Cricket snapshots, African canvases at Gurgaon art mart

GURGAON - High action cricket snapshots on canvas, 50 art works from Tanzania and silk art - nearly 1,000 works by over 100 artists were showcased at the two-day annual Art Mart II here.

The fair aims to meet the growing demand for affordable drawing room art among new segments of buyers in this millenium city adjoining the national capital and was Friday inaugurated by Karan Singh, president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

“The trigger for Art Mart was the fact that when galleries presented a show, they chose the artists and the art. We wanted an open forum where galleries, artists, collectors, investors, art journalists and curators could discuss business and aesthetics,” co-curator of the fair Sushma Bahl, who conceived the show with Uma Prakash, told IANS.

Residents of Gurgaon were interested in art, though opportunities to exhibit quality art were few compared to Delhi, she said.

The exhibition titled “Love of Cricket” by Baba Anand drew visitors by the dozens. It was a spread of 17 large frames depicting high action snapshots from the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The figurative compositions in acrylic, charcoal and glitter documented individual or dual moments of glory like batsmen hitting the ball for a boundary, bowlers warming up to a trot and fielders leaping in midair to a grab a ball.

The mobility of the figures was enhanced with the use of random charcoal strokes on the surface to convey the essence of the speed and dynamics, Anand said.

“The glitter - my trademark smattering of tinsel on the surface of the compositions - represents the glamour associated with the IPL. It reflects the shine of Bollywood as epitomised by the teams owned by Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan,” Anand told IANS.

The game with dollops of showbiz and big money has become a part of popular culture, Anand said. “And my art is a reflection of the popular kitsch culture. For me, cricketers, like Bollywood stars, are demigods,” he said.

The series had been lying in Anand’s studio for four years. “I hope a collector or one of the IPL team buys the whole series,” he said.

A body of 40 art works by 15 artists from Tanzania was a crowd-puller. Brought to India by African photographer of Indian origin Muzu Sukhmanji, the colourful acrylic and oil compositions captured the country’s ethnic, contemporary, colonial and migration heritage.

The collection comprised rainbow compositions of Masai warriors in action, villagers at work, floral motifs, nature-scapes and oil reproductions of ancient doorways and carved door panels from old homes preserved in the heritage Stone Town of Zanzibar, reflecting a blend of middle-eastern and Indian style of architecture.

“Art in Africa is changing. Young artists are experimenting with European contemporary styles and art is selling more than before because the affluent Tanzanians are becoming house proud. But they cannot afford expensive art,” Sukhmanji, who owns the Art ‘n’ Frames Gallery in the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam, told IANS.

Atlanta-based promoter Arun Jain’s collection of hand-embroidered silk art, “Silk Story”, from the eastern provinces China, riveted viewers with their intricate thread work and detailed figure portraits of Oriental women in colourful silk robes.

“The hand embroidered silk thread art dates back to 4,000 years. It is a cottage industry in the rural eastern provinces of China,” Jain told IANS.

A striking installation, “When Nation Speaks”, by artist Dharmendra Rathore, a native of Rajasthan, of 203 fibre glass goat heads was an irreverent comment on politics, animal sacrifice and protection of environment.

The price band of the works ranged between Rs.15,000 and Rs.200,000.

The upmarket township, home to scores of MNCs, is characterised by new apartments and a moneyed class of upwardly mobile young professionals, who are becoming house proud and aesthetically inclined, fuelling the demand for popular art.

The corporate groups located in the town are emerging as big buyers of art for decoration and investment as well.