Bangalore Art Shows

Nalini S Malaviya

Going by the number of exhibitions being held in the city it is hard to believe that the art market has slowed down at all! One reason that could explain the quantum of shows is that most of them must have been planned for and organised well in advance. But, what is interesting is that many of them also claim to be selling quite a few artworks.
Readers will remember that most auctions of Indian art as well as Western art have been performing miserably in the last few weeks. Many prominent art galleries too have indicated that their sales are affected. But, auctions reports alone cannot be used as a sole measure of the overall state of the art market. In fact, one notices that there is a section of people who is continuing to buy art for its intrinsic value. And, also, sale of affordable art is on the rise. Anything under a lakh or so is an attractive proposition for buyers. What is emerging is that buyers are much more aware now and they are able to distinguish, evaluate and compare quality with prices. This will hopefully result in better quality art at reasonable prices.

At one of the exhibitions that I visited last week, a large painting priced at Rs 90,000 or thereabouts was already sold. This particular work caught my attention with its subtle wit and humour. It features a cow wearing headphones and apparently snoozing, while listening to a crow seated on its hump and ‘crowing’ into a microphone. Part of a group show by four artists (Jiban Biswas, Mintu Malick, Ashis Mondal and Nageshwar Sharma) from Bengal, one saw pleasant works that focused mainly on aesthetics. This exhibition concludes today at Chitrakala Parishath.

Incidentally, there were three other exhibitions going on at the Parishath - one of them was held by students from CAVA University, Mysore and featured their paintings and sculptures. The effect was a little crowded as there were too many works, but I quite liked a few works in stone and a couple of paintings. Hopefully, these students will do a better job of media and PR next time, because as far as I could see not many people knew about their show.
Another exhibition by a group of artists (Sumita Maity, Arpita Chandra, Pradip Sau and Anjan Kumar) from Bengal appeared to be slightly disjointed, but had a few good works.
The last exhibition that was going on was of watercolours inspired by nature, but it was a little too garish for me. I feel the beauty of the medium lies in its delicate, understated look which was completely missing. These three exhibitions that I have mentioned have already ended last week.

Published in Bangalore Mirror

Tale of two cities

(Nalini S Malaviya )

Last month I was in Ahmedabad and could not help but compare the art scene between the two cities. Quantitatively speaking, the number of galleries and art shows that happen in Bangalore is much higher than what one sees in Ahmedabad.
Visitors from Mumbai and Delhi find Bangalore lagging behind on the art front, and I have to say the same for Ahmedabad. The level of awareness and interest in art appears to be low and one of the reasons that I could correlate it with is that there is hardly any coverage about art related events in the media. And, this is despite the fact that a number of well known artists live there.
Media plays an important role in reporting news and creating awareness about local and global issues. But, it has an equally important role to play in providing the necessary leverage in promoting fine arts and culture. We are fortunate in Bangalore to have a supportive media who has been giving widespread coverage to art exhibitions and related topics. It is another matter that often the kind of art that gets promoted is questionable. While, in Ahmedabad, gallerists and other people that I talked to, cribbed about the dearth of art critics and journalists.

I must talk about one of the exhibitions that I visited at Marvel art gallery, a leading art space in Ahmedabad that centred around a contemporary theme along with an unusual execution. ‘Nagarnama II’ - Nationalism to Internationalism featured some humungous sized canvasses by a young artist Harshil Patel. More than the paintings themselves the two huge works running almost the entire length of the gallery, and the entire floor covered with charcoal bricks gave it an interesting dimension. Exploring the theme of rapid urbanization and the corresponding change in cultural identities, the paintings portrayed the altered skylines. This combined with an installation and a collage of photographs; the gallery space was radically altered and created a special ambience. The feeling one had of standing on the pitch black road and viewing colourful artworks around me was remarkable.

In closing I would like to mention that on November 8, the art auction house Emami Chisel will hold its next auction of Indian art. According to their press release, the focus will now be on contemporary works and a lot of young artist's works will be put up for auction this time. Apart from painting, drawing and printmaking there will also be sculpture, photography and a two Channel video projection. The online auction starts on November 3rd and will merge and continue with the live auction on 8th November.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)

Art market feels the heat

By Nalini S Malaviya

The global financial meltdown has spread its tentacles to encompass art in its grips as well. The art market appears to have slowed down its frenzied pace; recent auction figures indicate that there has been a slump of sorts. In view of the economic situation, it is not surprising that the recession has also hit sales of art.
As the mayhem at the stock market continues, one would have expected more investors to opt for alternate investment avenues. This is a common trend that one asset class faces a slump, others pick up (as can be seen with gold prices). However, the issue of lowered liquidity associated with the art market seems to be detracting a major chunk of investors. Unfortunately, liquidity has long been an issue with art collectors and investors as an urgent need for funds cannot be translated into hard cash. In practice to resell art at a good price requires a lot of time, effort and the right contacts.

There is also growing concern and speculation regarding the prices of artworks - will they sustain or fall drastically in the short term? Upcoming auction results will indicate the direction prices are likely to take.
Another perceptible shift that has been noticed is that investors once again appear to be more inclined towards the modern artists as compared to the contemporary artists. Readers will recall that prices of contemporary artists have shot dramatically upwards in the recent past and the buyer base had shifted allegiance to the younger and more experimental category of artists. This trend may not have been completely reversed but buyers do appear to be now inclined to invest in the more stable and established modern artists.
What also emerges is that there is an urgent need to establish a system which can enhance the liquidity of art which will boost the art mart tremendously.
Well, to sum up the good thing is that this could be the right time to pick up quality works at competitive prices. This is a buyers’ market and prices are open to negotiation.

(Published in Financial Times)

Art Buzz (Bangalore)

The Olive Art Initiative presents “DIFFERENT STROKES”, an exhibition of works by Sanjib Saha, Anshika Varma and Shankar S. This exhibition at Olive Beach, is from November 1st to November 7, 2008 from 12 noon to 11:30 pm. The show previews on October 31st 20008 at Olive Beach.

Art in the virtual world

(Nalini S Malaviya)

In this electronic age where technology has pervaded every aspect of our lives how can art be left behind? The virtual art fraternity is replete with artists, galleries, collectors and connoisseurs. An online presence is a highly effective tool to network with members with common interests. While social networking sites have made news for a variety of reasons, there are now a growing number of networking sites dedicated to art. Online networking provides an edge over peers, offers a much larger reach and is an effective PR and marketing medium. All this at minimal costs (or often free). Another major advantage is the rapidity with which information is exchanged resulting in faster turnaround time.

Earlier the trend was more towards setting up websites to showcase artworks and art related services. Whereas now, blogs have emerged as a popular and free-to-use platform that offers similar, although somewhat limited facilities as a website, but is a great way to create an online presence. Easy to use and even easier to update and maintain, blogs can be used for marketing oneself and to reach out to a wider audience.

In the virtual world, where geographic or regional boundaries do not exist it is easy to relate to likeminded people. Dedicated social sites on art offer an exclusive platform to different players from the art community. Exchange of knowledge, expertise, views, statistics and the latest buzz allow valuable interaction between members.
Similarly, online newsletters and publications enhance exposure to art related events and news from across the world. While all these provide a valuable platform to the artist, they also offer the buyer wider access to information.

As we can see there are numerous benefits in being active on an online forum, but there are a few disadvantages that one should be aware of. These may not be specific to art related sites but it helps to go over them. As online identities can be misleading, it is important to check out the credentials of the person you are interacting with. Similarly, when any financial transaction is involved one should be extra cautious about use of credit card or divulging personal details. With that in mind sometimes a moderated networking site works out better.
In any case, it is always advisable to follow Netiquette when expressing oneself. So, go ahead and create a virtual presence to either showcase your art or to learn more about art.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)