New Art Genre

2009-08-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

Delhi Art Summit 2009

The art market is finally showing signs of picking up as galleries in Delhi have started their showcasings once again. In the month of July Galerie Art Eterne put a unique show of new art works of some of Delhi's best known names like Sanjay Bhattacharya, Devajyoti Ray, Niren Sengupta, Jai Jharotia and Krishnendu Porel. The show witnessed a huge draw and was well covered by the starving art media.

Devajyoti Ray's Work recently shown by Shrishti Gallery

Following the huge success of this show, Vadhera, Art Konsult and Art Musings put up some more thought provoking shows. With the coming of Art India Summit now, the art market is likely to get a further boost upwards.

The recession that had hit the Indian art market has driven home some basic facts that were hitherto being ignore by the Indian buyers and dealers. Firstly it has proved almost irreversibly that investing in big names is not always beneficial. So scared the market is now of big names that most of the galleries participating in the Art India Summit are not showcasing names like Bose Krishnamachari, Sanatan Dinda, TV Santosh, Chitra Ganesh, Manish Pushkale, etc. Two years back these names were projected as the best in Indian art. Today these names have become untouchable.

Artists like Jitish Kallat, Chintan Upadhyay and even Subodh Gupta are clearly not hot favourites either. The recession has taught the India buyer that one should invest in art only when the work is good.

The aggressive marketing supported by large money which was till date being practised by a host of galleries is now giving way to good old low profile shows. So called big galleries like Bodhi and sakshi are already closing doors. Delhi Art Gallery's cocktails parties are also on the way out. The galleries that have done best in recent past are those which have invested in talent and sold comparitively reasonably priced artworks of excellent quality. Gallery Art Eterne is one. The other name that is coming up these days is that if Cinnamon Art Gallery which specializes in works of Hussain and Anish Kapoor. The gallery is now opening an outlet in Mumbai. The other Gallery that has come up recently is Shrishti.

This Hyderabad based gallery was established ten years back and had popularised Vaikunthan when Vaikunthan was a nobody. It worked closely with artists like Laxma Goud, Sachin Jaltare and KC Patnaik. Its had given launching pad to many upcoming artists. Now the gallery is venturing into Delhi's upmarket art world with a host of shows starting with a solo show of artist Devajyoti Ray at Sridharani Gallery in October 2009.

Devajyoti Ray's art works are available in very limited quantity with only a few selected and reputed galleries in India like Siddhartha Tagore's Art Konsult, Sudhanshu Paliwal's Art Etrne and now Shrishti. The rare collection of Ray's works which will now be displayed by Shrishti is likely to be a major art even in the capital in the coming winter.

If this exhibition succeeds, we are likely to see a host of new galleries which had been dormant for a long time to take over the responsibility of generating the next boom in art world. We hope Shrishti Gallery will be one of these galleries.

2009-05-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

Raushanallah

Originality is a rare phenomenon, more so in the art field, where young artists seldom get encouragement from the patrons. Yet at times we come accross such new artists who bring out absolutely new style of works. Raushanallah. Y is one such artist. An Abstractionist, Raushanallah has achieved a new height by mixing wash technique and free relasing of colours like in water colours to create illusions which are rarely seen in art.

Raushanallah, born in Bangalore is a self taught artist but have been associated with many important artists like Nilanjan Guin and Balraj Panesar. He had never originally intended to join the fine-art field as he was successful in his work as an art designer. An exhibition of his works at Bangalore proved immensely successful and since then Raushanallah started devoting a large part of his time to painting. His works are now being exhibitied by important galleries like Art Eterne, Planet Art and Dubai based Cinnamon Art House.

This year Raushanallah is also being invited for a show where some of the stalwarts like Sanjay Bhattacharya, Devajyoti Ray and Laxman Aley are participating. the exhibition titled "Expressions of our times" will be held between 27th and 31st May at New Delhi's India Habitat Centre.

2009-04-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Art is not selling, announces Newsweek this month. But according to Eric Fischl this is probably good for the art world as this is likely to bring in the long lost 'sanity'. Sanity is the keyword. This is true for India also as galleries all over the country are organising seminars, talk-shows to at least remain in news if not sell. And in all these seminars, galleries are emphasising the point that even though investements in art works may not bring in big returns in immediate future, there is still a market for good works. Investement in good works would always remain worthwhile.

So how do we know as what are good works?

Dhoomimal Gallery in New Delhi had recently held a show of art works of important Indian artists. The show was titled : Drawing Essentials. The gallery's owner Smt Uma Jain (the one who was once caught selling fakes of Raza) told press correspondents, " we want to bring back sanity in Indian art. We want to show how drawing had remained the most important aspect of good art. " Uma Jain then went on to tell how young artists these days are ignoring the basics of art and trying to produce in large quantites so as to sell. She urged the young artists to follow the masters and show more dedication.

Much though Uma Jain is correct in her assesment about young generation of artists, it however cannot be ignored that it is the galleries that have pushed these artists towards this mode. In 2001 we saw the emergence of Chintan Upadhyay. What did Chintan Upadhyay do? He used graphic designers to make for him huge prinouts on which he signed his own name. Then came Riyas Komu who went a step further and did not even bother to use his brush. He simply asked his studio assistant to take out huge printouts of some photographs. These photographs were then displayed in so called reputed galleries like Sakshi and Bose Pascia. Another example is Subodh Gupta who had left his innovative and interractive way of working for making huge steel scultures. Gupta never made them himself. He placed orders with a factory in Beijing to make for him the sculptures.

Subodh Gupta, Chintan Upadhyay and Riyas Komu have three things in common. They are young. They do not do anything themselves and make use of mechanics, graphic designers, etc to make works for them. And all of them have the backing of big galleries. There are others too like Bose Krishnamachari who recently planted a readymade dustbin in a gallery and called it art.

The question is if these had been art for so long, why this sudden emphasis on drawing, colouring, etc? Because the truth is that these so called art works are not selling anymore.

When the art market was in boom, one could buy and sell these works always making some profit in between. Galleries and investors played a big role in making hypes around certain artists and these artists worked closely with them and produced in mass scale. It is learnt that some artists like Manish Pushkale and Chintan Upadhyay had produced more than a hundred work every year.

Buyers were definitely cheated during the boom in Indian art. But buyers cannot complain either as most of those who had been investing in art were having profit in mind and not aesthetics. In the mad rush that we had observed in the boom period, art-critics, artists and art-academicians took a back seat as nobody bothered to ask them where to put their money. Galleru owner who dubiously called themselves curators ruled the roost.

Now when the hype is over, everybody is realisng their mistake. Dhoomimal's exhibition and talk show is significant in this context. In the talk show Suneet Chopra, marxist art-historian made scathing comments on the art market players in India and urged that art-lovers should educate themselves in art before putting money in any artist. He emphasised that good art should have ceratin basic defining features: Good drawing, Good composition and colour and above all originality.

One must add that good work should also be made by the artist himself. Lifting other people's work and passing it on as an exhibit may be called art. But it is not good art definitely.

We hope like Eric Fischl that 'sanity' will truly return now to art world.

2009-02-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

Eric Fischl , one of Europe's most well known art-writer had once commented that the difference between the previous generations and the present generations is that while the previous generation lived in art-world, the present one lives in art market.

So perverse was this art-market syndrome that art was appreciated only on the basis of its price. Money became the sole determinant of art's novelty and greatness. And the people who ruled this pervert market were money owning buinessmen, auction houses, self styled curators and galleries. The people whose opinion mattered the least were the artists.

Atul Dodiya made a series of Shutter doors in 2007 (left). Bose Krishnamachari ( right) went a step further and bought garbage cans and put them as installations. Baiju Parthan (below) used hoarding space to make art works. hese works were not difficult to make. They required little skill. Infact these artists employed mechanics to make such stuff.

The question is can this be called art? Besides do they actually tell about India? Shutter-doors, garbage cans and huge banners: Is India only this and nothing else?

The art market got money for everybody except the true artist. The galleries became so expensive that artist could not afford to hire them on their own. To do a show, and spend money on press-publicity, artists needed private art-houses. Thus only such artists survived who would work according to the dictates of the market forces. Indivdualism in art went for a toss.

Now all that is over and now is the time for cleaning up.

Galleries that had stocked up huge piles of rubbish created by big names are now in credit crunch. The list of galleries that are closing down is quite impressive : Bodhi, Art Konsult, Delhi Art Gallery, Threshold, Art Pilgrim; those who are not closing are cancelling heir shows to cut costs. The situation with those who had also been selling fakes alongside originals is trying to offload their fakes first and in the process some like Dhoomimal Gallery and Gallery Espace are getting caught; others are escaping thinly. Buyers are cautious and are not investing on big names.

This is the story of the art market. What is happeing to the art-world? Well, it is begining to breathe once again.

With galleries and curators too worried about their money to speak on art anymore, once again artists are given an opportunity by the media to speak. Artists are now grouping up to showcase their works and speak for themselves. The galleries that were charging exhorbitatnt rents for their spaces are now going empty making it easy for individual artists to hire them without having to approach any gallery. The coming year will thus have many group shows and hopefully viewers would be able to see something new.

While the art market was booming, artists in China produced only works in the category of Cynical realism, because the west was buying only that. In Japan everyone was making robot-inspired art because the west belived that Japanese society is preoccupied with robotics. In India Subodh Gupta made paintings of steel utensils, which is "used by the great Indian middle class" and Shakti Burman filled his canvases with images from Indian mythology, which are supposed to be there in minds of "superstitous" Indians.

That there are things beyond steel utensils, superstitons, slums and poverty in India was not acknowledged well by the west. Those who produced what the market wanted survived. Those who remained independant was ignored by the market.

Now that the market is gone for sometime, hopefully newer works, isms and expressions are likely to be seen in the year 2009.

2009-01-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

Art market in India had always been shadowed by an apathetic ignorance about art. The art-buying people had for long depended only on galleries to buy art-works and these galleries had often resorted to unethical practices to sell almost anything to gullible buyers. When the art prices were rising between 2000 to 2006, many art-galleries emerged almost overnight selling fakes of Indian Masters.

For the buyers enquiry was difficult as galleries would not sell to a nosy buyer. Galleries could afford to do so because there were more buyers than art-works. Since everything was hunky dory, people too never minded buying fakes as long as they could be resold.

One of the art works of veteran artist Syed Haidar Raza

Now it is time to catch up our past sins. Like everything else the art market is also hit by the recession and liqudity crunch that has gripped the Indian economy as a whole. The old arrogance of art-moghuls seems to be waning now.

And for those who had made it big by selling fakes, the hangman's noose is tightening. Now people do not want to invest in art now let alone fakes. Those who have fakes are now ever more eager to unload their stock. And suddenly we are seeing fakes being unearthed everywhere. First, Sahil Art Gallery in Mumbai was found to be storing an abominable 82 fakes of artists like Subodh Gupta, Jogen Chowdhury, T Vaikuntham, Sunil Das and Akbar Padamsee.

A criminal case was booked against Shyamsunder Desai, the owner of Sahil Art Gallery and all the fakes were siezed by police.

Somnath Hore: Once his sculptures were not sold even for pittance. Now his fakes sell for fortunes. Art business is getting perverse with every passibng day.

Earlier to this at Christie's 14 art works by Indian artists were withdrawn before a scheduled auction as they were considered fakes. A few month later Sotheby's too did a similar exercise. Who sold these works to Christie's and Sotheby's has not been disclosed. But considering the fact that Christie's and Sotheby's do not buy works from unreputed galleries, it can be well imagined that these works were all sold by well known galleries of India.

The fact that reputed galleries in India also indulge in fake-art business is today well established. In 2003, reputed Mumbai Gallery 7 sold fakes of Anjolie Ela Menon and KH Ara. Then again another well known gallery in Kolkata was found displaying fakes of MF Husain. In 2007, Renu Modi of New Delhi's famous Gallery Espace was found indulging in sale of fake works of Somenath Hore.

Now another so called reputed gallery of Delhi by name Dhoomimal Gallery is caught red-handed trying to sell fakes of veteran artist SH Raza. Out of a total of 40 works of Raza that were displayed in Dhoomimal Gallery on 18th January this year, 30 were declared fake by the artist himself. That is 75% of what Mrs Uma Jain, the owner of Dhoomimal was trying to sell were fakes.

Renu Modi, Shyamsunder Desai & Uma Jain. Should they also be subjected to Narco test?

What next? Are more fakes to be unearthed? "Yes definitely" says veteran art curator Suneet Chopra. "A conservative estimate put the fake art market at about 30% of real-art market. Holders of such paintings are definitely trying ways to sell them off. So it is risky for buyers of big names to trust galleries now". New Delhi based Palette Art Gallery is cancelling shows of old masters. Most other galeries are also putting off their collections of old masters till they are properly verified.

We only hope that before the next boom in art market the weed is cleared and the culprits are all locked up in jails.

2008-10-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

The crash in the New York's Stock market and its subsequent ripples that touched Indian shores are finally showing its impact in the art market as well. Many important galleries like Bodhi and Saakshi have registered no sales in the past one month. Osian's is contemplating cancellation of all its shows in the next six months. New Delhi's India Habitat Centre is finding cancellation of many of the bookings of its gallery space.

But the worst hit are the small and medium level galleries which were dependent on direct sales of art works often paid for in cash and not properly documented. The overall liquidity crunch in the Indian market is keeping this category of buyers away from the art market. Earlier Art was being seen by this set of buyers as a convenient way of stashing away their unaccounted wealth which could be converted into liquid assets as and when necessary. Some dubious galleries played into this sentiment and sold away substandard works of hyped artists promising fabulous returns later. In the face of liquidity crisis, the buyers are now willing to sell rather than buy. But their aquired art-works are not selling at the promised prices.

What is unfortunate is that most of these galleries go unpunished for all their activities, while artists are now paying the price of the distrust that has been generated in the art market. Younger artists are the worst sufferers because they have not yet established their reputations and people do not believe what is being told by their galleries about them. If any particular gallery touts a new artist as 'promising', the buyers doubt that even more, as in past such words of appreciation were meant to hoodwink buyers into making bad purchases.

But who is to blame for this?

In India, art information has become a monopoly of galleries. Magazines like Art India, Art&Deal, Creative Mind, etc, which have the maximum circulation are all run by specific art-houses and they publish articles repeatedly only about their own artists. It is is plain advertisement garbed in journalistic language.

Indian art lovers however have very few sources if any, other than these dubious magazines to know about art. Indian Art Colleges do not bring out journals, Indian artists do not write on art and Indian buyers do not have the patience to go through art appreciation courses offered by universities.

Along with all this there hangs in air a perverse sentiment of buying art to make money in future. Buyers in India always ignored the time-honoured advice that "best art is what you like the most". They went only for those art-pieces which the galleries promised to be good investments. In the hurry of making money, galleires egged artists to produce faster and many artists fell prey to the trend, thereby churning out large number of brainless abstracts, computer printouts and one line drawings and passed them as art.

The present financial crisis is putting an end to this farcical phase in Indian art. We hope that in future buyers would be careful in buying art and thereby prevent easy-money makers from exploiting the former.

2008-09-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

Even though Delhi High Court ruling dismissed the criminal cases against the painter M.F. Husain for the supposed crime of obscenity, The right wing fundamentalists of India continue to threaten the greatest surviving artist of India. Recently they went to the extent of vanadalising and destroying some of the rare works of Hussain even though the present set of works did not depict any Indian Goddess or nudity.

But then right wing groups have their own thinking which may not match with that of the Indian Constitution. But can the government of India also adopt such an outlook? Particularly a government that seems to have been elected on secularity plank? This is the question that was raised by SAHMAT (The trust that was formed when Safdar Hasmi was killed by communal goondas of the Sangh Parivar).

In the recently held India Art summit at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan, MF Hussain was conspicuously absent. The summit was organised by GOI's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and was touted as the first and the largest summit of art organised in the lines of Binnales in Paris and New York. It had Christie's as the official sponsors. It had tie up with IndianArtCollectors.com for online publicity and CNBC TV for media publicity. It was published that the summit was going to hold important matter of art in a forum where important artists, industry people, art collectors, academicians and buyers of art will interract and where international observers will participate.

The truth however turned out to be different. The most important issue that afflicts art today is the threat form the fundamentalists. They have ransacked Hussain's works, they have assaulted dalit artist Chandramohan at Baroda they have even physiclly assaulted Jatin Das. Yet this matter was not at all discussed at the summit. The Summit also did not discuss the matters related to gross commercialization of art by a handful of galleries, the constant production of fakes, the problems of constant seperation of art from other streams of studies.

It did not even discuss the newer trends in art today, the trends that have come up due to individual efforts made by the new breed of youngsters in a post-liberalized India.

Infact all that we got to hear at the art-discussion forum was opinions of gallery-owners about the arts that are there in their own stocks. Even artists invited to the forum included only those whom the galleries called. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism did nothing to screen the participants. No artist was called from South India or North East India. Artists of various genre were also not called.

The truth is that Ministry of Culture and its IAS officers know nothing about art. In the 80s Satyajit Ray had criticized them for sabotaging the Calcutta Film Fare and spoiling its very intent. Now like minded intellectuals under a common trust called SAHMAT have boycotted the India Art Summit for not doing anything about Hussain's victimization and for keeping mum about important issues that afflict the Indian Art Scene.

2008-06-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Professor Vishwas Narahari Yande is not a happy man these days. He had started his career as a librarian at the JJ School of Art and developed avid interest in art, took up courses to learn about art and then slowly climbed over the next thirty-six years to be the Principal of JJ School of Art. He has seen artists like Raja Ravi Verma and Baburao Painter come to JJ School, he has seen before his eyes such eminent persons passing out of JJ as SH Raza, Gaitonde, Sabbavala, and Akbar Padamsee, he has helped younger artists like Atul Dodiya to find galleries who can showcase his works and now he is writing on the works of new Indian sensation Devajyoti Ray.

Professor Yande and Artist Prafulla Dahanukar at the inauguration of Devajyoti Ray's show at Jehangir Gallery in Mumbai

Yande is now above 75, and cannot climb up the stairs without support. But that has done nothing to his indomitable spirit. He has now been appointed by Government of India to teach officers of Income Tax department as how to evaluate art. He has been appointed by countless art-houses to do assessment of art-works. Apart from this, Yande is writing.

But Professor Yande is not happy. At an inauguration of exhibition of works of Devajyoti Ray at Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, Professor Yande lamented before the press that art is not what it used to be. He even criticized MF Husain for taking money for signing papers regarding his works. Such practices bring disrepute to the artist’s fraternity and make artists even more vulnerable to exploitation by the business class.

Recently it was reported that MF Husain has been asking money for signing papers regarding authenticity of his works. Jogen Choudhuri and Laxma Goud have been criticized for making sub-standard sketches to sell to the eager market. And many senior artists have been found to indulge in wrong business practices like artificially hiking prices and falsely announcing sales of art-works. Such practices bring in the business houses with bigger expertise in faux pas and these houses together with the artists fool the genuine art lovers and gullible buyers.

Professor Yande is against such practices. He has even suffered the loss of two of Gaitonde's works stolen from his custody by a private. The matter had become a big news and the police in Delhi was pressed into action. The paintings were rescued finally, but Yande says, they were partially damaged by the time they were brought back. At an evening get together organized by Saffronart in Mumbai recently, artists like Laxman Aley, Subodh Gupta, Laxman Sreshtha and Paramjit Singh were present. Professor Yande had been found advising these artists to spend some time in their exhibition halls so that people can interact with them. This is a practice that artists should continue irrespective of how high they go. He appreciated artist Devajyoti Ray for coming to Mumbai for his show presented by Sudharts at the Jehangir and spending time with the buyers. Yande also advised buyers to buy first-hand from art-shows after interacting with the artists. This would bring the artists closer to the buyers and reduce the scope of middle-players like galleries and art-houses in manipulating the market.

2008-06-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

How many of us has heard of Tukral and Tagra? And how many of us know what they do? For the ignorant, here is a little introduction. Tukral and Tagra are artists who have recently held their show at the New York Gallery. They had both started making art works only three years back and this year their artworks have been taken for auctioning among New York’s Indian community. The auction was preceded by a talk-show participated by Dr. Arani Bose, businessman, director and gallery-owner of Bose Pacia Gallery, New York, the one who is showcasing Tukral and Tagra. The panel also included Melisa Chiu, museum director of Asia Society, Dr. Hugo Weihe, head of Indian and South-East Asian Art, Christies and Atul Dodiya, artist from India.

Has anyone heard about the above mentioned panelists? The truth is “No”. Dr Arani Bose is a businessman who in recent times have started an investment corpus, but otherwise he has no other credentials in art. Mrs Melisa Chiu is probably an art aficionado specializing in mostly Japanese art, but till now none has ever heard her speaking about Indian art. Dr Hugo Weihe is from the Christie’s. But he is seen mostly in the Singapore Circuit.

These were the panelists. And what did they speak about? About artists who are working for them (Dodiya included). And these artists were presented to the unassuming NRI community as the next great things. Some poor souls fell to such pedagogy and even bought works. There was hardly any mention of well known artists from India. it seemed after the talk-show that best of Indian art is all being produced in USA. And an Indian artist could be called good only if they had the blessings of people like Dr Arani Bose.

The sudden rise in interest in Indian art has brought in such self-styled experts into the field whose sole interest is in selling works and unfortunately the media is being used to do propaganda campaigns for them. The art reviews are purchased and the art columns in many news-papers are being used as advertisement spaces.

The problem with Indian media is that there is a serious lack of art-critics who are willing to work at the terms of the newspapers. The so called art-columnists have report on various other matters apart from art. This is unfortunate. In fact in almost all top magazines and newspapers in India art is mostly covered by new comers in the field of journalism. Art is considered a safe area to write about and hence a training ground. Most of these youngsters who write on art are generally not interested in art and would like to graduate to more serious topics like politics.

Coupled with this problem is the problem of finances. Newspapers face so much competition these days that there is natural tendency to use art-columns as a way of getting some extra funds.

It is time now for India to bring forth a serious art magazine with lesser commercial considerations which can take the responsibility of educating the people about developments in art. Unfortunately most art academicians shun the media. And also most art colleges do not take proactive interest in dissemination of information for the common man in India. Irrespective of the amount of interest generated in Europe and USA about Indian Art, the art market cannot develop if private self-styled art-experts continue to promote their own houses with twisted information about art in the name of talk-shows, seminars, etc.

2008-05-21T04:29:00.001-07:00

Ramkinker Baij (left) one of India's best known enfant terrible had almost no formal training.

Most of the doyens of those days had expressed how stifled they felt in the art- colleges. This includes Ramkinker Baij, perhaps the most avant-garde of artists of the Bengal School. Baij never completed his training at Kalabhavan and decided to chart his own course independently outside the influence of art institutes. Like him, some of India’s best known names had almost no training from art-schools. This include Ravindranath Tagore, Amrita Shergil and Gaganendranath Tagore.

The situation hardly improved in the post independence era. Artists like Akbar Padamsee who had studied art at Bombay’s JJ School of Art had went on record stating that they learnt nothing there. Francis Newton Souza had left the same School in the first year rebelling against the mediocrity of the faculty and decided to practice art on his own. MF Hussain also never went to any art-school. Yet these artists are today the best known Contemporary Indian artists.

The problem with Indian art colleges or institutes is that they are mostly run by bureaucrats with almost no knowledge of art, inclination or motivation. And panel of artists are chosen not on the basis of qualities but on the strength of their lobbying powers with the bureaucrats. The system in the west is much different where art-institutes work autonomously, often enjoying freedom to introduce new courses and ideas in training.

Amrita Shergill, Rabindranath Tagore, Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Hussain. Is it not interesting that the best of Indian art came from such artists who never went to any art school.

Another problem is that in India most art colleges are detached from other courses. Thus a student of art cannot take subjects of economics, or physics for study and similarly students who are doing Bachelor’s courses in others subjects cannot take a course in art. In USA art-colleges are part of regular education academies and art students get the opportunity to get exposed to ideas from various fields.

Bose Krishnamachri's new style of art

In the post-liberalization Indian art, we are seeing the influence of digital imaging in the art of Chintan Upadhyay, or optical illusions in the art of Bose Krishnamachari, or the ideas taken from the field of geopolitics in the art of Devajyoti Ray and Atul Dodiya. But these varied ideas are not found in the courses of art colleges. No wonder we find people from fields like economics, medicine and science making better artists these days than students of art colleges.

A concerted effort on the part of the academicians, artists and administrators is required to introduce wide based syllabus in the art colleges and to introduce a synergy amongst various subjects and education institutes.

2008-05-04T00:32:00.000-07:00

Are the Art Colleges and institutes in India playing a very active role in the evolution of Indian Art? Has there been any change in their approach to pedagogy since their inceptions in the past 100 years or so? And in the present phase of globalization how far are our art colleges coping with the changes that are taking place in the art world?

Lush green outdoor studio at Kalabhavan, Santiniketan

The Kalabhavan under the Vishwa Bharati at Santiniketan is one of the oldest art colleges in India. It boasts among its alumni such illustrious names as Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy and Ramkinker Baij. At a time when most Indian artists were learning how to reproduce western realistic masterpieces, the faculty of Kalabhavan incorporated Oriental Art forms, Indian Mural traditions and folk art into the curriculum. This was quite revolutionary and Kalbhavan had earned the name of one of the finest art-institutes in Asia. Students form across the world used to come and learn art here. Santiniketan, of which Kalabhavan was a part, was flourishing as an institute of excellence in many other fields like Indian philosophy and Literature. Artists, writers, philosophers all mingled at Santiniketan at that time and influenced each others’ though processes.

The Government College of Art and Crafts, under the Calcutta University was a close rival of Kalabhavan. Established by the British Government, it however did little to promote Indian art forms. Its emphasis was always on producing artists with good painting skills. During the heydays of Bengal School of Art, most notable artists had a scorn for this institute. But in later days, many younger artists moved towards this institute as it was here that skills were taught the best. In the pot-independence period, the college thus emerged as the premium institute of art with such big names to boast as Bikash Bhattacharya, Ganesh Pyne and Paritosh Sen.

Artists from Kalabhavan and Government College had dominated the Indian Art scene for a very long time. They traveled elsewhere and established art schools all over the country. KG Subhrmaniyan, Sankho Choudhuri and some other ex-students of Kalabhavan had established one such college at Vadodara’s Maharaja Sayaji Rao University. From the very beginning, the college stressed on conceptual matters and less on craftsmanship. The college also allowed great freedom to all its students which was hitherto unknown in British art Schools. In the post-independence period Vadodara produced some of the finest artists outside the influence of the dominant Bengal and Bombay artists. Haku Shah, Himmat Shah, Gulam Mohammad Sheikh and Bhupen Khakar are the best known of Vadodara Artists.

Statute of Sir Jamshedjee Jijibhoy; the founder of JJ School of Art

However in the post-independence era the college that have shown the maximum expansion both in terms of faculties as well as curriculum is the JJ School of Art In Mumbai. Like Vadodara’s Art Faculty it too stressed on free thinking but at the same time, it gave due importance to craftsmanship. This was also the first college to have introduced newer modes of art into its regular syllabus. With a thriving commercial art section, the students get exposed to all new additions to technology. Many of India’s best modern day talents like Sayyad Haider Raza and Tyeb Mehta had once been students of this great institute.

The question is how have these colleges adapted to the changes of our times. Are they poised enough to take on the newer challenges and thereby fulfill the needs of today’s students? We will analyze in the next issue.

2008-04-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Six month after the previous post, newspaper reports are once again suggesting firming up of the art market. A recent report in The Economist even asserted that the recent credit crunch all over the world is not affecting the million-plus bracket of art market. Smaller markets are also firming up. In fact auction houses like Jakarta based Borubudur and Larasati and Hanoi based Sidharta Auctioneer; firms that deal in middle segment are making better profits than Sothbey’s and Christie’s, through their sales of upcoming Asian artists.

An Auction of Indian art in progress at Chritie's

Is there a corresponding optimism in the Indian art scene? A daily in New Delhi has claimed in recent times to have surveyed major galleries to find the mood of the market players. It commented finally that though the market is firming up ...“ now the market is also maturing and the buyers are also cautious about where to put their money”. In other words people are still not very confident but are willing to learn. This in actuality is a welcome news, particularly after the last few years of madness when spurious galleries sold almost anything to anybody promising sharp rise in prices of anything they sold.

Overrated artists like Manish Pushkale, Deepak Tandon and Harshvardhan belted a series of sub-standard easy-to-make pattern works and sold them as abstracts. Hoopla was also created by organizing media events where film-stars like Salman Khan, Sunil Shetty and Preeti Zinta expounded their haloed opinion on art. What is surprising is however that such shows did succeed in selling of art-works.

So easy had art become for a certain section of Indian elite that many of the failed stars of Bollywood like Baba Sehgal and Deepti Naval themselves entered into a phase of artistic frenzy producing large canvases in quick succession.

wannabe artists of our times. van Gogh must be turning in his grave.

Thank God finally, that is all over. But are the buyers of art in India really putting in much effort now to learn about art before spending on them? And if they are willing to learn, are there sufficient number of avenues for people to know what contemporary Indian art is all about? Are the galleries, art-houses and art-institutes doing anything about teaching the gullible buyers? Even today self-styled art-curators like Alka Pandey and Ashish Nagpal organizes parties on the opening days of art-exhibitions, but people are probably becoming a little weary of all this. More importantly serious buyers are avoiding such traps and are approaching art through more reliable sources.

There is need in India for more sincere art-houses like the Borubudur Auctions or the Larasati in Jakarta or like the Sidharta Auctioneer of Malaysia. These auction houses seldom operate in the high-end sector of art but rather in the middle-end market and take sufficient interest in disseminating information on their artists. These houses have replaced even the traditional duopoly of Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the Asian middle-rung market.

Ebrahim Alkazi of Art Heritage, have been holding shows on various aspects of theatre and art in New Delhi

There are a few such firms in India too like the Osian’s and Bodhi. But problem with these firms is that they sell almost anything and everything without specializing in any particular area. Osian’s has put up in recent years shows on posters of Indian films, old photographs and paintings, all under the same roof. Following these Ebrahim Alkazi of Art Heritage put up a show at New Delhi’s Lalit Kala Academy on theatre backdrops. These are interesting shows in their own rights. But they mostly concentrated on history and less on contemporary trends. In fact in the past one year there had been hardly any show in New Delhi highlighting the contemporary trends in Indian art. The galleries are probably themselves not sure what the defining features of Indian contemporary art are. This is unfortunate.

painting of Rameshwar Broota
Another problem is the insulated way of functioning of the art-institutes and colleges. In earlier days important artists also used to be teaching in art colleges. Today most artists after tasting commercial success do not involve themselves in teaching at all. The only major exception to this rule is probably Rameshwar Broota. Otherwise most senior artists operate today in a rarified realm. Art colleges are also not changing with time.

Gulam Mohammad Sheikh: perhaps one of the brightest students of Vadodara and then teacher at the same school

The four most important art-colleges in India are the Kalabhavan (Santiniketan), The JJ School of Art (Mumbai), Govt College of Art and Craft (Kolkata) and the Sayaji Rao Institute (Vadodara). All these are steeped in their own tradition. None of these institutes however have any courses for the common man. And they seldom show interest in disseminating information to buyers. In the west as now in China and Hongkong, art colleges had changed with time and had also acted as catalysts of change. No wonder then that with so many promising new artists, India still lags far behind the big brothers, while China has swiftly replaced even France to gain the status of third largest art market in the world.

2007-11-15T02:26:00.000-08:00

Art market in India is warming up again, says International Herald Tribune. The article in The Tribune tells about how a MF Hussain sold at $486,400. and then Arun Vadehra, director of a leading Delhi gallery, Vadehra Art, estimates the current size of the Indian art market at $350 million. Yet all this talk of international market for Indian Art seems to keep buyers in India away from art purchases.

According to Sudhanshu Paliwal of Planet Art the upward trend in prices in the international market is not showing any trickle-down effect in the domestic market. Most buyers are unable to decide where to invest their money. So shaken up is the confidence of the buyers in capital city of Delhi that recently an entire show of Kartik Chandra Pyne organised by Art Konsult went unsold.

This inspite of the fact that a large number of Kartik Chandra Pyne's works were purchased by a famous Japanese Art Collector two years back for an undisclosed sum. This was to be later placed at the disposal of auction houses where they were likely to fetch good sums. Kartik Chandra Pyne is old, paralysed and cannot paint that much anymore and so the buyers in India had all queued up in front of his house to grab as much of his works as possible lest the old fellow dies suddenly. that was two years back.

Yet two years later his works are not selling anymore. Why? The fate of Jogen Choudhuri, Thota Vaikunthan, Laxma Goud and Sanjay Bhattacharya is no better. This inspite of the fact these artists were the best and highest selling just a few years back.

According to Neville Tuli of Osian, this fall in confidence is not a bad thing after all. Because it can only force out casual buyers who were till now interested in making quick bucks in art. But according to Tuli the serious buyers who were always interested in long term investments continue to operate in the market.

But the question is what do serious buyers look at and what should one look for in art? Having talked to various galleries in New Delhi and Mumbai, we have come up with a short synopsis of what is it that makes a piece of art investment worthy.

1. Novelty of Style

Art is nothing without a style. Abanindranath developed his own Indian style of painting as against the western styles. Abanindranath had drawn inspiration from mostly oriental forms of art like japanese ink-drawing, chinese miniature art, etc. He was against any form of western influence in his art; so much so that he went on to call his art anti-colonial and national. Gaganendranath Tagore, Abanindranath's close cousin was on the other hand a free borrower from western styles of impressionism and cubism. Gaganendranath however developed his own style which had many important followers like Jamini Roy before the later himself developed an unique Bengali style which took the west by storm.

Saiyad Haidar Raza and Gulam Rasool Santosh

Novelty of style is thus a prime ingredient of good art. One of the reasons why GR Santosh never sold much was because his works appeared to many as too much similar to those of SH Raza. Biplab Biswas's works are similar to those of MF Hussain, Sanjay Bhattacharya's works were similar to those of Bikash Bhattacharya (read more) and now a days we find Laxman Aley's works close to that of Laxma Goud.

Laxma Goud and now Laxman Aley: Difficult to distinguish

Even though similarity in styles do not necessarily reduce the value of art, the Indian market has seen a sharp fall in prices of artists who have been found to be similar to other artists. Thus we can see that novelty in style is a prime ingredient in art becoming investible. However it must be remembered that many of India's best artists had shown similarities in styles and yet they continued to remain important artists. Most Bengal School artists for example made almost indistinguishable wash-paintings and for a long time Jehangir Sabbavala could not be identified with any signature style.

But those were different times. Today the art-lovers are getting to see international art. Buyers from abroad also look for novelty in art-styles and hence this is emerging as a major factor in art's novelty.

2. Originality in concept

The second important factor which distinguishes good artr from bad art is originality in concept. Concept in art can in the realm of forms, colours or subject matter. Picasso's cubism was formatically novel and Matisse's fauvist style was important for their vibrancy in colours. Surrealism was novel in the newness of subject matters.

What distinguishes good artists from others is the originality of the concepts that they have developed. In Europe, most major artists are associated with original concepts in art like Picasso with Cubism, Monet with Impressionism, Pollock with Abstract Expressionism. Like wise in India original concepts are associated with path-breaking artists like Abanindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore.

Chintan Upadhyay and Devajyoti Ray

Unfortunately not many new artists in modern times have tried very original concepts in art for a long time. Chintan Upadhyay's digital art, Devajyoti Ray's pseudorealism and Chitra Ganesh's Comic strip series are some of the novel moves in the direction of developing very original concepts.

3. Capability of the Artist

Apart from original style and original concept, what determines the importance of an artist is the capability of the artist. No artist ever paint the same type of painting all their life. With age and with time, as the artist goes through the trials and tribulations and experiences of life, his or her art evolves in both form and style. Artists who have never changed their style tend reproduce and be repeatitive leading to fall in their novelty and attraction.

MF Hussain has often been criticized for doing similar work by one of his fiercest critics Satish Gujral. However as we can see in the the paintings of Hussain over the decades of 70s, 90s and 2003, Hussain seems to have evolved immesely over the years in terms of his style. This is one of the reasons why Hussain's old works are so much valued today as they are unlikely to be made again.

Ramachandran, another senior artist of great repute had in recent past moved completely away from his previous figurative art-works to completely new style of abstract installation art. Change is thus fundamental in the growth of an artist.

But change in art has to be evolutionary and sincere. Jeram Patel in recent times have changed his style and went for casual almost insincere works (Read more). Such change in style is however not a mark of an artist's dynamism but rather indicative of the diminishing creative energy of the artist. Sanjay Bhattacharya, Vaikunthan, Bose Krishnamachari can also be blamed for such casualness that ends up belittling art in itself.

Bose Krishnamachari's earlier work (left above) shows intricate work and planned execution while recent works (below left) shows simple interplay of colours with large space of monotomous colours. These works do show a change in style but they can hardly be called an evolution in style. Rather the change shows a casualness caused probably my the increasing market demand of the artist's works, which is quite unfortunate.

There are another set of artists like Manjit Bawa, Neeraj Goswami, Arpana Caur etc; people who have not changed anything ever since they have started working. Such repeatitive working is also impotent in their impact and art-lovers in course of time get engulfed in ennui.

There are thus very few senior artists who have shown such dynamism so to be able to change their style over a period of time. Such dynamism distinguishes a great artist from others. Many artists who had shown great style once, have shown their mediocrity in course of time, while many with humbler beginings have shown increasing strength with time.

2007-10-19T00:16:00.000-07:00

The exhibition on assasinated Cuban leader Che Guevara held at New Delhi's Travancore Art Gallery has already attracted quite a lot of media attention. Below we are putting some of the of the paintings donated to the Cuban Embassy by the National Organisation for Solidarity with Cuba.

Original photograph of Che Guevara taken by famous photographer Alberto Korda (left) and one of the many variants of the silouhette icon found today (right)

As we can see that most of these paintings used the popular image of Che Guevara which is seen these days everywhere in t-shirts, bone china and a variety of articles of popular use. Yet few know that this shillouhette image of Che was actually an adaptation from a photograph taken by famous Cuban photographer Alberto Korda.

Alberto Korda never used this photograph for any commercial purpose. Yet it was used by many companies to sell their own products. Finally as recently as in 2000, Korda sued Smirnoff, an American Company for blatantly using his photograph for commercial purpose. The matter was settled out of court and Korda recieved an undisclosed amount of money in return. The money was however not used by Korda for any persobnal purpose but was handed over to the Cuban Government to be used in the Cuban Healthcare system.

Such deep idealism is rare today. It is unfortunate that today's youth use only Che's image and pay no heed to his ideals. Che is today transformed from a hero to a mere commercial icon. This is the story that is being told by Devajyoti Ray in his painting title Transmigration of Soul.

Devajyoti Ray's Transmigration of Soul

This painting is now going to be put up for regular display at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (the National Museum of Fine Arts), Havana. What is of credit for Devajyoti Ray is not however that his works are now being displayed at important national galleries abroad, but the fact that Ray continues to work with dedication for causes dear to him even when such works are not meant for commercial art market. In the above work for example Ray has used documents, paper-cuttings, etc from the time when Che was alive. He has used these to make a collage reminding us of the time when life was full of political intrigue and insecurity. Ray who is considered the face of post-liberalization Indian art, was not born then. Yet to put in an effort of this scale for a fading icon requires deep understanding. Kudos to the artist.

View art works at the Joint exhibition of Cuban and Indian artists

2007-10-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Indian art market has expanded immensely in the past few years. One report suggests that between 2001 and 2007 the returns on art-investments have increased by 435%. (Read article) This is the highest in the South East Asia and this makes India the fourth important Art market in the World. Yet in 2007, there was sudden downswing in Art prices and even important senior artists like Jogen Choudhuri and Vaikunthan could not sell their art-works at previously held prices. This sudden fall in prices further led to a share-market type insecurity wherein all collectors tried to sell off their stocks of art-works thereby pushing the prices further down.

Jogen Choudhuri's casual sketch which too was sold at astronomical price.

This sudden rise and then sudden fall in prices points towards a disturbing trend that is increasingly being observed in India. Most art-lovers and buyers in India approach private galleries to buy art-works. These galleries however seldom provide true information about artists and try to sell their own stock at good prices, projecting their own artists as the bests. Artists who toe their line are given the right amount of publicity and there are instances where even mediocre artists have been made into icons by sheer publicity. In order to sell off their stock, the galleries often indulge in a variety of malpractices, one being the literal buying off of the media agents to cover their shows.

Over the past five years it was seen that many of these artists like Sanjay Bhattacharya, Bose Krishnamachari and even Thota Vaikunthan have left their earlier styles of art as soon as their prices moved up. They instead started making paintings which required less time of execution.

The market got flooded with such works resulting in a glut and then the prices crashed. It is unfortunate that even senior artists like Jeram Patel, Vivan Sundaram, etc have participated in this dilution of art for the sake of money. The fall in prices of art is a result of this quick-money syndrome.

Thota Vaikunthan had risen to fame by intersting paintings of men and women in traditional village attire (right). Now he is making easy to make sketches (left) in charcoal to cater to the fast growing market. Many such sketches are today flooding the art market searching for gullible buyers

What is even worse is the fact that some artists went on to make just very casual works only because their signatures sold. Galleries played a major role in fooling the gullible buyers in this regard. It exposed once again the immaturity of Indian market where art works sell more for signature and big name and less for the intrinsic value of the works.

Jeram Patel's recent work showing just a lump of black paint on paper. Is this art?

In this context it was very heartening to see the coming together of 16 eminent artists in India in a totally non-commercial venture.

In an expression of solidarity to the Cuban regime, these 16 artists some of whom have become quite famous now, have come together to gift away their art-works to the National Museum in Cuba. The artists included among others Chand Mohammad, Manoj Naik, Saba Hasan and Devajyoti Ray. What is important is that the artists had to shift away from their regular style to give way for the common theme, the works were not themselves compromised on quality. The art works showed immense variety and apart from a few works, most of the paintings were of very high standards.
(Read art-aficionado Suneet Chopra’s take on Devajyoti Ray's work in the show)

The central piece titled ‘Transmigration of Soul’ by Devajyoti Ray was a huge work which showed a face of Che Guevara supported by collage of paper cuttings, cuttings of old documents, etc all taken from the period when Che was executed. The right side of the work shows Che’s face in many small iconic cut-outs. The painting thus shows how Che Guevara who used to be hero of the previous generation have been reduced today to a mere poster image. In the process the painting also showed the degradation of values in today’s society.

The painting is also of special importance as it is a truly modern art-work which has all elements of contemporary art. But the painting does not use machines or prints and is wholly hand made.

2007-04-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

In the previous post we had seen how Bikash Bhattacharya had singularly brought back Realism as a style of art and thus popularised art in the eyes of common people. this had been Bikash's single most important contribution in the field of art. It is interesting to note that while the time before his coming, the fine artists shunned realism as some kind of lower craft, with the success of Bikash the artists now overwhelmingly started taking up Realsim for commercial success.

But Realism as such is not enough to make good art. Within the realm of realism, there are many styles which are all different from each other and it it this distinctiveness that sets a genius from the rest. There had been a number of imitators of Bikash Bhattacharya yet few could make anything really distinctive.

Among the closest followers of Bikash was his own disciple Sanjay Bhattacharya (painting above). Sanjay drew like Bikash, painted like Bikash, yet from time to time, his subjects changed and never were they similar to those of Bikash Bhattacharya. Sanjay's painting evolved through many stages, the first being a phase when he drew only inanimate objects, mostly doors and windows. Later human figure started appearing among the frames and in later course the doors and windows vanished and human beings became the prime focus.

But Sanjay was probably more successful in painting the inanimate than the animate. his paintings also showed a kind of plastic appearance which made them sometimes quite akin to calendar art. But Sanjay is still the only true follower of the Bikash-tradition.

Suhas Roy (painting on the left) a senior artist of the Society of Contemporary Artists was also practising realistic colour works akin to the more famous Bikash Bhattacharya of the same Society. But Suhas Roy earned comparitively lesser popular apeal and it is in recent times that he has come to the fore with his own style of realistic works. Suhas Roy's works show a kind of dreamy softness, which we can also find in the works of another much younger artist Sudip Roy (painting below) . Sudip Roy also uses the use of light on soft flesh of women to give a softer erotic imagery.

But beyond these minor variations, one cannot possibly bring any more originality or novelty in realistic works. The boredom that realism thus sets in has therefore egged artists of the post Bikash period to try new forms of figurative art. Among these newer artists one name that comes to the fore is that of Shyamal Duttaroy. Shyamal made figurative works not in realsitc mode though three dimensionality remained important. Shyamal's works also showed use of surrealistic ideas and use of water colour whic together gives his works a rare depth and strength (see below).

Like Shyamal Duttaroy, there are other painters today who use the realism in form, or technique or realistic positioning of things but then using their own varied styles to paint. Important among these painters are Paresh Maity, Sunil Das, Devajyoti Ray, Amitava Dhar, Shuvaprasanna.

We have named these painters not because of their ages or their seniority, but rather in random order keeping in view only the fact that all these painter have come up with their own style which are quite unique and novel.

2007-01-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

One of India's finest post-independence era painters Bikash Bhattacharya has passed away on 18th December 2006.

Bikash Bhattacharya who is probably the man who had revived realism in India art since the days of Raja Ravi Verma and Hemendranath Majumdar shot to fame with his Doll series in the 1960s. At a time when Calcutta was experimenting with the modern Art movement where abstraction ond distortion of reality ruled the roost, Bikash suddenly gave the Calcutta art world something long forgotten: realsitic imagery.

The Doll series was however realsitic only in terms of style and technique of painting. In terms of theme, it was more surrealistic. It had drawn the attention of common man once again towards fine art. This bringing back of common man toart was the single most important contribution of Bikash Bhattacharya towards Indian Art.

Bikash had never hesitated in painting for the magazines which most big names would shirk at. In a sequel novel on the life of another famous Bengal school artist Ramkinker Baij written by writer Samaresh Basu that came in rolling episodes in Bengali literary magazine Desh, Bikash did the illustrations without the slightest hesitation. These images which Bikash created in almost all the media from water colour, to gouache, to pastel, remains today some of the finest of Bikash's works.

Bikash Bhattacharya's later day series like the Durga series continued to remain suurealistic in themes. In later days Bikash experimented with many media, many themes and many related styles. But overall Bikash never left his basic style of using realistic technique to deal with his subjects.

In the ninetys Bikash's abilities started failing him and later he suffered from paralytic attacks and since then he had stopped painting and suffered silently sitting on his wheel chair. During his life time Bikash went from a humble back ground to become in a very short span India's top ranking artist. Then with equall suddenness, his creativity was halted by the paralysis. He had earned immense money during his lifetime. Yet till the last days Bikash remaind an artist for the masses.

Today Bikash Bhattacharya has many followers, some of who draw openly from his method of painting.

Sanjay Bhattacharya for one, adopts the style of realistic imagery to depict surrealist themes in almost all his paintings. One cannot fail to see the immense resemblance between the works Sanjay Bhattacharya and the Bikash Bhattachraya, wose disciple the former had been for some time.

Durga Series painting of Bikash Bhattacharya (above) and a painting by Sanjay Bhattacharya (below right) show similar techniques and treatment and bothe are thematically surrealitically.

Like Sanjay there are many who follow Bikash to the hilt. Yet Bikash remains the first revivalist of this technique in the post-independence India.

Bikash's death has ceated a deep void in Indian Art scene and it creates more importantly a need to analyse the roel of Bikash and his contemporaries in the development of art in general. In the forthcoming posts we would take up the role of many of Bikash's contemporaries starting with Ganesh Pyne.

2006-09-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

In the prvious post we had seen how use of bold colours is seen by Artists of various ages. In this issue we would look at the works of some artists from contemporary India. one such artist is Satish Gujral, whose works show not only bold colours and lines but also very striking forms. Gujral who has influenced a generation of artists in india is however not a new artist. he should properly termend as veteran.

Another artist who is equally known for bold colours is Manjit Bawa. Bawa's works are less decorative when compared to those of Gujral. but there is one thing common to the works of both the artists; they both show influence of Rajasthani, Mughal, and other Muralistic styles of Indian Art.

Among the new generation of artists, Arpana Caur also shows use of similar bold use of colours. Her works which depict scenes from the lives of Sikh Gurus or Punjabi mythologies, are often set against a very dark background with contrasting hues on the foreground.

There is something similar to all these three artists. they all use bold colours, bold lines and use Indian muralistic figures. Why? this immense commonality between the three artists come sheerly from one common factor; that they all belong to North West India and are thus steeply drenched in the culture of that part of India.

Bold colours are being used by many other new generation artists like Devajyoti Ray, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Bose Krishnamachari, and others. yet colours do not quite categorise thenm properly. what categorises them is their cultural background.

In the future posts we would look at the various regions of India and the emerging artists from those areas.

2006-07-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

In the previous post we had discussed how Jamini Roy, Amrita Shergil and some other artists of yesteryear used at times very bold colours which exuded similar moods which were akin to that of the Fauvists.
(painting of Jamini Roy)
However Jamini Roy's paintings were so distinctly Indian that apart from the use of bold colors there was nothing similar to the Fauvists.

Infact use of bold colors and exuberance in art work hardly makes art-work fauvist. In the same breath of argument, one cannot probably categorise art of Manjit Bawa as Fauvist. Bawa's art-works like that of Jamini Roy are based on ethnic iconography and very much rooted in the culture of ethnic India.

Devajyoti Ray is another artist of the new generation who's works show immense use of bold and often glaring colors. But Ray is different from both Jamini Roy or Manjit Bawa as his works do not show the influence of any specific cuilture. On an immediate glance, Ray's works look influenced by the digital art of 21st century Europe. Yet Ray's subject matters are very much Indian, thus representing the Indian culture as it is emerging in the post-liberalization phase of the country's economy.

Even Ray's works probably cannot be called Fauvist as here too we do not see the philosophy that backed the Fauvist art of 20th century.

There is yet another distinctive reason where Ray's works differ from Fauvists. While the Fauvists used colors more to express mood, Ray uses colors without any such connotation. Infact even depressing and sad frames often show use of very exuberant colors, thereby creating a pseudo-real imagery.

2006-07-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Like every other style of art, every other genre, Pseudorealism is also not independent of the influences of the various other styles of art that previously existed or presently practised. In this present post and the subsequent ones we would bring in the commentaries made by various important art-critics in India who have taken a note of this emerging new style of art and have placed this new style in comparision to other important styles the world over.

Pseudorealism and Fauvism

In an important article in The Telegraph, part of which can be read on the net (1), art-critic Sumit Sarkar has given a scathing criticism of Devajyoti Ray's Pseudorealist Art. In this article the new style of art has been compared to the early twentieth century fauvist art particularly in reference to the use of colors. Fauvism the twentieth century art-style popularised by Henry Matisse used, like the present day Pseudorealist art, very bold colours, often without any consideration for the dimensions. This lack of dimensional conciousness gave the paintings a two dimensional flatness. But for Matisse and the likes dimension was not as important as the colors. Colors were used by Matisse and other fauvists to express mood and to that extent, colors were used as potential expressive tools.

Fauvism showed its influence in the art of many artists of India in the twentieth century. In the earlier paintings of Amrita Shergil we often see the use of very bright colors and bold patches akin to those of the fauvists. however in course of time Shergil's hues became more studied and milder. Yet it is often argued that Shergil was closest to the fauvists in India than probably any other artist of that reckoning.

Another artist of the yesteryear, where one can see the use of very bold colors is probably Jamini Roy. Yet Jamini Roy is never compared with the fauvists as his works were distinctly Indian and never emoted feelings that European fauvists did. In the same breath thus very bold paintings of present day painters like Manjit Bawa cannot be called Fauvist.

(Painting by Henri Matisse)

2006-06-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Devajyoti Ray, one of India's youngest artists, widely being considered as the most promising among the new generation of artists in India (read article on Ray) is the most prominent proponent of this new genre of Art.

Ray, who had been involved with the Art scene in Calcutta and Delhi for a very long time has only in recent times took to full-time painting. And in doing so he has grafted the idea of pseudo-realism from the film world into the Art world. However as Ray says, '"...A film maker never makes a pseudo-real film, it is identified as pseudo-real by the critic." An Artist who delves into the pseudo-real representation, does it deliberately. Hence "pseudo-realism as an Art genre is distinctly different for Pseudo-realism in films", insists Ray.

There is yet another difference between Pseudo-real Art and Pseudo-real Films. While in the context of films, the word 'Pseudo-realism' was coined more as a critic of films that seemed to pass pure fantasies as reality. To that extent the word was used more for negative criticism than for anything else. In the context of static Art like paintings, Pseudo-realism refers to a concious effort on the part of artist to play with abstract elements and thereby create a new balance akin to reality. Thus in the context of visual static Art, the word has a more positive connotation.

2006-06-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

In this opening post, we bring some glimpses of the new emerging genre of Art in India : Pseudo-realism.

Variously spelt as Pseudo-realism, Pseudorealism or Pseudo Realism it is making waves in the Indian Art circle these days and is being thought of as the most prominent new genre of the 21st century, which is likely to stay in this ever changing Art World.

Its adherents, mostly young students from Art colleges and the new generation of Art enthusiasts find this new style quite mind boggling but very refreshing and original.

In the coming days, we would try to bring in more on this emerging new style of Art. We would bring interviews with painters of this genre, newspaper articles, and related write-ups.

In this opening post, we bring a picture of the painting titled 'The Cobbler' by artist Devajyoti Ray, who is being hailed at the best artist among the new generation of Artists in India. in forthcoming post we would bring more on him and the likes of him.