Art Basel 2020: The pandemic triggers a virtual shift in art

Source Livemint by Avantika Bhuyan
With a new online-only exhibit for Art Basel, gallerist David Zwirner stresses the need for the art ecosystem to embrace technology - During my 27-year-long career, I have seen that when new regions enter the art market, such as South America, China, Japan and now India, the emphasis in the early years is on local artists—artists from the country that you know and art which reflects the traditions you are familiar with. It is only after you start exchanging information with an international group of collectors that you open your eyes to visual traditions from other countries. One such genre is that of contemporary art from Europe and the US, which we are now bringing to India. This is just the beginning and the dialogue with international art in the country is still in its early years.
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Swadesi's 'The Warli Revolt' goes viral on TikTok and WhatsApp

Source RadioandMusic by RnMTeam
Mumbai-based multilingual hip-hop crew Swadesi 's seminal single, The Warli Revolt, has been found going viral courtesy TikTok and WhatsApp statuses. The anthemic single that became a rallying cry for the Save Aarey movement proved to be a career defining moment for the crew who quickly found themselves becoming the voice of socially conscious hip hop in the country. Over the last month, the track has seen a resurgence amongst folks with a clip of Swadesi's live performance of the same at the 2019 edition of India’s largest crowdfunded music festival Control ALT Delete going viral over WhatsApp statuses and TikTok. Swadesi has amassed well over amillion organic views on user generated content and over 500K on the original track itself.
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Adivasi revolt that ushered in change for all

Source Frontline
For the region, 1945-46 must have been a heady time. After almost a century of injustices, there was unity, leadership and personal freedoms; it must have felt like a new dawn in the lives of the Adivasis. The Parulekars, the Kisan Sabha and the Adivasis kept up the tempo. The Warli Adivasi Revolt started out as a fight against bonded labour and lagnagadi and went on to become a fight for wages for work, land ownership and forest rights. What began as a movement to liberate Adivasis blossomed into a fight for basic democratic rights and laws for the general population. In 1948-49, the Maharashtra government was forced to enact the first tenancy legislation in the State. Since the law came about because of the Adivasi struggle for ownership of land, it was only appropriate that it was first implemented in three tehsils of Thane district. The Tenancy Act was soon implemented all over the State. This was followed by legislation that prohibited Adivasi land from being sold to a non-Adivasi person. In 1960, Godutai led the first ever morcha (march) in India demanding forest land in the name of Adivasis; 46 years later, in 2006, the Forest Rights Act was enacted.
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Success for the sale of a small drawing by Jangarh Singh Shyam

A drawing by Jangarh Singh Shyam of 1994 9x6.5 in - 22.9x16.5 cm sold on June 9, 2020 at Saffronart for the sum of $4,087 (incl of Buyer's Premium) setting a new record (concerning a work of this format) for this legendary contemporary Indian tribal artist, present at the Magiciens de la terre (Centre Pompidou 1989) and to which three major books have been dedicated in recent years.
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Waiting to make your first big post-lockdown purchase? Acquire a stunning Souza

Source Architectural Digest by Nolan Lewis
While economists are still evaluating the impact of the global meltdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and the mercurial volatility in international prices, every wise investor knows that even the darkest economic recessions come with a silver lining—they can be profitable phases to invest in real estate or buy that work of art you’ve been eyeing forever. “Although the global lockdown has been a pandemic to numerous situations and on a number of levels, I have noticed that in terms of fine art purchases, the market has actually increased and become more robust, especially in terms of online sales. While this doesn’t necessarily apply to the prices of each individual work, this does apply to the volume of sales, which I have noticed have increased and are quite fantastic! Especially in online sales,” notes Francis Patrick Souza, the son of expressionist painter F.N. Souza and Founder of the F.N. Souza International Fine Arts Foundation & Family Trust Inc.
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IN TOUCH

IN TOUCH, a digital exhibitions platform created in collaboration between galleries, presents it's second iteration live from today until July 5th at www.artintouch.in. The participating galleries of In Touch Edition 2 are: Chemould Prescott Road, Bombay; Experimenter, Kolkata; Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai; Gallery Espace, Delhi; GALLERYSKE, Bangalore/ Delhi; Green Art Gallery, Dubai; Grey Noise, Dubai; Nature Morte, Delhi; PHOTOINK, Delhi; Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai; The Third Line, Dubai; and Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi. The In Touch platform will additionally host collateral online programming including gallerist connects and artist talks conducted digitally.
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