I had the great fortune of attending one of the most important international art fairs in the world called the ‘Basel Art Fair’ in June this year. It’s almost impossible to describe the atmosphere of such a large show. Even before I landed in Switzerland, I felt the excitement and the buzz because many of my fellow air passengers were also attending.
I can tell you that I was overwhelmed and somewhat bewildered when I entered the fair. There were galleries from all over the world participating and you could see a range of artists from the most junior all the way up to Picasso. Every imaginable medium was exhibited: performing arts, paintings, sculptures, drawings, and video art.
It was refreshing to see the large number of drawings and sculptures that were exhibited, showing a re-emergence of these media. And all of it under one roof, with buyers and dealers milling about, all busy making investments.
A large Indian art fraternity of gallerists, dealers and major collectors was in attendance. Nature Morte Gallery was participating in the show for the first time. Works by Justin Ponanary and Subodh Gupta, were creating a lot of interest in Indian art.
Subodh Gupta was also represented by his Swiss gallery. It was heartening to know that the project commissioned by the Swiss gallery was sold for 800,000 euros to a German collector.
Since then, the question has arisen — how international is Indian art? How do we reach this level? With all the talk of globalisation and of India emerging as an economic power, how can we make our art international? Indian galleries have begun making forays into the international scene, but more needs to be done. To begin with, we should have a more organised exchange of major artists with the major museums in the West.
This will require corporate patronage because of the huge sums of money involved in establishing such programmes.
Along with taking our art to the world at large, we need to showcase more and more foreign artists in India.
In China, for example, the major galleries are showing Chinese art as well as art from all countries, and collectors have started collecting international art.
Here, in India, collectors are only looking at Indian art. This is natural and the trend will change once people are aware of the value of Western art. All the more reason to declare that an art fair is the call of the day!
The author owns Gallery Espace in New Delhi
Source : ET
I can tell you that I was overwhelmed and somewhat bewildered when I entered the fair. There were galleries from all over the world participating and you could see a range of artists from the most junior all the way up to Picasso. Every imaginable medium was exhibited: performing arts, paintings, sculptures, drawings, and video art.
It was refreshing to see the large number of drawings and sculptures that were exhibited, showing a re-emergence of these media. And all of it under one roof, with buyers and dealers milling about, all busy making investments.
A large Indian art fraternity of gallerists, dealers and major collectors was in attendance. Nature Morte Gallery was participating in the show for the first time. Works by Justin Ponanary and Subodh Gupta, were creating a lot of interest in Indian art.
Subodh Gupta was also represented by his Swiss gallery. It was heartening to know that the project commissioned by the Swiss gallery was sold for 800,000 euros to a German collector.
Since then, the question has arisen — how international is Indian art? How do we reach this level? With all the talk of globalisation and of India emerging as an economic power, how can we make our art international? Indian galleries have begun making forays into the international scene, but more needs to be done. To begin with, we should have a more organised exchange of major artists with the major museums in the West.
This will require corporate patronage because of the huge sums of money involved in establishing such programmes.
Along with taking our art to the world at large, we need to showcase more and more foreign artists in India.
In China, for example, the major galleries are showing Chinese art as well as art from all countries, and collectors have started collecting international art.
Here, in India, collectors are only looking at Indian art. This is natural and the trend will change once people are aware of the value of Western art. All the more reason to declare that an art fair is the call of the day!
The author owns Gallery Espace in New Delhi
Source : ET