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Journalism of Courage
The art market continues to grow in and around the capital, giving even the mediocre artist a chance to exhibit. And artists are playing to the gallery too, producing saleable works and quickies to make a fast buck. It is sad they do not realise that such works will ruin their reputation if they are not executed with conviction. But it seems that while they realise it, they want to go ahead and be market-friendly all the same.
As the festive season is here, Gods and Goddesses have a field day. And who better than the cuddly elephant if the lady on the tiger or one with a foot on her husband are a little daunting! I would only suggest that while the Ganesha theme does not require much imagination, its execution and rendering should be above reproach. I would suggest one look at the Ganesha representations by Satish Gujral, K K Kamra, Preeti Singh and F N Souza to see how this should be done. Such representations may not please religions fundamentalists but they are the lifeblood of contemporary art.
Still, interesting young artists are emerging all the time. Recently, the Gallery Alternatives at DLF exhibited the the work of a young Mauritian student of the College of Art at Delhi, Taya Buctowar. Although she seems to be obsessively influenced by Pharaonic Egypt, her works such as the Nile, painted on burnt papyrus and using negative space brilliantly and an etching that shows how the Indian temple-farm evolved out of the Pyramids indicate she is an artist to look out for.
In the same way, Balu Sadelge from Karnataka and one of V G Andani8217;s many successful students stood head and shoulders above the others at an exhibition sponsored by Gallery Mairage at the City Golf Resort off the Jaipur road near Gurgaon. He is an upcoming landscape artist and ranks with Rahul Arya and his younger brother, Inder. Where Rahul is deeply influenced by Rembrandt8217;s sombre tones and Inder by the colours of Titian, Sedalge carries the feel of nineteenth century romantic landscape painters. And all three together convince one that Indian landscape painting has a sound future. So it would be better to step back from stock-in-trade gods for gifts at Diwali and take a look at the works of good young artists instead.
-Suneet Chopra
