Indian contemporary art has to come of age

Indian contemporary art is becoming international recognition as India rises as an economic superpower. This has unleashed many opportunities for young artists who lay dormant and could not manifest their talent for want of “adequate commercialization of art”. Of course, this has a flip side too: creativity suffered during this period. Buyers began looking at art purely as an investment. Signatures were important, content was lost. Serious collectors got sidelined. Thankfully, things are changing . I am sure Indian contemporary art and artists will get the place they deserve in national and international arenas.

I have been collecting art for 15 years but I would find it difficult to say which are my favourites or indeed, what prompts me to buy a certain work. But yes, some works one does find to be closer to one’s heart more than others. These include Somnath Hore’s various bronzes, many of Abanindranath, Gaganendranath and Rabindranath Tagore paintings and a particular painting of Ramkinker Baij.

Apart from these I very fondly cherish my collection of works by Ram Kumar, MF Husain, KG Subramanyan, Akbar Padamsee, NS Bendre, Ramachandran, Anjolie Ela Menon, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Manjit Bawa, Shakti Burman, Paresh Maity, Jayasri Burman, Baiju, Rini Dhumal, and of-course Raja Ravi Varma. I am also very fond of Radhakrishnan’s bronzes, Nagji’s stones, Daroz’s ceramics. In graphics, I greatly admire prints of Jyoti Bhatt and Krishna Reddy.

I still remember the wonderful interaction I had with Krishna Reddy when I met him at his home at New York. Even at this age he is fully of energy.

I have never bought art as an investment, though normally it would be a good investment. A work of art necessarily must appeal to you. You must like it before you chose to acquire it and, in any case, a good work of art would always appreciate in value.

While historic and modern art will remain important, some of the younger artists are doing amazing work, experimenting with newer media, ideas, forms and compositions. This is important, since art must continuously evolve in tandem with its cultural and socio-economic origin and dynamics.

We at Uttarayan Art Centre, which is a part of the foundation I have established, have tried to create a hub with adequate facilities where artists can come and experiment with various mediums and forms, be it stone, bronze sculpture; ceramic, glass works, comprehensive range of graphic art including lino, litho, etching, photo etching, woodcut, serigraphy etc and of-course in new media, digital art, apart from facilities for painting.

I have seen artists come and experiment to manifest their creativity in the forms and mediums they are not usually accustomed to. This has been greatly rewarding. Also we have been inviting international artists from various countries and the interactive symposiums have been very joyful experiences.

Asia is next super power so Asian contemporary art is catching attention everywhere. While one can see a fair amount of Chinese art in the international art fair s and museums, Indian contemporary art still has to spread its wings. As India rises, I am sure there will be wider visibility of Indian art, and this time creativity will not suffer.

(The writer is the founder, Uttarayan Art Foundation)