Art
Wednesday, 01 July 2009 03:07
Written by Berwin Song & Roxanne Mei

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MoCA provides a taste of contemporary Indian Art

This month, MoCA becomes the first art museum in China to present a major show of contemporary Indian art (offering one of the largest collections ever shown here in Shanghai). Entitled India Xianzai (India Now), the exhibition has been a long time in coming – Shanghai-based curator Diana Freundl (formerly on staff at MoCA; now art director of Art+ Shanghai) initiated the ambitious project while working at MoCA last year, and the final product now boasts an impressive collection, with over 20 current Indian artists and over 60 pieces of work on display, including several works created specifically for this Shanghai exhibition.

Despite the lag from conception to production, the exhibition is still “a timely investigation of the growing presence of Indian contemporary art in Asia – what constitutes Indian-ness in the context of contemporary art and today’s ‘global’ community,” says Freundl. “The structure of the exhibition is based on a common thread throughout the works that demonstrate an active political and social engagement with one’s country and how each reacts to the Indian-ness that is being broadcast outside of the country – India Xianzai follows on the premise that Indian culture and history has acted as inspiration for a diverse group of artists, not only within India but those residing abroad.”

Click here to read on... MoCA provides a taste of contemporary Indian Art

This month, MoCA becomes the first art museum in China to present a major show of contemporary Indian art (offering one of the largest collections ever shown here in Shanghai). Entitled India Xianzai (India Now), the exhibition has been a long time in coming – Shanghai-based curator Diana Freundl (formerly on staff at MoCA; now art director of Art+ Shanghai) initiated the ambitious project while working at MoCA last year, and the final product now boasts an impressive collection, with over 20 current Indian artists and over 60 pieces of work on display, including several works created specifically for this Shanghai exhibition.

Despite the lag from conception to production, the exhibition is still “a timely investigation of the growing presence of Indian contemporary art in Asia – what constitutes Indian-ness in the context of contemporary art and today’s ‘global’ community,” says Freundl. “The structure of the exhibition is based on a common thread throughout the works that demonstrate an active political and social engagement with one’s country and how each reacts to the Indian-ness that is being broadcast outside of the country – India Xianzai follows on the premise that Indian culture and history has acted as inspiration for a diverse group of artists, not only within India but those residing abroad.”

To assist in the artist selection process, India-based curator Alexander Keefe was brought into the fold. “I got involved with the exhibition from India,” he recalls, “met up with Diana through mutual friends in Delhi and agreed to help pull things together for the show.” Having worked directly with many of the artists involved, Keefe was in a unique position to offer them a chance to be exposed in China. Now with the list of participating artists finalized, he comments: “It is a very strong group, indeed. I think the exhibition will provide a nicely representative survey of some good things that have been happening on the Indian contemporary art scene in the past few years.”

Certainly, those familiar with the current Indian art scene will immediately recognize several names attached to the exhibit: Jitish Kallat, Riyas Komu and Subodh Gupta – arguably some of the biggest names in contemporary Indian art today. The works shown in the exhibit run the gamut from paintings to sculpture to installations, tackling topics as varied as abstract renditions of the Prophet Muhammed and South Asian Islamic traditions to Victorian self-portraits and fantasy landscapes.

Keefe likewise points towards the diversity of artists represented in the show: “[There’s] Schandra Singh, a young artist from the US – one of several in this show from positions in what you might call the South Asian diaspora – her two paintings in the show, both visually intense portraits, are really striking, especially her Kali portrait… [Then] on a totally different tack there is the artistic duo Thukral and Tagra – they’re well-known on the Indian scene for straddling the worlds of graphic design and fine art, both young guys who have come to be seen as the chroniclers of the new generation of middle-class and upper middle-class young people: brand-conscious, mall-going, consumerist.”

Singh’s portrait of Kali, completed this year just in time for the exhibition, is one of the show’s major highlights, which Keefe describes as “an aquatic, expressionist portraiture, swirling and patterned.” He makes a note of looking at “the metamorphic swirls that ring the figure of Kali – [Singh] knows when to let it fall apart and fray into something more sharp-toothed and determinate.”

Among other highlights, Keefe offers: “I like Susanta Mandal’s piece. He’s an artist that has developed a totally idiosyncratic sculptural idiom that involves a somewhat restricted palette of mechanical means, moving parts, lights, often bubbles and steam. There’s a sort of steam-punk feel to some of his works.” He continues, “I’ve [also] long been a great admirer of both Mithu Sen and Suhasini Kejriwal. Both of them are extremely interesting visual artists – Mithu’s work is often grotesque and strikes a tenuous balance between the ghastly and the beautiful, while Suhasini’s paintings and sculptures are far more restrained and controlled.” Keefe likewise points to several artists who are “really interested in the possibilities of paint” – including Kejriwal, TV Santhosh and Subodh Gupta (whom Keefe mentions is “perhaps the best-known contemporary Indian artist these days”).

Given that this will be, for many of the artists, their first major exposure in China, Keefe comments: “There are some obvious parallels between Indian and Chinese contemporary art. A lot of Indian contemporary artists and gallerists saw the meteoric rise of Chinese artists a few years back and then found themselves also suddenly ascendant – at least in terms of the market. There has definitely been a big globalization of the contemporary art market, with a lot of that focused on Indian and Chinese artists.” Freundl makes a more general point: “This exhibition will touch upon the topic of cultural assimilation that concerns not only India, but also many expanding Asian countries.”

“A lot of Indian artists have been frustrated at not being able to find good venues for their works outside of India,” says Keefe. With India Xianzai, MoCA is certainly doing their part to spread the word. “Why not increase people-to-people contact in the arts and develop more productive channels for communication?” says Keefe, happy to be offering the artists some increased exposure. “If this show can contribute, in some modest way, to that end, it would be a wonderful thing.”

MoCA, Jul 10-Aug 31 (6327 9900)

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