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| Mareech by Vishal Dar |
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| Shapeless by Faig Ahmed |
I walk into the 7th edition of the India Art Fair
to check on what’s new, what’s exciting and is there really any progress made
in the past seven years! From my trained eye’s point of view, it seems hackneyed.
I’ve been going to this fair since it’s inception. I’ve seen a few good years,
a few disasters and have maintained that the fair remains mediocre compared to other
international art fairs, despite the gushing country wide reviews and the so-called
profits made! I’ve seen how prestigious international art galleries
participated for the first few years but decided never to return. I’ve also
noticed how the size of the fair has reduced. And yes, I’ve had gallerists tell
me that it’s been much too bleak with the buyers this time.
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| Pathway by Stephen Knapp |
But I’ve decided
NEVER to describe an art fair as bad! That’s because it’s an unfair sweeping
statement to make. The variety of art that you get to see under one humungous
roof is incredible. More importantly, the fair is not just meant for
journalists and critics and artists, it is meant for the masses. And from what
I noticed, the visitors were loving it!
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| .Happy New Year by Anant Joshi |
My assessment here being that the visitor is more interested
in works which are not on canvas. Paintings seemed to bore most people.
Installation art is what holds the viewers attention. Be it video or multimedia.
Vishal Dar’s ‘Mareech’, a seven foot tall figure of a human body with a deer head,
sporting multiple head lights and tail lights of cars as wings and helmet for
this creature, was certainly the favourite spot for selfies! A unique series
called Shapeless by Faig Ahmed, an artist from Azarbaijan, was fresh to the
eyes! It was a set of carpets and traditional embroidery designed to be woven
out of shape, beyond the expected straight lines.
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| Chausath Yogini by Seema Kohli |
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| An entire corner dedicated to MF Husain |
Stephen Knapp’s light
paintings evoked the true ‘ahh’ effect. A simple light source sitting atop a stainless
steel panel falling on various pieces of sandwiched glass to create a dreamy VIBGYOR
effect! An art studio which goes by the name Humans Since 1982, had the
visitors holding their breath in front of multiple tiny clocks placed to form
one big circle. Each time their minute and hour hands moved, they formed
kaleidoscopic patterns. But the only canvas works which had the visitors stop
for minutes together was a corner dedicated to MF Husain, which also played out
rare videos of the master in action, painting away to glory! Fortunately there
were no protests or vandalisation this time….
Sahar Zaman is the
founder of Hunar TV, Asia’s first webchannel on the arts
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