With everyone trying to beat the recession, affordable art is in focus, says Rajendra

The experts in the art field had predicted the trouble long back, as the prices especially in the contemporary art market were way too high. Though it is now proved that it is not a bubble, as was claimed by a pessimistic group. The art field is still facing a problem, as all other fields have been affected by recession. Selective buying is still happening but artworks are not sold the way they used to be in the auctions and even in galleries; the galleries in Mumbai are showing solidarity by pledging to keep shutters open even on Sundays.

Everybody is trying to beat the recession. Sunil Chavan of Art Land gallery has come up with a show of affordable art ‘Art Redefined’ that includes senior and some upcoming names.

The exhibition curated by Sunil Chavan is starting for a limited period from March 24
till March 28, 2009, at Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum; the show will provide not only the opportunity to see fifty artists together but it will entice buyers/collectors to get into action, as prices are surprisingly affordable. Though the few paintings may be in small format, what attracts one towards this show is the prices that are in the range of Rs.10,000 to Rs.90,000. No, they are not small-time players but include big names like Lalitha Lajmi, Gurucharan Singh, Charan Sharma, Vijender Sharma, Prafulla Dahanukar, Hema Joshi, Sanjay Kumar, Anand Panchal, Vinod Sharma, Naren Panchal, Piu Sarkar, Ajay De, Rameshwar Singh and others.

The young lot includes artists like Sukanta Das, Nilesh Pawar, Ananya Banerjee, Amritraj Koban, Nitin Utge, Anil Gaikwad, Anand Mali, Ranjit Kurmi, John Douglas, Ami Patel, Subroto Das, Kaushik Raha, Kuneesha Mirzan and others.

It is a fact that the price range in this show is an indication of readjustment in the price structure in the art market; experts are predicting 20 to 40 % correction for the big names and expecting more resistance for the upcoming artists. This show is conceived keeping in mind the current art scenario; let us hope that it will act as a morale booster in these recessionary times. Though the Art Land Gallery has devised ‘Art Redefined’ as the title of this exhibition, there are many reasons to think that it should have been ‘Value Structure Redefined’. This show can be viewed till March 28, 2009, at Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum, Kalaghoda, Mumbai.

Bodhi Art, another gallery in the area, is holding an exhibition titled ‘Scuttle’. The latest drawings and sculptures by Sheila Makhijani are on display in the show. A Delhi-based artist, Sheila Makhijani, studied fine art at the College of Art, New Delhi, and moved to Japan to pursue further studies in 1993. She has had many solos and group shows to her credit.

We have seen the screen savers of amazing whirling triangles, red, brown and black, moving and mixing together, entering into one another, forming and reforming again. Though there are not exactly triangles in Sheila’s drawings there are forms that include odd triangles, rectangles, and ladders, mixed together in a mesh that reminded me of the aforesaid screen saver on the first look. The artist may not have anything to do with what I imagined, as her concept note says: ‘These drawings depicted what can either be taken as futuristic architectural constructs or anthropomorphic multi-appendaged beings’. There is a lot of movement, vibrancy and energy in her drawings. The concept note rightly states further that ‘Makhijani has perfected a harmonious blend of legitimacy and whimsy in the constructed web of tangled nets and ladders that move in multiple directions to resemble birds in flight’.
Her stainless steel sculptures are heaps of entangled industrial steel rolls like a small ladder, that mimic entangled heaps of photographic film, creating an impressive visual display of absence and light. These sculptures titled ‘Scuttle’ are an interesting juxtaposition to the vibrant, vigorous drawings. The exhibition will be on display till April 22, 2009 at Bodhi Art.

Gallery Beyond is presenting ‘Someday’ an exhibition of sculptures by Ratna Gupta. The biggest sculpture in the show resembles the ‘cluster of tree roots’ washed clean of its bark, revealing the white roots; it also looks like a bone carcass with out flesh of a strange gigantic animal. It is hollow and lights are passed from inside, illuminating the entire structure. It is an interesting sculpture by this London trained artist that definitely enriches the art space. She specialises in sculpting and delves into subjects that have an innate appeal to her sensibilities. Ratna says: ‘The work I do is very emotional; it is an expression of the anger, disappointment, happiness or frustration that I feel’. She adds ‘My work is about me having to say something to myself’.

The exhibition will continue till April 5, 2009 at Gallery Beyond, Great Western Bldg, Near Lions Gate, Mumbai






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