Art Matters

(By Nalini S Malaviya)

Now that summer is here, everywhere art activities are on the decline. Fortunately in Bangalore, we are at the fag end of the warm season, but most other places across the country are feeling the heat as temperature continues to rise. As most of you must be aware by now, art exhibitions dwindle considerably in number during this period and start picking up only after June.

Recently, nothing much of interest has come my way, except for the following exhibitions, which should be worth seeing - select works by Gieve Patel at Gallery Chemould in Mumbai, The Silent Expression - paintings and prints by Kanchan Chander at Icon Art, Hyderabad, and the show Fables & History by Maya Burman and Binoy Varghese has been extended at Gallerie Nvyā in New Delhi.

I also wanted to share this little bit of information about a talk and presentation on Career in Art Education, which will be held tomorrow at Gallery BMB in Mumbai. The talk will be delivered by Phil Whittaker, Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Singapore and will include an overview of the international art markets and a presentation on potential career opportunities in the global visual arts market. Sotheby’s Institute of Art organizes a number of professional courses in art throughout the year and these vary in duration from a few days to a fulltime master’s program. The reason that I have mentioned it as part of this column, even though it is not being held in Bangalore, is because I feel strongly about the lacunae in our arts education system. As I have often suggested in the past, there is a real need to revamp and upgrade our educational programs, especially those related to the art business. After all, the art business has grown phenomenally in the last decade or so, yet apart from the regular art history and painting courses, there are hardly any other programs that cater to the affiliated services linked to art, such as art advisory services or the business aspects of the art market.

Fortunately, there is a lot of discussion going on about professional courses that can be offered in conjunction with the conventional ones at a number of academic institutes, however, how many of these will get translated into reality, we will know only in the future.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)

Bose says ‘NO’

(By Nalini S Malaviya)

Bose Krishnamachari, an artist, curator and a recently turned gallery owner, wears many hats with panache, and is now in the news for his solo exhibition that is currently on at 1x 1 Art Gallery, in Dubai. The title of the exhibition NO is unequivocal and emphatic, in characteristic style. Interestingly, in his curated shows too, the titles are clear and uncluttered. Based in Mumbai, Bose is a familiar and critically acclaimed name in contemporary art.

LaVA

Amongst his notable shows that come immediately to one’s mind is LaVA, (laboratory of visual arts), an installation, which was exhibited in Bangalore about four years ago at Gallery Sumukha. LaVA is essentially a mobile library that contains books, DVDs and CDs on a range of visual art practices such as cinema, architecture, design, fashion, cultural studies and philosophy, along with some of his collection of art objects. The archival project relooks at dated systems of disseminating information and knowledge and aims to redefine access.

NO

It is part of our vocabulary incessantly and has a powerful connotation, but how we choose to interpret it can make all the difference. According to Bose, “In Indian agnostic philosophy there is a constant denial of the apparent to reach out to the implied truth… The notion of ‘NO’ played up here therefore becomes a juncture of negotiation with the reality.” And, thus the artist elects to convert the negative monosyllable into a tool for positive change, and has expanded the concept to encompass wider issues of war, politics and identity in the artworks.

The exhibition features Stretched Bodies installations, a shelf Roots + Map = Mondrianity, White Ghost and the Red Carpet, No + No = Yes, Minus + Minus = Plus, Long Live! (Andy Warhol), Long Live! (Gandhi)and a few other works with equally intriguing titles. Following his maxim of going ‘maximum’, the Stretched Bodies series is a psychedelic set of paintings with maximum colour, texture, line, form and accidents. The Mondrian inspired shelf, an architectural work, which appears to be a map or a tree traces the journey of an artist in search of the ‘roots’ and extremities of existence. “The classificatory mode of mapping and grid creation puts events, imagination and ruminations into a system of global knowledge, which the artist would love to deal with again and again in his works (as seen in LaVA),” he explains.

In essence, the exhibition is about reaffirming faith in oneself, introspecting and being able to stand up for one’s beliefs. At the same time, ‘NO’ as a whole is a re-looking at history. Though contemporary art does not anchor itself much on history, Bose recognizes that any art produced at any point of time cannot move away from history. The works presented in the show speak of history of the contemporary world, history of both war and peace, of both justice and injustice and above all the human beings’ die-hard fight for equal rights to live and justice.

Bose who was guest curator at ARCO Madrid 2009 is currently curating a ‘show within a show’ called the Indian Highway which is going on in Denmark.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)

Art Buzz (Bangalore) Irreverent Gene curated by Nalini Malaviya

A few images from the show, Irreverent Gene

Alok Bal

Prasanta Sahu

Pratul Dash

Rajiba Lochan Pani

Apurba Nandi

Birendra Pani

Debraj Goswami

Heeral Trivedi

Art Buzz (Bangalore) Irreverent Gene

Art of the Matter

As you might have noticed, several art magazines have been launched in the recent past. A couple of weeks ago, The Bombay Art Society had a formal launch of its Indian Contemporary Art Journal in the city. Today, most art magazines are available at limited venues, for instance at galleries and a few other outlets. The editor of the Indian Art Journal revealed that they plan to retail the publication through popular bookstores, which is an excellent idea as it will greatly enhance accessibility and availability.

Interestingly, at this point not a single magazine is being brought out of Bangalore. On the other hand, Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata have several art publications to their credit. However, what we do have are writers and artists. In fact, there are many writers from the city who contribute to these publications, (it is another matter that many of them write for most of the magazines - no exclusivity here!)

Quite a few artists have put forth the need to have a dedicated art magazine that is brought out of Bangalore. A publication such as this may give a much needed impetus to the art scene here. Even a simple online version, to begin with might be a good idea. Apart from being a source of information to people interested in art, such a publication could focus on a larger number of artists in the area – smaller shows and upcoming artists can also be profiled. A wider circulation to other parts of the country would provide greater exposure to artists and galleries.

Incidentally, the number of galleries in the city is rather limited, even though there are many artists who reside here, but end up showing their works outside, or moving out of Bangalore in search of opportunities.

The problem, I am sure is not in bringing out a magazine, which is comparatively an easy task, but in maintaining it. The logistics and financial aspects of running an entire publication is a daunting process and needs a large amount of support in order to be sustainable. However, it is eminently doable and one hopes that one of the many corporate offices in the city may take up the challenge to take on the entire responsibility or at least fund it.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)