The India Art Fair has been exercising a pull over artists and galleries from across the globe. By Chahak Mittal
Time becomes an illusion when one enters the India Art Fair. You don’t want to leave especially, when you are surrounded by a plethora of creativity and colours from across the world. It’s appeasing to see how the contemporary art scene has evolved in the country and today has an immense global presence. The fair is the right place to discover the reach of the contemporary Indian art market across the globe.
There are more than 75 exhibitors from across Indian and international cities, many of them first-timers.
Taking a walk through the fair, the first first-timer we came across was Gallery Palais de Seoul from Korea that featured two Korean contemporary artists, Kim Deok Han and Han Kyu Nam. Using traditional techniques from their country and an Oriental line of thought, artist Kim has constructed his own world that not only digs into the past but also reveals the present world. The concept of repeated brush strokes in his work implied the record of time and space, representing An Oriental Line. While he derives his inspirations from eastern ideologies, artist Han’s An Alien of New York combines both Oriental and Western painting techniques.
Next came Gallery Grosvenor from London, which has been showcasing in India for the past nine years now. Its director Charles Moore believed that Indian art market is rising to be one of the “biggest” in the world. He said that they had been showcasing in India since they represent many Indian artists like Syed Haider Raza, Bhupen Khakhar, Krishen Khanna, among others including some South Asian and especially, Pakistani artists too.
Gallery Arario from Korea was also a first-time exhibitor at the fair. A spokesperson elaborated upon the reason why they zeroed down on India to represent their gallery, “India is massive, especially when it comes to art. We represent many Indian and Southeast Asian artists and had never discovered the country’s market so closely. People value art that is rare.”
Moving ahead, artist Alexander Gorlizki’s works on paper combined together diverse elements like hand-painted figures, ornamental and textile patterns, as well as photographs and magazine pages. His compositions ranged from geometric abstraction to loosely-narrative scenes offering a view into the layered worlds where Eastern and Western iconographies and historical references are re-contextualised. His works are inspired by the Indian Mughlai miniature style and also from the megacity of New York.
Artist Ghulam Mohammad from Kacchi in Balochistan, Pakistan, brought together the conception of reality and fiction, which for him appears hand-in-hand. He creates artwork through pasting entangled letters of Urdu and Persian languages. The letters form a channel or bridge like the traditional Hashiya or window. He believes that every letter has its own border that initiates communication. “There is a communication that can only be achieved from a defined border or distance.”
James Green from David Zwirner said, “We had come for the fair last year as well because Indian buyers had been showing a lot of interest in the artists that we deal in. Our belief was well-founded. Not only did we do a fair amount of business but we have also been able to build long-term relationships which have endured. This prompted us to come back this time too.”
Photo: Pankaj Kumar