There is flowing water in the images of artist Suresh Muthukulam. In his delicate drawings on rice paper and canvas the Backwaters of his native Kerala to play a Central role, as well as Krishna, the favorite God of many Hindus. Muthukulam, has completed an intensive study of the traditional South Indian wall painting, is quite unorthodox with Krishna, the protector of creation. He paints him as a normal man, the rice is sown, and Were transported across the water. Krishna grabs, after the heavy flood. In this country of the century-Flood, which examined the South of India last August and barely heard anything. In the mega city of Mumbai, the subject is known. Muthukulams series of images in the gallery Art & Soul is a part of Gallery Weekend. For four days, the local galleries, with common openings and an exclusive dinner for collectors – lure according to the Berlin model, where the Gallery Weekend in spring, in the meantime, a Highlight in the art calendar.
Also in the equally beautiful and ugly Giant city on the Indian West coast, the galleries are fighting for attention. Mumbai, the financial capital of the country and the center of the film industry. The great themes-money, Bollywood and Cricket are:. But also the interest for young and contemporary art. The metropolis of 25 million people has only three art museums, the number of galleries is growing. Every year there are new additions. Approximately 25 professional galleries should be at the Moment. They have settled mainly in Colaba and Kala Ghoda, the colonial heart of Südmumbai. From a shabby port area with magnificent old colonial is a kind of Little buildings in the last few years, in Soho, with art galleries, expensive Restaurants and chic boutiques. Young, Creative, wealthy heirs, and long-established collectors could be the last weekend in January in front of the galleries to settle, which are often quite hidden in former cotton warehouses and converted palaces are housed. The meeting here is not a matter of course. The life in Mumbai, or Bombay, how much still to say, is strictly timed. All are busy to earn money, the trails are wide, the traffic is hell. You go here after work, not in a gallery. Only the Cross can take up to two hours.
shift to the right is in India, too, is a topic
“the question For us is how we come up with a new Generation of art buyers. Because the young Bombay takes place in the Suburbs,“ says Mortimer Chatterjee. He and his wife Tara Lal founded their gallery Chatterjee & Lal 15 years ago, you are one of the initiators of the Gallery weekend, which started in 2012. The first editions took place in a Hotel in the hip neighbourhood of Bandra, where the young clientele lives and works, surrounded by Many who can afford in this city, hardly anything, let alone art. The Gallery attracted the Weekend with a concentrated program in the galleries. Guided nature Walks, art lovers can see several exhibitions on one evening, the artists are present to explain their Work, there are film screenings and discussions.
Chatterjee & Lal, are some of the few that are specialized in Mumbai, on Performance and video art show of the Gallery Weekend in paintings and sculptures of the 1988-born artist Sahej Rahal, already made, with Shows in Asia, and the United Kingdom. His Works are a good example of what is in Bombay just Trend: art of the ancient Indian myths with the present and the future. And when it comes to Rahal, uncertain and dystopic. Mixed beings, half-animal, half-comic character that populate his paintings. In them the DNA of birds of prey and tigers by beats as well as the spirituality of the gods of the draw since ancient times, the fortunes of the people. Who knows whether these creatures use their vorevolutionären claws and beaks for the Good or the Evil. Also, the artist gives no answer. However, the shift to the right in politics and society, the growing intolerance of people of different classes and religions in India, a theme, and in Rahals pictures of the cosmos, the associated discomfort resonates.
“It’s good times. There are more artists and more buyers.“
During the modern and contemporary art from India between 2005 and 2008, a huge Boom was made, contributed to the international exhibitions and Western collectors, the interest in the Wake of the financial crisis in 2008. The already manageable collector base in India only once had enough of an Investment in art. Today the Situation was much more stable, is it from the galleries. And also, the photo art expert Niyati Shinde, who advises a number of Indian major collector and also during the Gallery Weekend is on the way says: “It’s good times. There are more artists and more buyers.“
image of Sahej RahalFoto: gallery Chatterjee & Lal
The prices for contemporary Indian art in Mumbai is still moderate. You pay the equivalent of about 3000 euros for one of Rachel’s drawings and approximately 5600 Euro for the sculptures. This is affordable for the buyer, and a challenge for each gallery. Because the cost of rent and operating a business are enormous. Rahals such as antique coat of arms shaped wall objects moulded from glass fibre material and with a gold-bronze color coated. “Indian collectors love robust, easy to care for art,” says Mortimer Chatterjee. The sale of art has to do here anyway, much to the potential buyer lives. Bombay is an expensive place, even the most well-Paid life in the new from the ground apartment high-rise buildings in a smaller space. No comparison to the lush, old colonial mansions or big houses in New Delhi. Everyone in Bombay complains about lack of space. Therefore, small and medium-sized works of art sell best. The Gallery Weekend almost exclusively to visitors from Mumbai and the suburbs came out this year. However, in India’s largest city, the gallery owners are quite happy if you cover the own Region somehow.
Almost only art from India and the South Asian region
As Chatterjee & Lal, the 30 years of existing gallery Sakshi is located in the of Arab immigrants dominated part of Colaba, in the second floor of a former cotton warehouse. Prostitution is gone from the district, instead of cloth shops, boutiques, jewelry stores and tearooms dominate the street scene. Also in the case of Sakshi Work of up-and-coming progressive artist. The 1981 born, Shine Shivan, of appears to any occasion in another eccentric Outfit, working with different media. In the new Show, he uses mythology, Folklore, sacred cows and deities like Mohini as a starting point for personal stories. His drawings and installations tell of fraud, sexuality, and Masturbation in the parental home. In order for it to be expected of the predominantly Indian audience a lot. A great draughtsman, he is, in any case. Some of his delicious scenes are executed with self-made natural color and a cactus thorn.
Shine Shivan in the Sakshi gallery photo: Sakshi Gallery
More about
current Exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Across borders, and gender
Jonas Lages
roles in India, Almost all the galleries in Mumbai focus on artists from India and the South Asian region, also Sakshi. “Local collectors have a hard time with the art from the West,” says the owner of Geetha Mehra, which led to several branches abroad and for a while, even made a stop in Berlin before concentrating on Mumbai. Who wants to see in Mumbai international art, and must be Isa in the gallery. Ashwin Thadani is reportedly the only owner of the city, focuses on art from the West. In his gallery, he was already painting the Berlin-based Anselm Reyle, Jonas Burgert and Christian Achenbach. The Gallery Weekend Thadani has put together in its chic decorated rooms in the “Great Western Building,” a dilapidated former Governor’s residence and Hotel, a Show with the title “We contain multitudes”. It comes to the potential of the Small and the Many. The Indian miniature painting serves more as a mental springboard, because as a visual model; even if the paintings and sculptures of six artists from Iran, USA and France work well with small characters, repetitive Patterns and Details. The most Important thing is that your art allows it, to revel in stories. Because the one you love in Bombay.