Fantastic responce from Art Market to India’s first international Art Fair

The recent Art Summit was the Indian art scene’s attempt to climb a new rung in its international aspirations

An astounding 10,000 art enthusiasts walked in to witness India’s First International Art Fair, India Art Summit(TM) 2008, firmly establishing it as a one stop destination for art in India. With an overwhelming mix of art collectors, artists, critics, curators, students and art enthusiasts from across India and overseas, the Summit achieved exactly what it set out to – making art, and the knowledge of art, accessible to a widespread audience.
Commercially speaking, the fair clocked in a record sale of approximately 50%, with the 34 participating galleries selling over 280 artworks worth Rs.10 crores approximately. Given that the total value of the 550 artworks on display was approximately Rs. 20 crores, India Art Summit has emerged as one of the most successful first editions of any art fair across the world.
With all eyes now on India, event producers Hanmer MS&L, have announced plans to schedule India Art Summit 2009 between 19th – 22nd August’ 2009 in New Delhi. Next year, the fair is proposed to be over three times bigger and applications are already pouring in from across India and world. While in the first year, the focus was largely on Indian art and Indian galleries, the second year will see participation from galleries across the world showcasing a sizeable array of artworks from different parts of the world.

Ashok Art Gallery is a five-yearold Delhi gallery that largely functions online. A mom-and-pop operation with a handful of unknown artists, Ashok Art Gallery has never had any exposure in the media. Their only previous art fair experience was with the Mumbai art expo earlier this year. As one among 35 galleries that participated in the recent India Art Summit (between August 22 and 25), Ashok Art Gallery did not expect to become frontpage news. But their 27-year-old Oriya artist Kanta Kishore’s marble sculptures of rolled-up newspapers were sold within hours of the fair’s opening. Gallerists Ashok Nayak and Kavita Vig, Kavita’s husband Bharat and septuagenarian mother-in-law watched astonished as the art young Indian superstar Subodh Gupta and politician Maneka Gandhi came to their stall. And in their wake, thousands of visitors and the press.Sculptures and installations sold almost as well as paintings, signalling a new trend. The panel of speakers and choice of topics at the Art Forum also drew many accolades and was deemed as amongst one of the best such initiatives of its kind, internationally.

Mr. Sunil Gautam, Managing Director, Hanmer MS&L commenting on the fair said, “It is great to see that India Art Summit has emerged as the most inclusive collaborative art platform in India in it’s very first year. We believe that this initiative is a step in the right direction to put India on the global art fair circuit.”
Commenting on the success of the fair, Mr. Philip Hoffman, Chief Executive, The Fine Art Fund said “The Indian market is very important in the global art scene and this fair is a major step. I can imagine this to be major fair in Asia competing alongside London, Miami and Basel in the next 5-10 years. The sales results of the fair seemed very impressive by comparison to other fairs in their first year.”

India Art Summit – Backgrounder
The art fraternity in India has for long felt a gap and the need for a collaborative industry platform in the country owing to the phenomenal growth and global interest in Indian art. While the art fraternity the world over gets numerous opportunities to interact and collaborate through various art fairs, biennales & expos, there was no such platform in India. Therefore the time was right for India to offer a suitable platform for art. The initiative has received invaluable recognition and endorsement from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Sotheby’s.
The Summit hopes to achieve the dual purpose of, on one hand, serving as a window for International collectors to get a single access point to Indian art and, on the other, exposing the Indian collectors to a range of global Art that will be showcased at the fair in the coming years. More than just a place for buying and selling art, this initiative will enable diverse stakeholders from India and around the world to come together and discuss the creative and commercial aspects of Indian art.
Today, Indian art is greatly appreciated both internationally and within the country, annually growing at 30-35%, the Indian art market is currently worth Rs 1500 crores. The Indian art market has gone up by 485 percent in the last decade making it the fourth most buoyant art market in the world. The total auction market size of Indian art has changed from US $5 million in 2003 – just five years back – to nearly US $150 million this year.

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Amna Ilyas, the young women artist from Lahore,Pakistan

The human world has always been changing, but the pace of change seems to have picked up dramatically in the last decade or two, with no stability visible on even long-range scanners. Rapid change is obvious in all of the technological, political, business and social fields, and there are changes in our environment and ecosystem that are probably caused by this increasing human activity. All these reflects on contemporary art practice around the world.Here is Amna Ilyas , young women artist from Lahore, Pakistan.Amna Ilyas graduated in 2003 from the National College of Arts, Lahore and since then have been working as a sculptor / Painter in her studio. She exhibited at various venues both in India and Pakistan, and currently teaching Foundation Sculpture Course at her Alma meter.

Unlike many other places, it is difficult for a sculptor to survive in Pakistan, mainly due to various religious, social and economic restrains. But Amna has been pursuing her career as a dedicated sculptor, and seeking to explore the medium in all its possibility, and besides her time at sculpting , she is also creating number of paintings and drawings on her subject women. Last year she has visited India for an artist residency to practice her metal casting and ceramic skill and also exhibited her work at Ashok Art Gallery as a part of International Contemporary Art Exhibition. Her works were exhibited with works from USA, The Nederlands and India. On this year 2008, She has exhibited at Pakistan, her works were showcased at Art Expo India in March at World Trade Center, Mumbai by Ashok Art Gallery and most likely going to showcase at India Art Summit 2008 in August at New Delhi.

In its essence the work of Amna Ilyas represents the state of women in our society. Female figures in various postures reflect the conditions of an ordinary woman, yet the work does not propagate a direct message or illustrates the obvious political/social factors. On the other hand it alludes to the situation along with an undercurrent of beauty, sexuality and sensuality.

In my opinion Amna Ilyas is a significant artist of her generation. Her dedication to her art and the serious approach to her issues guaranty a bright future for her.

Contemporary Art Reviews: Ashok Art Gallery

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Indian contemporary artists

pratul dash

The exhibition of modern figurative art at the 1×1 Art Gallery in Jumeirah, Dubai has showcased the ways in which urbanization has left its imprint on the minds of Indian contemporary artists .
INDIAN ART is of great vital importance in accordance to its culture and heritage.
Art is of various types and it changes its style of expression in the hands of different painters in relation to the changing time. Presently modern and figurative art is in high demand not only in India but also abroad. Modern form of painting is the result of the experimentation that the stalwarts of art have initiated.
The various forms of this experimentation were displaied in the collection of works by nine young contemporary Indian artists, at the 1×1 Art Gallery, Jumeirah, Dubai..
The exhibition, sponsored by the Dubai-based Rivoli group, ended with a great success on last June 30. Among the artists featured were Prasanta Sahu, Dileep Sharma, T M Azis, Pooj Iranna, Murali Cheeroth, Biju Jose, Babu Eshwar Prasad, Pratul Dash and Gigi Scaria

Pratul Dash, an Indian painter from the state Orissa, also focused on varied modern themes: socio-political, socio-economical and ecological. His concerns are linked with the anomalies of human conditions and the effects of growth and development on human life.
The exhibition had two of his paintings on display. Through his work he comments on aspects of modern life, such as growth, absence of greenery, deforestation, the tendency to rise vertically rather than spread horizontally.
“Where there is development, there is also destruction. When I paint huge constructions, they are not just constructions; they are different levels of exploitation, and I try to portray that in my work,” explained the painter, who is a graduate of Fine Arts from Bhubaneswar, Master degree from Delhi and has also studied in Italy. Besides many exhibitions in India, his works are exhibited at USA, UK, ITALY, HONG KONG and now at DUBAI.

“For instance, living space is the most critical space by itself where people can play different roles. It’s like construction blocks, there is no greenery there. It is like pigeon holes, a squeezed existence. And I have commented on this aspect.” Dash said. Dash said he is not against development but his concern is: development at what cost? “For example, there is so much deforestation that has taken place in the name of development,” he pointed out.
“So, my aim is to make viewers disturbed, make them think. I feel artists have a sort of responsibility to jolt people. I comment on aspects of urban life that should worry us. I’m not here to paint pretty pictures.” Pratul Dash lives and works at Delhi.

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Indian Young Artists are live at Ashok Art Gallery

 

 

Watch our latest show ….

ASHOK ART GALLERY

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