Art Works

The third India Art Summit,which will take off in Delhi from January 21 next year,is packed with big-budget artworks,a vibrant speakers panel and an extension of the sculpture park and video lounge,popular features of the previous editions of the Summit.

Written by Georgina Maddox

December 8, 2010 06:39 AM IST

4 min read

The next India Art Summit will feature big-budget works and high profile artists

The three-day-long art carnival will focus this year on the Moderns since the market has indicated that the strong and durable bets are on senior artist like F N Souza and SH Raza. Souza definitely seems to be the flavour of the season with six galleries showing his works. The Indian galleries that will be displaying the great masters work will be Gallerie 88,The Loft,Delhi Art Gallery and Dhoomimal,while two international galleries Rob Dean gallery and Grosvenor Gallery,both UK-based will also be focussing on Souza. Souza is one of my favourite artists. Thats why I wanted to focus on his works at the Summit, says Supriya Banerjee of the Kolkata-based Gallerie 88.

However,the most important development this year is the possibility of featuring exiled artist MF Husain. While the matter is still a delicate issue for those investing huge amounts of money into the Summit,the efforts to showcase the maverick artists works are underway. Over the last one-and-a-half years,we have been speaking to the Home Ministry to grant India Art Summit security support for the free showcase of all Indian artists,including Husain. We are still waiting for a response,but we do look forward to creating an art fair that truly represents the whole of the Indian art scene, says Neha Kirpal,director of the Summit.

In fact,recently a closed-door round table discussion was held at the Lalit Kala Akademi to thrash out various art-related issues,and Husains continued absence at the Summit was one of the key topics. The cultural secretary Jawhar Sircar,head of the Lalit Kala Akademi,Ashok Vajpayee,director of National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA),Rajiv Lochan,Kirpal and other private art entrepreneurs and academics were present at the discussion. While Sircar promised Kirpal that he would look into the matter,others,like Shukla Sawant,artist and faculty at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),advised,As long as the event of showing Husains work is not surrounded by media hoopla,it should be alrightone should just go ahead and display Husain and see what happens.

The other big highlight of this years Summit will be the speaker panel where artist Anish Kapoor,Hans Ulrich Obrist,co-director of the Serpentine Gallery,and Homi Bhabha,director,Harvard Humanities Centre,will come together to discuss the perception of Indian art internationally.

The Summit will also feature an exhibition by photographer Gauri Gill. She will document the setting up of the stalls on the 800 square feet exhibition grounds at Pragati Maidan,take portraits of the workers who help set up the Summit and create a gallery of visitors to the fair. There will also be online interactions that will invite people to read and blog with young art writers and artist Abhishek Hazra,who will be designing the project. Over 40 students of art and art history will be interning with participating galleries,at the sculpture park and on art projects, says Kirpal,adding that there will also be curated walks to help visitors navigate the fair.