Introductory note
One of the highlights in visual arts for the month of March was the successful completion of Art Dubai 2022, held at the Madinat Jumeirah. With a variety of artists showcased, it was also an event that saw the successful participation of numerous Indian galleries in Dubai. For the March issue of our newsletter, we put forth an engaging read on Art Dubai 2022 and the Indian galleries that had a successful run at the event this year. Read along to discover what the event was like for some of the galleries that took part in the event this year, with glimpses from the booths and the artworks exhibited. For your monthly fix of exhibitions to keep an eye out for, this issue also presents a list of events – virtual and in-person – currently happening across galleries in India. Given that March was also #WomenHistoryMonth, our newsletter this month also includes some of the best reads when it comes to women artists of Indian origin.
Ankita Ghosh
P.S. We’d like to extend a note of thanks to Experimenter Kolkata, Jhaveri Contemporary, and Nature Morte for their generous contributions with regard to information on their booths and the artists showcased at Art Dubai 2022. For more on their current exhibitions, follow them on social!
Art Dubai 2022
Dubbed as the largest international art fair in the Middle East, Art Dubai celebrated its 15th anniversary this year with doors opened for audiences globally between the 11th to 13th of March. Art Dubai – with a dedicated focus on bringing art and artists from the Global South to the forefront – was a grander celebration this year after the muted exhibition last year due to Covid-19 restrictions. Along with the inauguration of a number of innovative initiatives, there was a focus on meaningful engagement with art practices from the surrounding region and bringing diverse practices from territories across Southeast and Central Asia to the fore. With participation from galleries based in different corners and diverse categories of art on display over the three days, this year was “a truly global art fair, and this is reflected in both the quality and geographic spread of the galleries participating this year”, according to Pablo del Val, the Artistic Director at Art Dubai.
Featuring over 100 contemporary and modern art galleries from over 40 countries across the world, there was immense variety on display at the biggest edition of the fair this year. The exhibition was categorized into 4 sections – Modern Art, Contemporary Art, Bawwaba, and Art Dubai Digital (inaugurated this year, it pays ode to the rising tide of digital art in recent times). While the Modern Art display section had works from Iran, South Asia, and the surrounding Arab territory, the Contemporary section had displays from about 33 countries, with specific importance given to highlighting art and artists from Africa and South Asia. Titled ‘The Soul of Progress’, the Modern Art section covered a range of artistic techniques and practices of modern art between the 1930s and 1970s. The other two sections – launched to bring forth new ideas in art – were representative of the ethos with which the art fair in Dubai operates every year. Here’s more on these two sections:
Bawwaba
Translating to “the gateway”, Bawwaba showcased artworks that were specifically designed for Art Dubai this year. With a special focus on the theme of “break” in art, Bawwaba showcased artworks from 10 artists representing the countries of India, Pakistan, Mexico, Peru, Angola, Nigeria and Chile. Nancy Adajania pens a beautiful piece on what made the Bawaaba display section particularly astonishing. Here’s an interesting quote from her piece, which can be accessed here:
“Perhaps art and poetry can show us a way forward, connecting us to one another across the Global North/ Global South, but also the human/non-human, animate/inanimate divides?”
Art Dubai Digital
Given the recent avenues made in the world of digital art, it was only fitting to dedicate a section to digital art this year at Art Dubai. For this inaugural session, Art Dubai Digital brought forth 18 galleries that displayed their collection of digital art – with crypto-currencies, NFTs, virtual reality and multi-media art forms getting their due share of recognition when it comes to art. The Digital section was specially curated by Web3 specialist Chris Fussner, and showcased some of the most innovative art displays from galleries across the world. Given the growth in digital art in recent times, the inclusion of a section that pays special tribute to digital art is a welcome move in the visual arts. Along with the art displays, this year also saw programs accompanying this section that allowed for greater knowledge-building efforts surrounding digital art with the “This is the Picture” educational program.
“This is the Picture”, the theme of this year’s Global Art Forum commissioned by Shumon Basar was designed in a manner that allowed for discussions on a range of topics on digital artefacts and crypto economies, from NFTs to crypto-gaming and the metaverse, Web 3.0 and Dubai’s new crypto zone. Visitors were privy to special listening sessions from participants including collectors Guy Ullens and Ryan Zurrer, and pioneering artists Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst and Hito Steyerl over the course of four days of the art fair.
India at Art Dubai 2022
With representation from the South East continuing to grow, this year saw the participation of Indian galleries such as Experimenter, TARQ, Jhaveri Contemporary, Nature Morte, Vadehra Art Gallery, DAG World, Blueprint12, and Latitude 28 from India, who exhibited a variety of artworks at their booths this year. Given the vast variety in the materials and techniques introduced in each of the booths, we take a look at the displays put forth by some of the Indian galleries present at the fair and their experiences of the event this year.
Experimenter
Keeping in line with the gallery’s focus on bringing to the forefront voices representative of diverse lines of thought, Experimenter’s booth at Art Dubai 2022 showed variety both in terms of the techniques and the materials artists work with. Be it Radhika Khimji’s works on photo transfer paper (featured on Ocula’s countdown of 8 artworks at the Art Dubai event this year) or Prabhakar Pachpute’s landscapes, Experimenter brought out works by multiple artists in its exhibition titled “Remnants as Traces” that aims to situate the individual amidst geographical and political contexts. Here’s what Directors Prateek and Priyanka Raja had to say about their experience at the exhibition:
“It was wonderful to return to Art Dubai. The fair was in full swing, thanks to the programming of Artistic Director Pablo del Val and his team. It was wonderful to be back in the confluence of friends, supporters, patrons and art lovers. This year, we presented a group exhibition titled Remnants as Traces at Art Dubai 2022, that underscored the position of the personal within political and geographical contexts in an attempt to find residues of living through the works of Adip Dutta, Ayesha Sultana, Aziz Hazara, Bani Abidi, Julien Segard, Kanishka Raja, Prabhakar Pachpute, Praneet Soi, Radhika Khimji, Rathin Barman, and Samson Young.”
Jhaveri Contemporary
With a booth built on monochromatic hues, Jhaveri Contemporary brought to Art Dubai displays from four women of South-Asian origin. Amina Ahmed’s Pitch Prieta explores the intricate “relationships between line and form, shadow and substance, lightness and darkness”, in order to delve deep into the differences that exist in opposition. Lubna Chowdhary’s works with clay (featured as one of the best highlights at Art Dubai by Ocula) allow one a close look at the futuristic cityscapes that co-exist with the structures of the past. Taking from her own participatory experiences, artist Rana Begum takes one on an immersive experience through her works at Jhaveri’s booth at Art Dubai. Brought to life during the pandemic, her paintings remind one of the large Asian scrolls with delicate detailing. Also present at the booth were works by Yamini Nayar, who explores intersections between sculpture and photography. Working with sculptures, she turns these into multi-dimensional visual landscapes with the help of photography. By photographing constructions of wood and paper together, her works make one question the concept of time and its role in the development of these over different periods. Altogether, the works help build a collective narrative driven from the personal experiences of each of the artists who were a part of the exhibition.
Nature Morte
Featuring works from the artist Mona Rai, Nature Morte brought forth a collection that explores the potential to express and innovate with different materials. Rai’s works showcase an abstractionist bend of mind, both in terms of the materials that she makes use of and the techniques that she chooses to work with. Using one centerpiece, titled ‘Kaal’, that brings together a variety of different materials together to form a whole, the booth included eleven of Rai’s works made over different spans of time. Combining brocade fabrics with small mirrors, metallic foils, strings, and other materials, the artist combines abstractionism with expressionism to bring to life images that make way for “nuance, emotion and introspection” to co-exist within her artworks. With each of the eleven pieces that form a part of Nature Morte’s booth, one sees Rai’s early studies with psychology in the works. With both new and old pieces put together for the booth, there is a certain immobility that holds these together and defies the time it took to bring them to life.
Exhibition alert
Parsec at Gallery Ark
A group exhibition by 19 artists, including KG Subramanyam, Jyoti Bhatt, Rekha Rodwittiya, Alexander Gorlizki, Roshan Chhabria, Teja Gavankar, is on view till 31st May at Gallery Ark in Baroda. Referring to a unit measure of distance, the exhibition titled “Parsec” has been curated by Nupur Dalmia, the curator-director of Gallery Ark and helps bring out a combination of different works – from established artists and emerging ones – under one roof.
Feeling the Pulse (in the Pandemic Year) at Akar Prakar
Currently open at Akar Prakar in New Delhi, Jayashree Chakravarty’s solo show “Feeling the Pulse (in the Pandemic Year)” makes way for nature to exist amidst the walls of the gallery space. Open for viewing till the 15th of April, the minute details in each of the works takes one on a journey through the textural forms on display.
Between Brackets at Shrine Empire
Shruti Mahajan’s solo show titled “Between Brackets” is available as part of Shrine Empire’s curation for In Touch’s 7th edition. Currently, on view on artintouch.in, the works help explore the “functions, form and metaphors” of a bracket and come together as a set of artworks in mixed media.
Walking with the Waves at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
Displaying recent works of Atul Dodiya that were generated from the pandemic, “Walking with the Waves” at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Saket is a body of intimate and small-format watercolors produced during the two years of the covid crisis. This was a time when the artist retreated inwards to explore new forms and techniques during this time. The exhibition introspects on the idea of a ‘source of innocence and freedom’. The exhibition is live till the 30th of November.
Vadehra at South South Veza
Running from 31st March to 10th April, Vadehra Art Gallery is participating in the South South Veza. Focusing on new media, Veza will incorporate film, video, and digital work of art from artists in the global south. The exhibition includes video work by Atul Bhalla called “Rupture”. The viewing room also has a suite of diasec-mounted photographs by Atul Bhalla, as well as wall sculptures by Gigi Scaria, exploring environmental concerns through ideas of social and cultural (anti-)progress in urbanized surroundings.
Also at South South this year: “There is no border here” by Shilpa Gupta, who makes an abstract political reality a personal experience by using the flag to showcase how it can be futilely used to divide territories.
Women and Art History
March is significant in terms of shedding a light on the achievements made by women in diverse arenas of life. For the visual arts, therefore, it was fitting for us to put forth a selection of writings that give adequate space to covering the achievements made by women artists of Indian origin. From the Heritage Lab’s coverage of the widely unknown women artists who contributed to the illustration of the country’s Constitution to articles that map and list individual women making strides in the visual arts, we hope this section allows you to better understand the contribution of women in the visual arts in India and South Asia.
Women have often been written out of history. What is astonishing is, that despite their signatures being visible in the Indian Constitution, little is known about the women artists who contributed to the making process of this historical piece of work. Check out The Heritage Lab for more on making art accessible to a wider audience in the country.
Women in the visual arts in India and South Asia: Some partial maps
An in-depth illustrated account of women and their contribution to the visual arts in India and south Asia, this piece also has an attached bibliography for art lovers and avid readers to trail on to other crucial pieces of readings when it comes to the visual arts and the contribution of women.
A list of 9 women artists and detailed coverage of their significant pieces of work, this article is a helpful starting point for someone starting to under women’s contribution to art history in India.
That’s all for this issue. If there are any suggestions or feedback you’d like to send our way, please feel free to get in touch with us at artinindiaco@gmail.com!