Fresh coating

“Promoting young talent in India and internationally through a credible platform creates much-needed depth in the Indian contemporary art landscape,” says Chanda Chaudhari Barrai,founder of The Fuschia Tree,a Hong Kong-based online art platform that opened in September 2007. It recently announced the launch of The Fuschia Futures,a programme whereby a panel of curators including eminent artists like Amal Ghosh,Nrupen Madhvani and K.S. Radhakrishnan conducted a country-wide search for some of the most talented upcoming artists in India.

As Anupa Mehta of The Loft,Lower Parel,points out,there’s a certain calcification that might creep into the work of established artists which is absent in the fresh perspectives offered by newcomers. “Galleries,in the absence of institutions,have to play a promotional role,” she says. Each year,The Loft offers four international residencies and four studio sessions for upcoming Indian artists. In June,Mehta will be flagging off a curatorial project where young curators from across the country will be invited to showcase works at the gallery.

Similarly,the Institute of Contemporary Indian Art,Kala Ghoda,began in 2005 by exhibiting fresh talent on a web portal and later set up an auction website displaying the works of more than 250 young artists. The Guild Art Gallery in Colaba was started by Shalini Sawhney in 1997 especially to search for and nurture a new generation of contemporary artists.

Understandably,it remains a risky proposition for gallery owners to eschew the bigwigs of art. “It’s still not profitable to sponsor newcomers but at the same time we can’t disown them,” says Chandrakant Prabhu,co-owner of the Bombay Art Gallery,Malabar Hill. He,along with businessman Aditya Ruia,started the gallery six years ago after the success of a solo show by upcoming artist Pandit Khairnar that they’d organised at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Next on their agenda is an exhibition of paintings by newcomer Indrajit Prasad and wooden sculptures by P S Rajesh. They’re also organising a group show in June with the works of artists like Yashwant Deshmukh and Pandit Khairnar.

Moreover,there’s a sense of here and now in the work of neophytes with their intrepid espousal of experimentation. If nothing,they infuse the art scene with a marked vibrancy. So in Painted Veil,the inaugural solo exhibition of artist Boshudhara Mukherjee being displayed at Volte,Colaba,the works are neither sculpture,painting nor installation but an amalgamation of all three. In newcomer P S Saluja’s watercolour paintings which will be exhibited at Gallery BMB,Fort,till April 16,she explores the mob psyche of anonymous faces across the world.

“If I stumble upon a newcomer whose works excite me then I really look forward to featuring their photographs in my gallery,” says Matthieu Foss,owner of the Matthieu Foss Gallery (MFG) in Fort. Foss’ gallery also gives priority to bringing international art to Mumbai. So,in August,MFG will feature the works of French photographer Anne Maniglier and in January,a series on Mumbai by New York-based photographer Zubin Schroff will be displayed.

The current exhibition at MFG,titled Unseen Unheard Unexplained,showcases the works of Pat,a photographer who strays into disturbing territories of the subconscious through a series of dark,provocative and often unsettling images.