Twenty Twenty

The inaugural exhibition of Gallery Espace had 22 autobiographical watercolours of MF Husain and visitors who attended the show included his close friends Krishen Khanna and Ram Kumar. “The show was received well. But many described me as a bored,rich housewife who ventured into art,” says Modi,52,as she prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary with a show titled “Lo Real Maravilloso: Marvelous Reality,” from December 9.

Comprising over 150 works of art,the gallerist has chosen Lalit Kala Akademi as venue for the grand exhibition curated by filmmaker and critic Sunil Mehra. The theme is rooted in magic realism,as described by German art critic Franz Roh. The walls will have photographs of N Pushpamala,Maxine Henryson and Sohrab Hura. Tree sculptures of Chintan Upadhyay will be suspended from the ceiling and Baptist Coelho’s site-specific installation will have shafts of air blowing an airplane. Iranian artist Parvaneh Etemadi will make a collage of photographs of Manjit Bawa’s work and Modi will also bring to Delhi work of Milan-based Anila Rubikua,Louise Gardiner from Bristol and film installation of London-based Sutapa Biswas. “These are artists whose work I like. I always went by intuition and not the market,” says Modi,who organised a solo of Subodh Gupta in Delhi in 1993. “At that time too his show was a sell-out,” recalls Modi,whose own lessons in art came from long discussions with Manjit Bawa and Ram Kumar in his Jangpura home. “It was more informal then and there was close association between artists and galleries,” adds Modi.

It did,however,require effort to bring people to the galleries. For her second show Modi had the work of Hyderabad artist Laxma Goud and in 1994 she organised a curatorial show of drawings featuring work of Akbar Padamsee,GR Santosh,Gulammohammed Sheikh and KG Subramanyan among others. Kitsch Kitsch Hota Hai in 2001 brought together the work of fashion designer Manish Arora and art of Atul Dodiya,Anjolie Ela Menon,Bhupen Khakhar and Bharti Kher.

“With the slowdown we have come back full circle. It is again difficult to sell art,only the values are more,” says Modi. She promoted video art last year by showing videos at her gallery each month. On the cards is a documentation center that will provide reading material on art. “It is important to build awareness and not focus on price tags,” adds Modi. The list for next year,meanwhile,is also being drawn. In February is an exhibition featuring work of Mumbai-based Yogesh Rawal and March has a show by Paula Sengupta. Celebrations are to continue.

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