The first edition of India Art Festival in Delhi opened its doors for art enthusiasts. R Kaur comes across some interesting works from different cities
What inspires youIJ A question that echoes now and then forcing many to rack their brains. You look around for inspirations in the concrete jungle that spreads rapidly. Chaos takes over which you might want to shrug off by escaping to a picturesque destination or through a stroll in the park. You swim in the same slough and forget how to appreciate the beauty around. We ask you to pause, stay put, look around and cherish what is in front of your eyes.
We believe in practicing what we preach and did the same at the ongoing India Art Festival which is being held at National Stadium till January 17. A riot of colours, varied patterns and shapes take over when you step in.
GR Iranna’s life-sized sculpture Silencer catches our eye with it’s four fibre-glass figures followed by Pooja Iranna’s inventively-piled Forgotten Splendor Staple Pins.
A few steps ahead, you may see around 150 fibre-made crabs snapping away around a chest filled with a globe and some more crabs. They also have faces of popular figures of the country painted on them. The installation called In-tolerance has been done by Sudhanshu Sutar, an artist from Odisha.
“Here I’m talking about the crab mentality. Delhi is a very political place and whenever an issue erupts, you can hear dissent as well as agreement from various corners. Intolerance was one such topic that every person was talking about. It’s a mess,” explained Sutar.
Seated on a small bench is a young lad flipping through a book while one lies on his stomach as he gazes at the pages. These life-sized sculptures have been created using fibre and are part for the Reader Series by artist Seema Singh Dua. “It’s all about the joy of reading. Initially, it was a commissioned work for someone’s house, then it caught the attention of many,” she said.
We walk along and spot the modern-day Krishna, created using fibre-glass and acrylic paint, carefully ensconced as he smirks at the passerbys. Created by cartoonist Biswajit Balasubramanian, Krishna has a nose similar to Pinocchio nose “because he says different things and confuses people.” In one hand, you see a computer mouse for him to connect with his devotees of course, followed by a CD instead of the chakra. At the back is the Betty bought some butter...’ tongue-twister with the Amul girl on the side since he was the makhan-chor.
The founder and managing director of India Art Fair, Rajendra, shared, “Our participants have been associated with us since 2011 and they recommended that we must come to Delhi because they don’t have a platform. The art fairs held here are very costly for mid-level galleries but this is affordable for the exhibitors because the charges are not exorbitant.”
He says India is still in an infant stage when you see the world art scene. “The US, a few years back, was the leader. Around 30 per cent of global art and antique market was under their artists and galleries. Two years back, China took over and now has a 32 per cent market share. Out of the top 20 auction houses, five or six of them are from China. They have the infrastructure and are selling their history. We are their neighbours and hardly hold one per cent of it. This is the only art fair, second in India after India Art Fair, which has sustained for five-six years otherwise we don’t have any,” he lamented.
photos Sanjeev Kumar