Open Season

“The recovery has been slow after the 2008 debacle,but that is good. People are researching before purchasing and there is no sudden jump in prices. Things should improve this season,with an exciting line up,” says Parul Vadehra of Vadehra Art Gallery,who will open the season with a Manjit Bawa solo on August 20. While the works will be sourced from his family and private collectors,a publication will accompany the exhibition. This will be followed by the much-awaited solo of Gulammohammed Sheikh in October,which was supposed to be held last year,and a solo of contemporary artist Atul Bhalla,who was in the news earlier this year,when one of his works titled I Was Not Waving,but Drowning,was exhibited at Harvard University in the US. A photo installation,it depicted the rising pollution levels of the sacred Yamuna river.

At his gallery in Hauz Khas,director Ashish Anand is putting up the works of artist and reformer Chittaprosad,in one of his biggest retrospectives,that spans over 50 years,including drawings made during the Great Bengal Famine of 1943-44. “We have been working on the show for over four years,” says Anand,flipping through one of the five publications on the artist’s work that will also be released.

Making her solo debut in Delhi will be Kolkata-based mid-career artist Paula Sengupta. To be held at Gallery Espace,July 21 onwards,her exhibition titled ‘Lv,Pony’ will comprise works that address the conflicts,contradictions and complex politics binding and dividing India,Pakistan and Bangladesh. The issues will be reflected through the medium of the work too,as Sengupta points out that she has layered fine muslins and jamdanis from Dhaka using the nakshi kantha (a quilting technique from the Bangladesh),and juxtaposed it with colonial forms of embroidery such as stem stitch,chain stitch and buttonhole stitch.

For the audience who would rather see the work of a number of artists under one roof,galleries will be curating shows featuring commissioned work. At Latitude 28,Bhavna Kakar hopes to present “the darker side of love,with its duplicitous edge and tendency for cruelty” in the exhibition ‘Love is a 4 Letter Word’ that will open on August 18. Few blocks from Kakar,in Lado Sarai,at Gallery Threshold,director Tunty Chauhan is renovating her gallery and Nidhi Jain of Ragini Gallery will have the ink and pen works of Greater Kailash based Dhanur Goyal up on her walls from July 6.

One can also look forward to new art addresses. Next month,Sunaina Anand,director of Art Alive Gallery,will open a 10,000 sq ft space in Gurgaon,that will run alongside the eight-year-old gallery in Panchsheel Park. Ashish Anand,meanwhile,will zero in on a gallery in Mumbai. “There is a huge collector base in the city,” says Anand. Meanwhile,also expect to see a few unfamiliar works of the masters,as the summer months had gallerists shopping in the West. Among others,Anand has purchased “two major collections in Europe”. The masters on the list include MF Husain,SH Raza,Biren De and GR Santosh. Ready for the storm after the lull?