Latest news with #Subcontinent
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
New galleries power a shift in India's art scene
There's a quiet yet determined shift in the Indian art market landscape. Newer art galleries are whetting the appetite of collectors, both seasoned and novice, as interest continues to evolve. Many of these galleries showcase the personal collections of longtime art collectors. For some, the galleries represent a chance to give their artworks a home. For others, it's a way to tap into a growing fraternity that's interested in acquiring art. HOMES FOR ART COLLECTIONS In Ashish Thapar's art gallery, which opened earlier this year in the National Capital Region (close to KNMA's mammoth art space slated to open sometime next year), the idea was to give centrestage to lesser-known but significant modernists of India, and more obscure works from leading modernists. In Thapar's view, it's not enough to only talk about M.F. Husain's horses, F.N. Souza's nudes, or S.H. Raza's bindu series. 'We should talk about Husain's Blue period and Raza's White period when the artists were evolving in their own right," says the graphic designer, curator and art collector. Thapar Art Gallery's inaugural exhibition in February, Celebrating the Modernists of Indian Art, was a showcase some of the lesser-known works of the progressives along with other artists such as Sakti Burman, Ramkinkar Baij, Himmat Shah, G.R. Santosh, Bimal Das Gupta, Sadanand Bakre, Haku Shah, Abdul Aziz Raiba, B. Prabha, B. Vithal, Laxma Goud, Sankho Chaudhuri and Abdulrahim Appabhai Almelkar. While a majority of the paintings on display are owned by Thapar, many of them are on sale. He's already working on the estates of two lesser-known Indian modernists, besides gearing up for forthcoming shows in his gallery. In Mumbai's Fort area, Subcontinent is a new gallery space started in March by husband-wife duo Dhwani Gudka and Keshav Mahendru. 'Our vacations are all about visiting museums and looking at works of art," says Gudka, adding that the reason behind opening their own gallery space was to foster dialogue with South Asian art. The inaugural show last month, curated by Jesal Thacker, Ya Ghat Bheetar/Rediscovering Form, was a retrospective of Vadodara-based Haku Shah, who gave indigenous folk art a twist through his distinctive style of painting. Gudka and Mahendru are managing the artist's estate, which is why many of Shah's previously unseen works were displayed in the gallery. Self-confessed 'art nerds", Gudka and Mahendru talk about paintings over meals, on their way to work, during their free time. 'For us," he adds, 'art is all-consuming. We wake up looking at art, we go to bed looking at art, we spend the whole day engaging with it in one way or another… some of our closest friends are artists." A NEW APPROACH A majority of new art gallery owners say it's the growing number of collectors that's fuelling the interest for spaces. 'A young collector who is just starting out can be looking for something entirely different than a more seasoned one," says Monica Jain, founder-director of Art Centrix Space, which was established in 2012 to focus on 'vernacular voices of mid-career contemporary Indian artists". While the newer galleries have a variety of exhibitions on artists, some older art galleries like Jain's are moving into providing grants for artists to promote 'diverse painting methodologies in Indian art". Galleries are also going beyond just exhibitions. Art Centrix Space, for instance, recently held the screening of The Song for Eresha, an indie film by A.K. Srikanth set to release abroad later this year before releasing in India. Similarly, in Thapar's gallery, a music concert by bansuri player Kartikeya Vashist and Arman Dehlvi on tabla and vocals was held to coincide with the opening of the Haku Shah exhibition. Jain is correct in her assessment that there's room for everyone, not just as a collector but also as a gallerist. In Delhi's Defence Colony area, an art district of sorts is emerging with new galleries cropping up alongside some of the recognised ones such as Vadehra Art Gallery, Akar Prakar and Treasure Art Gallery, among others. Galleryske and Photoink, both with a presence in Delhi, collaborated to open earlier this year in Defence Colony. Five-year-old Method Art Gallery from Mumbai also expanded to Delhi earlier this year, enthused by the demand of collectors in the city. In Kolkata, Art Exposure, around since 2018, ventured into a bigger space last October. According to Somak Mitra, founder-director of Art Exposure: 'We wanted to build a world-class gallery to attract South Asian and international artists to put Kolkata on the global art map." The new space is a sprawling 7,000 sq. ft, two-floor building dedicated to contemporary and modern art. It is currently hosting the exhibition Indian Modern Art: Evolution of Narratives, featuring artists such Gaganendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose and Jamini Roy. The exhibition is on till 15 June. Existing galleries such as Method, Galleryske and Photo Ink are in expansion mode. Rukshaan Art, promoted by Rukshaan Krishna, has been one of the foremost galleries to promote contemporary art since its opening in Vadodara in 2007. Krishna opened her new gallery space in Mumbai's Ballard Estate in March. The gallery has been at the forefront of The Baroda March, an annual exhibition showcasing contemporary art from Vadodara city, which has been going on for 18 years. Besides hosting this annual exhibition, showcasing Vadodara's vibrant art scene, Rukshaan Art continues to hold art camps, residencies and other artist-led events. Though not a traditional art gallery, on Museum Day (18 May), Jaipur's Sabha Niwas, originally Diwan-e-Aam or public audience hall in The City Palace, reopened after more than a year of restoration work. It will double up as a museum-gallery for rare artefacts, including 19th century elephant seats, canopies used for royal events, thrones, and portraits by the 18th century master painter Sahibram. 'It's a niche and saturated market, and you have to be very distinctive to offer something new," says Sanya Malik, curator and director, Black Cube Gallery, which opened in February in Hauz Khas, Delhi. Black Cube was a 'nomadic" gallery, without a space of its own. Its inaugural show in March in the new permanent space was Vocabulary of Vision, which brought together 25 Indian artists—nine modern masters and 16 contemporary voices—to explore the evolving visual language of Indian art. Most collectors at Black Cube Gallery are first-timers. It's a reason why Malik, unlike many other art galleries, has kept a wide-ranging price point, starting around ₹3 lakh. She advises collectors that they can always start looking at prints of master artists or start investing in some of the younger, contemporary artists, the latter being a very fascinating market. Malik is happy that her art has finally found its home. 'Personally, I have this itch to bring out a strong curatorial context to present my art to people. Having a personal space allows so much more freedom." Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based writer. Also read: Father's Day 2025: Gifts for the dad who has everything
New Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Art's New Pin Code
It has been a personal milestone for husband and wife duo Keshav Mahendru and Dhwani Gudka as they opened the doors to Subcontinent, Mumbai's new art address, to the public recently with a show dedicated to the late Haku Shah. For the gallery's founders, there couldn't have been a better subject for an inaugural exhibition than Shah (1934-2019), who, apart from being a pioneering artist, was also an ethnographer, archivist, humanist and a pedagogue. 'Haku Shah is one of these lynchpin figures in Indian modern art and yet, he doesn't seem to have a solidified place in the canon because his work and ideology defies easy categorisation,' says Mahendru. Curated by Jesal Thacker, Ya Ghat Bheetar/Rediscovering Form was Shah's first major exhibition in Mumbai in over a decade and it explored his long and protean artistic practice, pivoting around his preoccupation with the feminine form as an embodiment of Mother Earth. The title of the exhibition was drawn from one of Shah's emblematic paintings which itself was inspired by Kabir's iconic poem.
Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
India-Pakistan tension and the Subcontinent's challenge
India has defined how it would respond to cross-border terror attacks emanating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). It will hit back. The Indian Air Force accomplished the missions it was tasked to undertake across different targets in Pakistan. In response to the dastardly, tragic and bigoted terror attacks in Pahalgam, India has upped the ante by not only hitting terror camps in PoK but also in Pakistan, and taking a series of non-kinetic measures aimed at exerting pressure on Pakistan. Whether all this will dissuade the Pakistani elites from continuing to pursue the lost cause of claiming all of Kashmir, or of trying to destabilise India's economic growth process, remains to be seen. While Pakistan has begun its response to the air strikes on May 7, India will counter whatever action it takes. This is now the bottom line, and there is unity on this across the broad political spectrum. However, it should also be clear to all sides that neither India nor Pakistan can undertake and sustain an all-out military campaign without seriously hurting themselves. The losers in an India-Pakistan war will, in fact, be the people of India and Pakistan. It is now established that India and Pakistan will engage in tit-for-tat hits every time one side suspects the hand of the other. Pakistan has explained away the Pahalgam terror attack by referring to the attack on the Jaffar Express in which 25 men were killed. The response of the international community suggests that few countries are willing to believe the version of only one side. While there have been more takers for the Indian version of events, Pakistan has also been able to find supporters. The challenge before the two nations, indeed the challenge across the Indian Subcontinent, is for the many nations that have come into being over the past century to find leaderships that can usher in a new era of regional and domestic peace and development across the Subcontinent. Regrettably, there is a short supply of such political leadership in South Asia. The region has been held back since its liberation from colonialism by its internal struggles with its own history, geography and the ghosts of the past. The South Asian tragedy is the belief among many in most countries of the region that they can somehow hitch their wagon to the rest of the world and pursue development without improving relations with their own neighbours. India's creditable economic performance over the past quarter-century led many to believe that India could continue to rise without settling its disputes with its neighbours. To an extent, that has been possible. However, if India is pulled into a long-drawn war it will be hurt economically. This may well be the desperate aim of a declining Pakistan. In the past, India-Pakistan wars have been brief, and international efforts ensured early declaration of a ceasefire. In the present global and regional environment, and at this stage in India's rise, it is not clear whether adequate pressure would be and could be exerted by outside powers for a full-scale war to be quickly terminated. It is in the interest of both countries and the region as a whole that the current phase of hostilities does not escalate into a full-scale military conflagration. Once the dust settles and both countries emerge from the 'fog of war', the political leadership in both countries must take a longer view of what constitutes regional security and defines a regional environment for sustained economic development. Whose interests are served by continued disputes about territory? Who benefits from communal and regional divides within each nation and across the region? For all the wisdom of grand strategists on both sides of the border, neither side is today able to define a new framework for regional peace and security. The last time an effort was made, howsoever tentative and limited in scope, was in the period 2000-2007 under the leaderships of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, went along with their initiative for a while but he was soon ousted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have since rejected the so-called 'Manmohan-Musharraf' formula for peace and security. Today one would be mocked for even mentioning that formula. However, mention it one must. The Indian economy is on the verge of emerging as the fourth-largest economy after the United States, China and Germany. It has just overtaken Japan. Despite all the challenges it faces at home and all the inadequacies of the Indian growth process, India has the opportunity to continue to rise and engage the world on favourable terms. To imagine that India can do so without securing its own neighbourhood is a fantasy of many contemporary analysts and strategists. What India's neighbours — Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka — are trying to tell India is that they can raise the costs of growth if they are unable to secure any benefits from it. The Indian policy of the last decade, which has come to be identified with the Modi government, of imposing costs on difficult neighbours, may deliver short-term benefits but is imposing costs, too. The Indian political bravado that we will reclaim PoK helps match the Pakistani rhetoric about getting hold of Kashmir, but neither will ever happen. That was the point of the Simla Agreement, the Lahore Declaration and the Manmohan-Musharraf formula. All the major powers — the US, Russia and China — have backed the idea that the Line of Control is, in fact, the international border. Hotheads in both countries today reject such a solution. However, realists on all sides know that there is no escaping from the reality on the ground and that this reality can only be altered at high cost to all. The writer is founder-trustee, Centre for Air Power Studies and distinguished fellow, United Service Institution of India
Al Arabiya
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
India and Pakistan: A history of armed conflict
India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery along their contested frontier in Kashmir on Wednesday in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The latest crisis erupted after New Delhi launched missile strikes on its arch-rival, with deaths subsequently reported on both sides. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing the deadliest attack in years on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, in which 26 men were killed. Islamabad rejects the charge. The two sides have fought multiple conflicts – ranging from skirmishes to all-out war – since their bloody partition in 1947. 1947: Partition Two centuries of British rule end on August 15, 1947, with the sub-continent divided into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The poorly prepared partition unleashes bloodshed that kills possibly more than a million people and displaces 15 million others. Kashmir's monarch dithers on whether to submit to Indian or Pakistani rule. After the suppression of an uprising against his rule, Pakistan-backed militants attack. He seeks India's help, precipitating an all-out war between the countries. A UN-backed, 770-kilometer (480-mile) ceasefire line in January 1949 divides Kashmir. 1965: Kashmir Pakistan launches a second war in August 1965 when it invades India-administered Kashmir. Thousands are killed before a September ceasefire brokered by the Soviet Union and the United States. 1971: Bangladesh Pakistan deploys troops in 1971 to suppress an independence movement in what is now Bangladesh, which it had governed since 1947 as East Pakistan. An estimated three million people are killed in the nine-month conflict, and millions flee into India. India invades, leading to the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh. 1989-90: Kashmir An uprising breaks out in Kashmir in 1989 as grievances at Indian rule boil over. Tens of thousands of soldiers, rebels, and civilians are killed in the following decades. India accuses Pakistan of funding the rebels and aiding their weapons training. 1999: Kargil Pakistan-backed militants seize Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains. Pakistan yields after severe pressure from Washington, alarmed by intelligence reports showing Islamabad had deployed part of its nuclear arsenal nearer to the conflict. At least 1,000 people are killed over 10 weeks. 2019: Kashmir A suicide attack on a convoy of Indian security forces kills 40 in Pulwama. India, which is busy with campaigning for general elections, sends fighter jets which carry out air strikes on Pakistani territory to target an alleged militant training camp. One Indian jet is shot down over Pakistani-controlled territory, with the captured pilot safely released within days back to India.
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Business Standard
28-04-2025
- General
- Business Standard
Haku Shah's exhibition in Mumbai spotlights his underloved paintings
One of the first things that struck gallerists Dhwani Gudka and Keshav Mahendru when they visited Haku Shah's home in Ahmedabad was the lack of an easel. The late artist never used one. A studio, even palettes, were conspicuous by their absence. When he felt the urge to paint, Shah would rest the canvas against a wall, and mix colours from tubes of Winsor & Newton — Camel, if he was low on funds — directly on the surface. Many such stories detail the simplicity of the multi-hyphenate art practitioner, whose paintings remained relatively overlooked throughout his life but have started featuring in recent auctions. While some of his pieces have adorned the home of the illustrious Sarabhai family, the painter just as readily sold works to an IIT professor who could only afford to pay in installments of Rs 500 at a time. If 'Hakubhai', as he was fondly known, met anyone who expressed interest in making art, he would immediately give them a notebook or felt tip pens. Gudka and Mahendru decided to open Subcontinent, located in South Mumbai's art district, with a show spanning Shah's career from the late 1950s until his death in 2019. 'The idea is to look at lesser-known art histories, which are not part of this very linear, clear narrative we're used to, of the Bengal school, the Progressives, and later the well-known contemporary artists,' Mahendru says. 'The narrative is much wider and there's a lot that happens simultaneously.' For those studying Indian indigenous arts, the road often led to Hakubhai. It was research on the subject that first took Gudka to Shah and his wife, Viluben, who played an equal role in preserving the artefacts at their home, in 2016. 'I didn't know him as a painter much, but I saw his paintings there and they were quite something.' The Baroda school painter studied under KG Subramanyan, NS Bendre, and Sankho Chaudhuri. Shah juggled many assignments to make a living in the arts: Curating exhibitions of rural pottery and toy-making, co-authoring books with art historian Eberhard Fischer, teaching at the National Institute of Design (NID). An active part of the Weavers' Service Centre, a late-1950s' initiative that employed artists, he later created a craft village, Shilpgram, in Udaipur and took the Art of Unknown India exhibition to the US. Among other awards, a Nehru Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant and Padma Shri recognised these contributions. Curated by Jesal Thacker, the ongoing show, 'Ya Ghat Bheetar', glimpses an oeuvre that included sculptures and photographs, but draws special attention to his oils on canvas. Beginning with simple, formalist compositions in the early years, with strongly centred figures, he later embraced a more fluid, expressionistic style. 'Painting was like 'going back' for him. It was his way of relaxing,' recalls photographer Parthiv Shah, Hakubhai's son. His father was a Gandhian, and Gandhi's minimalism informs his work, Parthiv Shah reckons. Hakubhai's gaze was unlike that of many artists of his time. Examples such as an untitled piece of a woman head-carrying a pot by a river, and one titled 'Ya Ghat Bheetar Baag Bageeche', where a pot contains a human form, have a nearly androgynous appeal. In subtle ways, his creations bear the influence of his scholarly practice. 'There is a conversation between what he's making as an artist and what he's doing as an ethnographer,' says Gudka. 'But he's not directly referencing the work of indigenous artists; it is there subliminally. He's not emulating from their practice; he almost depicts them as subject matter.'
