:00 +0000

GST aims at making the tax structure uniform across India but is bad for the already struggling art industry, which needs more incentives and opportunities to grow, says renowned artist Jagannath Panda.

For the Odisha-born artist, who is showcasing his new series of works in a solo exhibition, titled ‘Crystal Cities’, after a seven-year hiatus, taxation is a sensitive topic for artists struggling to survive.
Questioning the uniform Goods and Services Tax law, he asks how “intellectual art” can be compared to an industrial commodity.

“It is bad because you can’t look at any creative intellectual product as a commodity. It is not a mass product.

Sometimes we sell and sometimes we don’t. And if the government compares it to any industrial product, it is not fair to the artist,” Panda told PTI.
He recalls the days of his own struggle when putting up an art show posed huge challenges. From finding an affordable place to showcase art works to gathering support from sponsors, Panda has overcome several hurdles in his artistic journey.

“I belong to Bhubaneswar in Odisha. My father was a government employee and we lived in a small house there. We are a big family and supporting education in an art school was a challenge for my father.”

After I passed out from M S University in Baroda, the lack of government resources to showcase my works became a major hurdle. When you are new in the market, reaching out to private studios also becomes difficult.”

The situation has not changed much since he believes.
“I think we should get many more incentives and opportunities. Because if we look back, not many new mediums have come up… there are not many opportunities for younger artists,” he said.
Panda, 47, compares the struggling state of the Indian art industry with China, where artists get massive backing from the government.

“Whenever I analyse the present state of our industry, the only example that comes to my mind is China. Chinese artists produce massive art works and they do the business of billions which adds to the economy of their country.

“Unlike India, there are a lot of incentives given by the government…they don’t own any land for the studio but the government gives them massive studio spaces for a very little amount. In India, we struggle to get space and are dependent on private entities,” he said. His recent exhibition reflects some concerns of an artist, deeply connected with contemporary events. A mixed bag of paintings, sculptures and photographs, Panda’s new paintings comment on rapid urbanisation and issues of privacy in a new world dominated by social media. Drawing from the tensions of urbanised environments, the artist is clearly exploring his concerns with urbanisation and dislocation, social and economic injustice and shifts in cultural paradigms.

Credits – http://echoofindia.com/new-delhi-gst-bad-already-struggling-art-industry-jagannath-panda-132510

The post GST bad for already struggling art industry: Jagannath Panda first appeared on Indian Art News.