The Global Stroke

Sage Mehta, who grew up in New York, has her father Ved Mehta, writer and The New Yorker magazine journo, to speak of as an Indian connection. Her father8217;s friendship with celebrated artists such as Tyeb Mehta, Akbar Padamsee and M F Husain and growing up seeing their work helped spawn an interest in art in young Sage. After studying art in New York and London, Sage soon decided to come to India. Having done a summer at the Modern and Contemporary South-East Asian art department at Christie8217;s, she wanted to be 8220;closer to the source8212;both at the primary level of working at a gallery rather than an auction house and being in India8221;. Impressed by it8217;s line-up of artists and the international presence it held, Mehta was instantly drawn towards Bodhi Art Gallery and took up a job there, handling press and publicity.

Spotting the maturing potential of the Indian art market, French Mattieu Foss moved to Mumbai three years ago. Having studied

art history and photography in New York, Mumbai held possibilities of a bright career and also wedded bliss his wife is from here. 8220;I looked at the market here and found that photography wasn8217;t explored to its full potential,8221; he says.

Organising exhibitions of photographic legends like Martine Frank through Tasveer, Foss went solo as a gallerist and curator last year. 8220;It8217;s been exciting and fruitful. I find Indian photography maturing and galleries are supporting this,8221; Foss remarks, saying pricing is the only thing that needed correction. 8220;A lot of the work was overpriced, but the recession took care of that.8221;

Mortimer Chatterjee of Chatterjee and Lal sees the influx as a sign of Indian plugging into the international circuit. But he is skeptical and refrains from calling it a trend. 8220;There8217;ve been a lot of young people coming in to do internships at city galleries without prior knowledge of Indian art; it shows well on their work experience. But not all of them necessarily stick around,8221; he suggests.

There are others who are drawn to Mumbai8217;s art flutter. American Natica Wilson, who has been curating at Sree Goswami8217;s Project 88, describes the events leading up to her settling in Mumbai as 8220;anticlimactic8221;.

Working with Gagosian Gallery, New York, Wilson heard about the possibilities in the local art world from a fashion photographer friend. Backpacking through South-East Asia, India was to be her final stop. She decided to settle down here with her husband and 14-month-old daughter.

8220;Earlier, people were going from gallery to gallery looking at the same kind of stuff. The scene has changed dramatically now. And there are some great spaces in the city now which makes curating extremely exciting,8221; she says.

Late November8217;s terror attacks, which targetted outsiders in the city, too don8217;t deter these young art lovers. Michael Files, another American who has been a regular visitor to India since he was a child, narrowly escaped gunfire at Colaba and spent a night at Indigo Deli. Files, who has been working at Chemould Prescott, helping with curation and archiving, is drawn by the works of such artists as Anant Joshi, Reena Saini Kallat and Bharti Kher, displayed at the gallery. 8220;I also find the works of Raja Ravi Verma uniquely intriguing,8221; the young printmaker says.

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