A Journey Through Art by Anand Bekwad

Anand Bekwad's visual travelogue captures the mood and atmosphere along with the architecture and social fabrics of the cities and heritage sites that he visits. The depiction, follows the evolution of cities along important river trails that have been the genesis points of religious and cultural centres. Bekwad paints these as vibrant landscapes filled with energy and life, attempting to capture their historicity and distinctive character.

Blue Banaras - acrylic on canvas

"The series - ‘A Journey Through Art’ brings together a journey highlighting the artistic learning, philosophy and process of various art forms and sensibilities of the two regions, fascinated by its ghats, river, the people the city attracted and its bylanes throbbing with energy. Anand Bekwad, known for his watercolours and acrylic tries to narrate the journey of water with different landscapes of Rameshwaram, Madurai and Banaras. Certainly been in his mind he aims at publishing ‘views’ of the city from ‘complete plates and finished watercolours. Capturing through vibrant splashes of colour, and fluid line-work both the liveliness and poignancy of a timeless pastoral visual text," writes Ruchi Sharma in the catalogue.

Banaras evening light - -acrylic on canvas

In this series of paintings, Bekwad has worked with acrylics on canvas, deviating from his preferred medium which is watercolours. The Northern Ghats and the temples from South India form focal points of depiction in these works. The Benaras series include scenes around the river Ganga, with its Ghats, temples along the riverbank and other architectural features. The stories of the past and those of the living merge seamlessly on the canvas to create vibrant stills.

Chethshingh fort - Acrylic on canvas

'A Journey Through Art' is on view at Kalakriti art gallery, Hyderabad, till 29th November 2019

Please share this article using the social media widgets at the bottom and do subscribe to receive regular updates from Art Scene India.

To contribute articles, please get in touch at artsceneinfo@gmail.com
Also read,

• Art Bengaluru 2019 – Festival of Contemporary Art 
• Art Bengaluru 2018 - A Celebration of Contemporary Art
• Art News: Recounting Memories by Gurudas Shenoy in Bangalore
• Art News: Grazie Infinite by Shraddha Rathi in Bangalore
• 5 Reasons a Good Catalogue Text is Essential for Your Art
• How To Write An Artist Statement
• 6 Tips On How To Approach An Art Gallery And Find Gallery Representation
• Exhibiting Art in Non-Gallery Spaces
• Guide To Exhibiting Your Artworks

How to choose art by an upcoming artist

(Nalini S Malaviya)

Now that there is a lot of focus on upcoming artists and young talent, one sees many art exhibitions by artists who either debut with it or are in their second or third show. Most art galleries are now promoting such artists aggressively, and it then becomes difficult for the buyer to evaluate the investment potential of such artists. In any case one must remember that it is very difficult to predict the investment value of an artist who does not have a proven track record. It becomes very important, then, that the buyer consider all aspects related to the artist’s future prospects.

One must take into consideration the artist’s qualifications, awards, if any, and the technical aspects of his artistic skills. One can also look at the creative potential which will be reflected in the concept and execution. Innovation and ideation play an extremely important role in contemporary art. For instance, there are artists who come up with a brilliant concept but fail to present it effectively, and then there are times when an artist has nothing new to say. The novelty of an idea combined with effective expression is a much desired and extremely sought after quality. If the artist has held shows previously, one can check out which galleries or venues were involved.

These days what is also becoming important is the credentials of the gallery backing the artist. A good and reputed art gallery will promote their artists at national and international levels, which can affect the artist’s career and investment value enormously. However, there are many collectors and buyers who go with their gut instinct and tend to buy works they can emotionally connect to. Although, this may seem like an old fashioned approach to new buyers, but many collectors swear by it, and this method has worked extremely well for them. Experienced art collectors develop an intuitive feel for the quality and value of art which instinctively draws them towards the right work. As investing in an upcoming artist’s work can pay rich dividends in the long run, one should spend time evaluating and analysing before buying it.

(Published in Financial Times)