Art and alternative space

“Not only are we constantly looking at New Media art that goes beyond a conventional canvas space, but also for innovative places to host them,” says gallery owner Mortimer Chatterjee of Chatterjee & Lal Gallery in Colaba, who recently hosted a performance by Nikhil Chopra at an empty showroom under renovation.

Two new galleries, Bodhi Space, floated by Amit Judge, and The Warehouse, opened by Abhay Maskara, have added to the list of unconventional art spaces in the city. Bodhi Space, which used to be a ‘godown’, has opened its iron doors in the unlikely dockyard location at P D’Mello Road. The Warehouse, as the name suggests, used to be a cotton storage space.

Alternative spaces also lend itself to art that is experimental. Unlike banks that dedicate a few white walls to hang art, or multiplexes that allow some oils to be hung under its staircase (as in the case of Inox, Nariman Point), the mission here isn’t as much about selling as showcasing.

Maskara started off his venture with a focus on art that is not “the usual canvases and drawing-room sculpture”. The Warehouse’s 450-foot-high ceiling gives ample space to experiment with. Month-long shows of international artists known for unconventional works like inflatable sculptures are lined up here.

Bodhi Space operates in a similar vein though Judge’s approach is a balance between the commercial and the experimental. The Bodhi Art Gallery is every bit the white-cube space where he showcases most of his big money-spinners (like Atul and Anju Dodiya, Subodh Gupta and Sudarshan Shetty), whereas a sculptor like Valsan Kolleri is given free reign at the Bodhi Space to experiment with huge outdoor sculptures.

Sree Goswami’s Project 88 is a refurbished mill where she often hosts plays and multimedia installation art. “We want to encourage young artists to experiment with our space,” says Goswami. Of course there are some wonderful spaces that haven’t managed to sustain themselves in the cityscape. Meena Hingorani had to shut down the Art Mill Gallery in Byculla when she discovered the address was too off the beaten track. Sakshi Gallery was forced to move from their factory space in Lower Parel to swanky Colaba when the property was sold off to greedy builders.

Still, art pundits predict the market can sustain the physical expansion of a sector that has stayed far too long on the backburner.

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