Once again Pseudorealism

After the India Art Summit, New Delhi was waiting for something more. The art world is again warming up, says one news daily, but no big shows. Now the long wait is likely to be over as Devajyoti Ray,one of Capital’s gift to the booming Indian art market will be showcasing his recent works at New Delhi’s premier gallery, the Sridharani.
Ray has grown in the past five years from a sole crusader for his genre

“Pseudorealism‘ to an artist of great international following with Dubai based Ramee Group and Cinnamon Art House following him all through.

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Ray’s last year’s show in Dubai had been a grand success which experts say was one to have happened in many years. Even Sacha Jafri show previous to that could not generate the heat that Ray with his new style generated.

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New Delhi is Ray’s home turf and the show is likely to be attract a lot of viewers. Ray’s bold new colourful style is particularly very popular among the art students of the capital and they are also like to come in big numbers.

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Devajyoti Ray’s Show will be introduced by AR Raju, ex-Director of Travancore gallery and an essay will also be presented on Ray’s Pseudorealism by eidtor of Infdian Contemporary Art Journal, Mr Rajendra.

Art India Summit 2009: Lost Opportunity Once Again

As the spell of recession recedes, New Delhi gears up for another Art Summit in August. A high profile event advertised with money from Government exchequer, it is likely to indicate the trends that are likely to emerge in the Indian art market in the last quarter of 2009.

But as usual, the Government of India remains slow in learning form its past mistakes. The last years show did not feature MF Husain. This year too the government could not gather to put up his works. Husain is India’s greatest ambasador of art and his face is also the most well recogniszed in international market. Yet Husain is not being showcased. This has led to the withdrawal of works by Farhad Husain, an artist in his own right.  This weak-kneed attitude of government has been criticized by many important artists like Vivan Sundaram, Devajyoti Ray, Bose Krishnamachari and critics like Suneet Chopra and AR Raju.

The government has also taken care in keeping these vociferous coterie  out of the Summit. So one cannot see any work of Bose in the summit. Devajyoti Ray and Vivan Sundaram will also be conspicuously absent. The show has also been criticized for being careless about regional artists. Thus one cannot find Vaikunthan, Shibu Natesan, Ganesh Haloi, BR Panesar or Manu Parekh, perhaps because these artists do not stay in either Delhi or Mumbai.

Halls have been given to anybody who could pay, irrespctive of what the galleries were willing to display. Thus no Hyderabad based gallery is participating. And apart from a new gallery called Akar Prakar, no gallery is participating from Kolkata either. Important galleries like Pundole, Art Konsult, Art Eterne, Shrishti and Kalakriti will remain absent.  

So at the end what is going to bee seen at the Art India Summit? Well, the same old names of Bombay club like Jitish Kallat, Chintan Upadhyay and Subodh Gupta, even though in the past one year their works returned from all shows without a single sale. Supported by certain industrial houses and spurious auction houses, these artists had reached great heights in a very short time. Their prices were artificially pushed up by some galleries like Bodhi and Sakshi which went out of business after that.

In the post recession period the works of these artists are not likely to ever reach the level that they reached in the pre-recession boom. In a recently held Sanghai show named “Chindia”, these artist sold absolutely nothing. Yet how come they are being showcased with such fanfare?

The problem is the bureaucratic way of functioning of the Ministry of Culture in India. It is time that the board of the Art India Summit takes in intellectuals from various fields to frame out policies regarding allotment of halls, giving less importance to revenue generation and more to quality.

Expressions of Our Times

The Manmohan Singh government is back in power and it is time for euphoria in the business world.  The sensex has jumped, the business leaders have said cheeese in front of the camera and as the market has warmed up to political stability, the art sector has also started showing signs of revival.

Paintings of Sanjay Bhattacharya, Devajyoti Ray and Laxman Aley at display at India Habitat Centre

For long important artists were cancelling their shows because there were no takers for their stuff. But now they are all coming out of their closets once again.

To begin with the first major offering of art would be a show of prominent new generation artists in New Delhi’s prestigious Visual Arts Gallery at India Habitat Centre. Curated by AR Raju, the ex-director of Travancore Academy, the show will be held under the aegis of Galerie Art Eterne. 

When some of the best galleries like Bodhi and DAG were shutting down their outlets in the face of recession, Art Eterne continued to strive ahead. Sudhanshu Paliwal, the gallery’s chief patron had maintained a low key profile during the last one year but supported its artists fully. No wonder that now the same artists are grouping around him.

Some of the best known contemporary names in Indian art like Sanjay Bhattacharya,  Devajyoti Ray and Laxman Aley are putting up their paintings for Art Eterne’s  show  alongside emerging artists like Anand Goswami, Mohan Singh and Vijender Sharma. One would also be surprised to see the works of  newcomer  Raushanallah,  who is being thought of  as perhaps the next big name in India art. A very powerful artist, Raushanallah is the only abstractionist in the group.

The show would include works of veteran artists like Jatin Das, Niren Sengupta and Jai Jharotia too.  What is interesting is that for the first time such a myriad group has assembled under one roof.  Complete freedom was given to artists by AR Raju, the curator in matter of subject,  medium or style. This encouraged the artists to put forward their new experimental works alongside their works in their accepted signature styles.

One can thus see new water colours of Sanjay Bhattacharya alongside his powerful canvas works. One can also see Devajyoti Ray’s new works made in tribute to Bridget Riley. One can also see the new complex works of Laxman Aley.  Newcomer  Raushanallah’s bold abstracts which have earlier generated curiosity in other cities is also proving to be a big attraction.

Overall it is a very warm show,  perhaps the biggest show in New Delhi in the past six months. Just the right kind of show that was needed to welcome the coming art season and set the trend for the rest of the year.

The show will be on from 27th May to 31st May at Visual Arts Gallery of India Habitat Centre.

Newer Strategies for Art Business

As the recession in India enters its third quarter, the art market moves from luke-warm to cold. Nervous with such developments, galleries are looking for new strategies for the coming years. 

One of the emerging options now is to buy for the future with an eye to reap profit after at least two quarters. Old masters whose works are already very highly priced may not reach their pre-recession prices in the near future. Younger artists like Riyas Komu and Jitish Kallat who have increased their prices phenomenally in 2007 are also likely to sell less now.

Chippa Sudhakar

But emerging artists whose prices are low are good baits now. Artists like Devajyoti Ray, Sachin Jaltare, Chippa Sudhakar and Gurusiddappa are making new waves in Europe and Middle-East, even though their works in India are affordable. All these atists are available for verification when called for and their works are available with only a few select galleries which makes buying easy and faking difficult. Investment in works of these artists are likely to bring profits after two quarters.

Galerie Art Eterne had recently held a show at New Delhi titled “First Rattle (before the momentum of the new year takes over)”. As the name suggests, it was to be indicative of the trends for the future. The show had works of old masters like Husain and Jogen Chowdhuri but what sold were works of Devajyoti Ray, Purushottan Talmane and new comer Anita Singh. Scared by the recent unearthing of fakes of Raza, Subodh Gupta, Husain and Jogen Choudhuri, buyers at the show wanted verification from the artists directly before buying any piece of work. Younger artists were all available either at the show or on phone. But older artists were not.

Another emerging options for the art galleries is to downsize their staff, reduce expenditure on cataloging and publicity.  Gallery Threshold and Art Konsult, two of New Delhi’s important galleries are closing down their outlets. Others like Bodhi Art and Delhi Art Gallery are downsizing their staff. Gallery Espace and Vadhera are not doing any show in the coming year and would sell works only from their regular outlets. Expenditure on installation works is also likely to go waste now as buyers are not willing to stock up big, unweildy art works which may not bring  immediate returns. Paintings are the order of the day.

Emami’s Art Auction

Emami Group’s second major auction of contemporary Indian Art was recently held at Kolkata’s Emami Tower. The auction was one of the largest held in recent years and was launched amid much expectations. The show was supposed to be a trend-indicator for the coming year. Eami – Chisel, a collaboration between Emami Group and Chisel Arts was supposed to launch an exclusive Television Channel also soon after the auctions. In the present economic downturn when art market is showing massive stagnation, Emami’s show was watched by all the major operators in the market.

But alas, the show has turned to dash all hopes of a revival of art market in India.  Against an expectation of sales to the tune of Rs 100 Crores, the show registered only 5% of what was expected. Insiders say the actual figure was probably lower. Out of 103 works of 89 first rung artists of India, the show saw sales of only a few of the big names. 

The auction results naturally is creating flutters and many of the upcoming galleries are now not likely to put up art shows in the next quarter. Already New Delhi based Bodhi Arts has cancelled one of its major shows at Travancore Art Gallery this year. Mumbai based Sakshi is also cancelling it outstation shows. Hyderabad based Kalakriti Gallery whic hold a regular art fair at Hyderabad is doing the show in  a scaled down manner.

But the overall fear amongst art galleries is probably indicative of a herd instinct rather than based on solid logic. Art galleries who depend exclusively on sale of art-works by old masters may not gain much at this time as the prices of old masters are not likely to rise any more in near future. However market for the upcoming artists is best now.

Also artists like Shakila, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Devajyoti Ray, Shibu Natesan, Hema Upadhyay, E B Dethan, etc, whose prices have not risen much during the last boom in art market are bestbaits now. Due to the current recession, these artists are not increasing their prices now. But once the art market picks ups they are likely to shoot up.

Galleries like Art Eterne, Cinnamon, Nature Morte, are now targetting this set of artists. So all is not bad at the art-front. Nonetheless a full fledged growth in the art market is likely to be seen from March onwards.

Nifty, Sensex and Art

The south-moving graph of NIfty and Sensex has made its impact on the entire economy. It is no wonder that the art market has also got hit by it.  During the previous two years prices of many Indian artists (Subodh Gupta, Jogen Choudhuri,  Adimoolam, Kishen Khanna ) have increased more than six folds. Collectors had been looking at such art works as investible options. But now faced with the liquidity-crunch, collectors are trying to offload their art-stocks.

Digital Print on paper by Chitra Ganesh

Unfortunately Art-works are not as liquid as NSE scrips and so the art market is now faced with a situation where everyone is willing to sell and none to buy. Important galleries like Sakshi and Bodhi are finding no buyers at all. In the past two months galleries have cancelled their shows in India and are trying more to organise shows abroad hoping to rope in foreign collectors. However the artists represented at such shows are already so over-priced that possibility of further sales is almost impossible.

The Indian Art market has broadly speaking four sets of buyers. The first set collects works of old masters like Souza, Jamini Roy and Hemen Majumdar. The set back in art market is not likely to affect this section.

The second section concentrates on trading in contemporary masters. This section has invested huge amounts in works of contemporary young artists like Subodh Gupta, Chintan Upadhyay, Adimoolam, Laxman Aley and others. Often this section has treated art as investment for quick gains and along with galleries they have traded in art works among themselves thereby pushing up the prices artificially. With overall boom in Indian economy and easy liquidity, such an inflation in art prices was sustainable. But now this section of collectors is the worst hit.

The third section of art collectors who had been traditionally investing in art that they loved are however much better off. Many of the second rung contemporary artists whose prices have not increased much in the past two years are now being seen as best investible options. Their prices are realistic and are decided by artists themselves. So they are not hit by the liquidity-crunch or the overholding of their stocks. Thus we see galleries like Sudharts,  Kalakriti, and web-based art galleries like Indianartcollectors, etc taking over gallery spaces at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre and Mumbai’s Museum Gallery to put up shows of imporatnt artists whose prices are still quite realistic.

Overall it is therefore   not as bad as it seemed initially in  the art market. The trends show not a fall in art investment but a shift in investment from contemporary masters to rising stars like Devajyoti Ray, Chitra Ganesh, Manoj Naik, Shibu Natesan and others

Art Summit in New Delhi

With a budget of more than two crores and with more than forty particiating comapanies, art-houses, auction-houses and galleries, India’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has organised the first ever summit of art in the capital city of New Delhi. The Ministry has roped in Sotheby’s to sponsor the show, and struck upon partnerships with CNBC for TV coverage and online site the indianartcollectors.com for online publicity. The summit earmarked days for forum discussions where important players like collectors, artists, art-house officials were supposed to interract.

Painting of Devajyoti Ray presented by IndianArtCollectors.com

Nonetheless, amid much fanfare though the summit had started, it remained largely a regional affair as mostly galleries of New Delhi participated in the summit. Mumbai based art-houses like Sakshi and Pundole, Hyderabad based Srishti and Kalakriti have remained away from the summit. Other Important arthouses like Bodhi, Vadhera, Delhi Art Gallery also backed out at the last moment.

The forums that were supposed to attract large audiences, also remained low-key affairs as most of the important artists did not participate in the discussions. The international observers had gone on record that they had expected more varied topics of discussion and lively debates on modern trends in Indian Art like Pseudorealism, fusion of modern technology with traditional motifs, or neo-tantric art.

Yet under government initiation, this was was the first evert art-summit in India which will be henceforth repeated every year. Officials when contacted said that the lessons learnt this year will be helpful in improving the summit next year. Even though the response thisyear had been lukewarm, bookings for this year has started indicating a grand event in 2009.

Indian Art heads towards Middle East

For many Indian Galleries Dubai is perhaps the next destination. The year began with the mammoth auction and show organised by the Christie’s of veteran Indian artists on May 24. The show was significant particulalry because its time coincided with a similar show organised by the rival auction house Sotheby’s in London on May 23.

A Dubai Show in progress

According to one analysis, Dubai’s art market is likely to grow faster than any other market in the next five years. And this is likely to be advantageous to Indian art galleries more than anyone else. The large Indian population, the similarity in cultures between middle east and the Indian sub-continent and the geographical proximity to India are all likely to help the Indian artists the most in this upcoming art market.

At this stage Dubai’s art-scene is dominated by interest in Indian antiques, crafts, jewellery and fashion. But the burgeoning prices of art-works of Indian artists is being watched by the new generation of indian investors in Dubai. They were the main participants in the auctions. In days to come they are likely to become important patrons of Indian art. A host of galleries have also opened up in Dubai with proprietors of Indian origin and are lining up a series of exhibitions of contemporary Indian artists. In June this year Majlis Gallery organised a show of Sachha Jafri and then in September we are like to see the inaugural show of Cinnamon Art House featuring 16 contemporary Indian artists. With artists like Adimoolan, Raza, Jogen Chowdhuri selling like hot cakes it is not far when younger artists would also find a foothold in Dubai.

Kolkata’s MoMA

Kolkata will soon have the country’s first Muesum of modern Art in the model of New York’s MoMA. The project will cost a total of $50 mn and it will be joint venture involving the state, the central government and the private sector. The Government of West Bengal has allotted Rs 135 crore, including the 10-acre Rajarhat plot, for the project. Important Auctioneers, Arthouses and artists are coming together to raise funds for the ambitious project. In  recently held auction $15,10,560 was raised by Sothebey’s in London. Other such activities are likely to be held soon.

In the meanwhile the management of the KMoMA has already entrusted the building of the Museum to international architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. The building will have four wings, with one wing devoted to Indian Art and another wing entirely devoted to other East Asian Countries. There would also be a western wing which would include Europe, America and the Middle east. One wing would be called the academic wing meant for multidisciplinary resources. 

As can be understood, the Indian Wing will have specific halls devoted to Indian Masters, Contemporary Artists and space for current shows.

A Museum of this scale is the first of its kind. It will definitely bring Kolkata its lost prestige in the world of Art. In the past decade, Mumbai, Vadodara and New Delhi had seen more business in art than Kolkata. Since the decay of the Society of Contemporary Artists, newer artists of the city had migrated to Mumbai and Delhi returning occasionally to showcase their works. Artists like Paresh Maity, Devajyoti Ray, Jayashree Chakrabarti are today big names in Indian art. Yet they have not showcased their works in Kolkata for a very long time. Hope that the new Kolkata Museum would be able to reverse the trend.

Nandalal Bose travels to San Diego

Nandalal Bose, the propellor of Bengal School of Art and the greatest known name from Tagore’s Kalabhavan had always been revered in the Indian Subcontinent. Yet few knows that Bose had never travelled abroad, neither had he ever held any show outside India. Even when Government of India had declared his works as national treasures, his paintings were not showcased outside the country. Now after 42 years of his death Professor Pramod Chandra and Professor George P Bickford both emeritus of Harvard University have cometogether with India’s National Gallery of Modern art to put up a retrospective of Nandalal Bose’s works at San Diego’s Museum of Art.

The exhibition is also significant as it aims at telling the story of the begining of modernism in Indian art. It aims at eduucating the American Art lovers about the time when India was a colony of the British Empire and art was influnced by the colonial British School styles. It was in this environment when people like Nandalal Bose alongside Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore had started a revivalist movement against the fashion of the day.

The exhibition takes one for a guided tour through the times, when Bose was appointed Chief of Art School at Tagore’s Kalabhavan, when Bose was asked by Gandhi to paint posters for political campaigns and when Bose had nurtured younger artists who were later to become some India’s best names like Jamini Roy and Ramkinker Baij.