India Art Summit

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india art summit

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A defining stroke for Indian art

Vikram Kumar

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India Art Summit brings a fragmented community together.

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n a country where most people have never visited an art gallery, and the few that have stepped into an art exhibition have been left stupefied by the solemnity of the place, the Indian Art Summit was a wake-up call for paying more attention to a market now worth Rs 1500 crore. The Indian art market is growing at a rate of 30-35 percent annually, and in the last decade it has grown by a whopping 485 percent! With Indian paintings fetching nearly $150 million in auctions alone, it is little wonder that the world took note when India’s first ever art summit was announced by Hanmer MS&L. Held from 22nd to 24th August, 34 national and international art galleries featuring works of over 200 artists set up their stalls at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. F N Souza, SH Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Sunil Das, Yusuf Arakkal, Krishnamachari Bose, Sohan Qadri, Arpana Caur…works of the who’s who in art were on display,

except for the very guy who put Indian art on the world map. Afraid of attracting the wrath of the saffron brigade, the organisers opted to bypass the sticky situation by excluding the paintings of MF Hussain. While a lot of people showed their disapproval, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat) went ahead and organised a parallel Hussain Art Summit, and despite no objectionable painting being put on display, the Shri Ram Sena did show up and vandalised paintings and wrecked property. At the India Art Summit though, all the three days remained quite sunny and happy exhibitors showed off their paintings, priced over two lakhs, sold in the first half of the first day of the exhibition! Robin Dean of Rob Dean Art, UK, explained, “We thought the Summit would be a good opportunity to meet collectors, artists,” and Sonali Vadera of Rob Dean Art mentioned that they found plenty of people interested in buying the

paintings. “Being the first summit of its kind, I came without any expectations. It’s been absolutely wonderful, so many artists and galleries and even people from overseas. Above all, it feels good as you feel there is an art fraternity, otherwise everyone has being working in isolation,” remarked Aarti Singh of Polka, the art gallery. The Art Forum on the second day was attended by 200 delegates and speakers like Anjolie Ela Menon, Prof. Rajeev Lochan – Director, National Gallery of Modern Art, Dr. Robert Storr – Dean, Yale University School of Art, Dr. Hugo Weihe – International Director-Asian Art, Christie’s, Mr. Philip Hoffman – Chief Executive, The Fine Art Fund Group. “The Art Forum attempts to fill a void in the Indian art space – a void of collective discussion by different stakeholders of the art fraternity,”

the sunday indian 70 7 september 2008

said Mr. Sunil Gautam, Managing Director, India Art Summit. The aisles at the India Art Summit brimmed with lovers of art, and as gallery owners beamed at the stupendous turnout of art lovers, artists and buyers, Pheroza Godrej of Cymroza Art Gallery reflected the enthusiasm of art lovers, “The organisers were asking if there was anything that they could do. I just wish that they’d double the aisle space as they’re many visitors! I think the Summit’s a success and I hope it returns next year.” Anu Gulmohar

Collidonthus by Jitish Kallat