In this age when “presentation is king”, curators and exhibition designers vie to mix cognac with chole-bhature, soufflé with sambar, ballet with Bharatanatyam and Malhar with M.F. Hussain to conjure confections that go by equally exotic names. Be it fusion, be it multi disciplinary or whatever new fangled names, the fact remains that plain dal-roti type shows with works on the walls and lighting in place have been given the go by and been replaced by “curated” shows, “designed” shows that lay a lot of emphasis on the presentation and lesser on the content. Can’t really blame them for this especially in a situation when the art market is pretty abysmal as far as buying and selling is concerned. The real war of presentation will be on show from tomorrow at the India Art Fair when galleries will try to outdo each other in presenting their artists. The trend is to present newer, younger artists. This is a great idea that finally the art world is waking up to the new as opposed to, going the old foggy trail way. But few understand that the fair is akin to a trade fair.
Galleries who are taking pride in hosting solo artists at the summit (which appeals to me aesthetically, but is hopeless from the point of view of trade) hope to get results? Or have they no faith in the other artists they deal with? Besides I feel it is unfair to the other artists that when it comes to being presented on a prestigious platform, galleries put on board a single artist. Somehow, much as I want, I am unable to feel very enthusiastic about the summit. The participating galleries are also fully aware that the art market is very far from having recovered. Apart from being a part of the eclectic group who participate in the fair, the financial gains are unlikely to be spectacular. Ditto for the intellectual gains.
In these bleak days, the one news that has brought sunshine is the fact that the ministry of culture has undone the sacking of the secretary of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Dr Sudhakar Sharma, wrongly ordered by Mr Ashok Vajpayee, the erstwhile chairman. Such are moments when one’s faith in justice is restored and the fact that the righteous will prevail. The illegal order went against all tenets of decency and all laws of natural justice and its rescinding has heartened people in the art community who have seen the gargantuan efforts Dr Sharma puts in to keep the national academy of visual arts on the national and international map.
He has brought the Akademi out of the clutches of vested interests who held sway earlier and indulged in massive politicking. He has made huge efforts to improve the facilities to put them at par with galleries in Europe. Although I wish he could have also been able to put a lift in the gallery to make it accessible for the older and the handicapped visitors as is the case abroad. But alas! Vested interests prevailed. Hopefully he will be able to do it this time.
I had a sense of déjà vu at a recent group show Canvassing Dialogues; my curatorial debut Shatadru in collaboration with the LKA a good decade and a half ago, was exactly on the same lines. Contemporary artists and tribal and folk artists worked on the same canvas to explore the possibility of synergy. It was wonderful to see names like Achuttan Kuallur, Anupam Sud, Arpana Caur, Jai Zarotia rub shoulders on the same canvas with tribal geniuses like Narayan Bariki, Nansukhiya Shyam, Nirmal Yadav, Poonam Devi and Rahim Chitrakar. But it is really about time art galleries, collectors and other stakeholders in the arts woke up to these streams of tribal and folk contemporaneity as it were.
Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist