The big draw - a group show

(By Nalini S Malaviya)

An exhibition of mostly black and white works by a group of more than thirty artists is going on in the city. Artists such as KG Subramanyan, KM Adimoolam, Yusuf Arakkal, TM Azis, Suhas Roy, Jatin Das, Gogi Saroj Pal, Suhas Roy and SG Vasudev are some of them participating in the show. According to gallery owner, Naozar Daruwalla the collection attempts to show how differently each artist presents his individual style through line drawings, black and white photographs, paper pulp and so on.

KG Subramanyan works are evocative, while Suhas Roy’s portrait of a woman is soft and delicate. Gopal Adivrekar’s abstract is striking, while Adimoolam’s woman with child is stern and statuesque. Yusuf Arakkal has created a set of portraits of a man in sepia tones, and Gogi Saroj Pal’s drawing is a picture of femininity - a woman with flowers in her hair. Jasu Rawal presents an abstracted landscape in his signature style, and Rameshwar Singh intersperses the images with calligraphic text and symbols. V Solanki’s drawing is a subtle rendering of a couple in traditional attire, Dattatraya Apte’s work in paper pulp is heavily textured and understated, Vijay Bagodi’s set of images is narrative and Pramod Ganapatye’s figure of a woman has an earthy appeal.




From portraits to abstracts, the black and white collection deserves special mention for presenting an excellent and diverse set of works from upcoming as well as senior artists of note. There are more than 60 works priced between Rs 6,000 to Rs 4.5 lakhs.

The exhibition is on till February 3 at The Hatworks Boulevard, 32, Cunningham Road, Bangalore 560 052.

(Published in Financial Times, Bangalore)

Rendezvous with artist Haku Shah

There have been no new posts for some time as I have been down with flu... However, I did attend a talk by artist Haku Shah at Alliance Francaise, which was interesting even though bad acoustics made hearing quite impossible. It was delightful meeting Haku Bhai, a humble and down to earth personality, and seeing his digital prints and black and white photographs. The prints were based on a Gujarati fairytale of Manapari, while the photographs on folk and tribal art. The following day I went for the preview of his paintings that was held at another art gallery. His paintings have a simplicity that is rare and endearing.

Considered to be an authority on tribal and folk art, Haku bhai's paintings portray his closeness to tribal art and culture. A human figure playing the flute, a cow or a tree in the background, a bird perched on a person’s hand, are on the surface simple subjects that seem to be inspired by rural scenarios. The images are flat and have a narrative quality despite uncomplicated images and a minimalist look. However, there is a building of layers and a deeper thought process involved that make his works special. Aesthetic and tranquil, his protagonists appear to be far removed from the urban chaos and turmoil – they stand unaffected amidst peaceful surroundings at one with nature. Born in 1934 in Valod (Gujarat), Haku Bhai completed BFA and MFA in Fine Arts from M S University, Baroda and was awarded the Rockefeller Grant (1968) and Nehru Fellowship Award (1971). In 1968, he curated the ‘Unknown India’ an exhibition organized by Dr. Stella Kramrisch at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

(some of the text has been published in Financial Times, Bangalore)

Art Buzz (Jan 10, 2007)

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore presents THE FURIOUS PURITY, recent paintings by NUPUR KUNDU
12th – 27th January 2007, 10:30 am - 6:30 pm Monday - Saturday.

January 13 - 20, 2007 : Exhibition of Haku Shah's recent paintings at Time & Space Art Gallery and his photographs and digital prints at Alliance Francaise, Bangalore.

Art Investment

The following article was published recently in Financial Times, Bangalore, and I thought of sharing it with you.

Investing in Art
By Nalini S Malaviya

Last year ended on a high note for Indian art, and the accompanying hype and awareness about it is luring a growing number of investors to include art as part of their investment portfolios. Several art funds were also launched recently to meet this growing demand, while, the success of recently held auctions has reaffirmed the worldwide interest and the arrival of Indian art on the global stage. With paintings selling in crores of Rupees, the prices of artworks have escalated sky-high.

The big question is - is the timing right to invest in Indian art? It’s very difficult to answer because there are mixed responses to it, while some experts believe that in the near future prices may need some amount of correction and will become more realistic. On the other hand, there are people who believe that increased prices are an indication that Indian art is finally getting its due and therefore prices will continue to appreciate in accordance with this trend. However, what also needs to be considered is that any correction that may happen will have a minimal impact on the smaller investors, since the prices of new and upcoming artists will see a negligible change, if any.

Conservatively speaking, at present, Indian art is seen to appreciate at the rate of 30 percent per annum, while prices for some artists in the top bracket have doubled and even trebled in recent times. Therefore, it does look like a good time to invest in Indian art, especially for the smaller investors, but one should go ahead only after completing all the necessary homework.

Art 2006 - Exhibitions in Bangalore

I wrote the following article for Times of India, Bangalore as a round up of art shows in the city. An edited version appeared in the print, here's the original...

It has been an interesting year in terms of the art shows - the number has gone up considerably as compared to the previous years. Also, there is growing trend in favor of group events. The beginning of the year saw more than 200 works from fifty artists all from the Southern region. ‘Mapping the South’, a traveling show it came to Bangalore after successful stints in New Delhi and Mumbai. It showcased drawings, paintings and sculptures from well known artists such as Adimoolam, Gopinath, Haridasan, Laxma Goud, Milind Nayak, Muralidharan, Nandagopal, Palaniappan, Vishwanathan, Balan Nambiar, Thota Tharrani, Vaikumtam, SG Vasudev and Yusuf Arakkal, all under one roof, it was quite an impressive list.

Many group shows were organized by lifestyle stores in order to make decorative art available at affordable rates. The emphasis was on creating pleasant wall art for the average buyer, and from what one hears such shows have been very successful. Over the year, a number of artists from West Bengal exhibited their art ranging from the conceptual to the stereotyped rickshaw pullers from the streets of Kolkata. Belonging to the first category, Abhijit Gupta, Chhatrapati Dutta, Paula Sengupta, Riddhi Narayan Nandy and Sujay Mukherjee presented new media and conceptual art - installations and assemblages that evoked a mixed response in the city. While, a group show by artists Asit Kumar Sarkar, Ballari Mukherjee, Dhiren Kumar Saha, and others presented the many flavors of Kolkata - the inevitable rickshaw pullers, ancient monuments, temples of Kalighat, crows and the milling crowds on the streets. In yet another curated show, eleven artists from West Bengal presented a fairly eclectic collection where some of the works were interesting while others conventional and stereotyped.

In an exhibition titled ‘Image and Imagination’, a group of artists from various states presented paintings and other mixed media works. Anindya Roy, Dilip Kumar Chowdhury, Prafulla Dhanukar, Ramesh Gorjrala, Rabin Mondal, Sohini Dhar were some of the artists out of the twenty-six artists participating in the show. In ‘The Annual Show’ organized by Galerie Sara Arakkal works by forty Indian artists came together - mostly figurative and some abstracts, it offered an interesting variety in terms of genre and style, however most of these artists have been regulars on the city’s art scene.

Bangalore artist SG Vasudev revisited his earlier paintings from the 60s and 70s such as ‘Maithuna’, ‘Tree of life’, ‘Earthscape’ and others and represented them in today’s context. Some of the other solo shows included artists, Sanjay Bhale Rao, Somenath Maity, KK Raghava and Shankar Kendale.

And, finally, here are some of the shows that were exciting and different. Noted artist Atul Dodiya exhibited for the very first time in Bangalore and his mixed media works with paper pulp were titled ‘The wet sleeves of my paper robe (Sabari in her youth: after Nandalal Bose)'. His interpretation of Sabari’s tale based on the epic Ramayana and set in contemporary times was simply mesmerizing. Rekha Rao celebrated her move from Mumbai to Bangalore and her canvas came alive with Rangoli colors, garlands and spices. From pot-holed roads, incense to sign language, she touched on a variety of subjects. Artist Rathin Kanji’s works based on global issues such as human trafficking, global warming, terrorism and war crimes and other contemporary topics, were also very interesting. Lastly, Bangalore based artist Ravikumar Kashi continued to experiment with urban themes in his present series of paintings. In the next few months, Kashi will take his paintings to US and London. Here’s looking forward to more such art shows in the city.