Contender for global art scene

Contemporary Indian art has emerged as a strong contender on the global art scene. A large number of artists, gallery owners, dealers and art lovers have been involved in the process of making it what it is today. But more than that, this art has been inspired by the vast upsurge of India's enslaved masses for freedom.

Influenced by great masters like Nandlal Bose, Indian artists have been able to blend modern and folk, figurative and abstract, monochromatic and polychromatic to create an original form of art that maintains links with its roots and yet aspires for marching into the future. But then without critics, patrons and gallery owners, this flowering could not have taken place.

For more than three decades, the Gita Art Gallery at the Capital's Oberoi Hotel has been promoting the work of artists -- both old and new -- and thanks to Mr. D. V. Chawla, one of the many art-lovers in the city, many artists got national and international exposure. But nine months ago, Mr. Chawla was forced to close down this gallery because the hotel wanted the space for themselves.

However the art-lover that he is, Mr. Chawla could not have remained quiet for long. He has taken his gallery to the newly opened Marriott Welcom Hotel in Saket. Christened ``Chawla Art Gallery'', the inaugural show, which was thrown open to the public here this evening, has an exhibition of works by contemporary Indian artists which is a blend of the old and the new.

And as has been the tradition with the gallery, this inaugural show spans the past, present and future of Indian art. One has to only look at the works of M. F. Husain, Ganesh Pyne, Ram Kumar, Suhas Roy, B. Prabha, Manu Parekh, F. N. Souza and Jogen Chawdhury to see the influence of global modernism on Indian art as it developed in independent India.

The younger artists whose works are being displayed -- Arpana Caur, Shamshad Hussain, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Atul Sinha, Subrata Kundu and Pooja Bahri -- are more concerned with the nitty- gritties of day-to-day life and are ready to experiment with styles and techniques that may not exactly be called mainstream, according to Suneet Chopra, art critic, who has endeavoured to introduce their works to the public.

Two artists -- Pooja Bahri and Atul Sinha -- are displaying their works for the first time. ``I deem myself lucky to be part of an exhibition in which such great artists like M. F. Husain are taking part,'' says Pooja, who is displaying paintings that are part of her female figure series.

While she has been painting since childhood, it is only for the past one year that Pooja took it up seriously. ``When Mr. Chawla saw my paintings, he immediately told me that he will include it in the next show he was planning,'' says the debutante.

Promoting new talent has always been a thrust area for him and it is in this context, that Mr. Chawla has included the paintings of Atul Sinha and Pooja Bahri. ``She has something within herself which she wants to express through her paintings,'' says Mr. Chawla, adding that Atul too was a promising artist.

By K. Kannan

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