Madrid Beckons

When the Contemporary Art ARCO fair opens in Madrid on February 11, India will be on display as the guest country. The director of ARCO, Lourdes Fernaacute;ndez, announced in Delhi that there would be a special section, Panorama for India, which would be curated by artist Bose Krishnamachari. 8220;We have always been open to emerging art,8221; said Fernandez. While South Korea was the guest country in 2007, it was Brazil in 2008. Fernaacute;ndez said she liked the works of Jitish Kallat and Shilpa Gupta, though she had yet to go deep into Indian art.

8220;It is a great opportunity for India and the Indian panorama has around 9,000 square feet to showcase the works,8221; said Krishnamachari. There will be 13 Indian galleries, including Bodhi Art, Chemould Prescott, Gallery Espace and Nature Morte. There will also be a separate space for Bose to showcase a few of his favourite artists, like Ravinder Reddy and Riyas Komu. Apart from Indian galleries, there will be over 250 galleries from around the world, with 79 from Spain.

But with the market meltdown, even the Frieze Art Fair in London had seen a dip in the sales. No stranger to the economic crisis, Fernandez said, 8220;The economic meltdown has touched us all but we are in the same position as other fairs such as Miami and Basel.8221; Warding off fears of a lukewarm response, Krishnamachari said, 8220;Keeping this in mind, we have suggested a limited number of artists to the galleries, with a mix of new talent and established names to balance the show.8221; Let8217;s wait for the Spanish show.