La Tate Modern organise la première rétrospective consacrée à l’artiste indien Bhupen Khakhar

Source Connaissances des Arts par Laurent Issaurat
À travers les Trade Paintings, qui marquent le début de l’exposition, on découvre d’abord des commerçants et artisans de Baroda (province de Gujarat, où l’artiste a passé sa vie adulte), des tailleurs « de luxe », laveurs de vitres, barbiers, horlogers, ouvriers manifestant devant leur usine et autres personnages ordinaires, « insignifiants », de la vie quotidienne, dépeints avec un soin méticuleux. Les huiles sur toiles, appliquées en couches fines et légères, les acryliques et aquarelles rayonnantes de Khakhar sont mise au service d’un concentré d’influences hétéroclites : on retrouve ici le Company Style (genre développé par des portraitistes indiens, consistant à peindre des modèles locaux selon des normes esthétiques de l’Europe coloniale des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles), mais également le primitivisme et la nature luxuriante du Douanier Rousseau, les compositions narratives des maîtres de Sienne du 14ème siècle, en passant par l’imagerie religieuse hindoue traditionnelle et les collages kitsch du Pop Art, rappelant l’usage de l’iconographie populaire par Robert Rauschenberg ou Jasper Johns. Ces sources bigarrées, assumées explicitement et fusionnées, forment la base d’un style unique, et font de Khakhar l’un des plus importants peintres contemporain indien du XXe siècle.
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The magical world of Gond art

Source The New Indian Express by Palak Dubey
The folk art done by the tribes belonging to Central India is called Gond art. Kalakriti Art Gallery in its ongoing show has brought forth a set of works done by four artists who belong to the Gond community. These artists manifest a strong artistic foundation that reflects the rich ethos of the tradition. The effervescence and the simplicity of recreating surroundings gets exemplified in all tribal/folk art forms. Often considered as immensely decorative and illustrative nonetheless these traditions have the energy and strength to be loved for their freshness and can stand strong and at par with the high art forms/streams of expression.
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Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 forming in the pupil of an eye

Source E-flux
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is pleased to announce the curatorial vision for its third edition, entitled forming in the pupil of an eye, and names further participating artists. The Biennale, opening on December 12 and running for 108 days, closing March 29, is the largest contemporary art biennial in South Asia. The main exhibition and an ancillary programme of talks, seminars, workshops, film screenings, and music will take place across a range of venues in Kochi, Kerala, India. The third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale is curated by acclaimed Indian artist Sudarshan Shetty. Long recognized as one of his generation’s most innovative artists, and best known for his enigmatic sculptural installations, the Biennale will be Shetty’s first curatorial project.
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Q&A: Tulika Kedia on Jogi Art

Source Blouin Art Info by Archana Khare Ghose
At the recently concluded Mountain Echoes Literature Festival in Thimpu, Bhutan, visitors at the main venue were greeted, among other things, by a display of a unique art form. That was Jogi Art, a new genre of art in the vast canon of Indian art and culture, yet powerful enough to start running on its own steam already. Originally a group of wandering minstrels in Rajasthan, who earned their livelihood by singing devotional songs and ballads, the Jogis tried their hand at drawing to support themselves. Thus emerged Jogi art, a form developed by Ganesh and Teju Jogi along with their six children over the last four decades. The genre of art not only quickly gained national recognition in the artistic circles for the sheer brilliance of its form, it is now set to go places with the patronage of Tulika Kedia.
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Is the Indian Modern Art Market Coming Back to Life?

Source Art Market Monitor by Marion Maneker
Saffronart’s strong sale last week led by a record price paid for Akbar Padmasee’s Greek Landscape which made $2.9m, well above the pre-sale estimate. And though Saffronart CEO Hugo Weihe has told the media that ““there is a huge demand for unseen works of modern artists,” many remain wary of the Indian Modern market after so many years of dormancy and the collapse of the Indian Contemporary market. In terms of Sotheby’s sales, over the last five years, Indian clients have purchased works at auction totalling $273 million (aggregate), and from 2014 to 2015 the number of bidders at auction increased by 7%. The trends across the art world, and paralleling within the Indian scene, is a look at underrepresented or undervalued modernists and masters who are getting a critical reappraisal in museum exhibitions and academic publications.
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Art Basel’s owner takes majority stake in India Art Fair

Source The Art Newspaper by Anny Shaw
The Swiss-based MCH Group, which owns the Art Basel franchise, announced today (12 September) that it has taken a majority stake in the India Art Fair. The group now owns 60.3%, the previous owner Angus Montgomery has 29.7% and Neha Kirpal, the fair’s founding director retains 10%. Kirpal, who established the fair in 2008, will still “play a key role” in its development, according to a statement. “MCH’s commitment to [the] region will help us develop the fair in coming years,” Kirpal says. The new ownership comes into effect ahead of the next edition of the fair in February 2017 although the “value of its engagement” will not be fully felt until 2018.
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Painter Akbar Padamsee’s ‘Greek Landscape’ sells for record Rs 19 crore at auction

Source The Indian Express
Contemporary Indian artist Akbar Padamsee set a new high at Saffronart’s auction with his work “Greek Landscape” going under the hammer for Rs 19.19 crore, breaking his earlier record. The 4.3 x 12 feet canvas, estimated at Rs 7-9 crore, more than doubled its upper estimate in the sale on Thursday evening. The winning bid surpassed the previous record set by Sotheby’s in 2011 for “Reclining Nude”, 1960. The auction also set other records for modern Indian art as Nasreen Mohamedi’s 1960 oil on canvas sold for a record Rs 2.4 crore. One of the earliest modern masters of India, Gaganendranath Tagore’s work “Ruben’s Sketch Book” also followed suit by selling for Rs 1.8 crore.
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Worcester Art Museum Hosts Talk on Contemporary Art of India on Sept. 15

Source India New England
The Worcester Art Museum, whose encyclopedic 37,500-piece collection covers 51 centuries of art, will host a talk on “The Figurative and the Narrative in Courtly and Contemporary Art of India” on Sept. 15 at 6:00 pm. The speaker is Vishakha Desai, special advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs. The talk, which will be held at the Museum located at 55 Salisbury St. in Worcester, is organized under the Museum’s Master Series program.
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Inside an art classroom

Source Livemint by Dhamini Ratnam
The first day of Sotheby’s three-day course on International contemporary art—the famed Sotheby’s Institute of Art’s first foray into Mumbai—paid homage to Marcel Duchamp’s urinal. The early 20th century artist may have lived among the moderns, but his sensibility and response to the changing times and technology renders him the most significant artist of his century, and —though he’s no longer alive and making art—a contemporary artist. Kathleen Madden, art historian and faculty at the University of Columbia, took an intensive day-long session on international contemporary art, delving into artistic innovations of the past centuries, such as photography and film, and Western artists’ responses to them.
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All the art auctions you can look forward to in the upcoming weeks

Source Vogue India by Farah Siddiqui
Indian and international collectors seemingly strong appetite for acquiring premium works of art will be tested in the coming weeks, when more than 250 modern and contemporary artworks by India’s most celebrated artists go under the gavel in the latest auction season. The sale catalogues of Saffronart, Christie’s and Sotheby’s bring forth astounding, bold collections of historical significance, which are expected to fire up bidding frenzies at auctions, widely accepted as a barometer of the health of the art market.
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Stéphane Guillerme "L'Inde sous la peau"

Stéphane Guillerme en amoureux de l’Inde et du tatouage a travaillé plusieurs années pour ce livre, parcourant le pays en tous sens, nouant de multiples rencontres, photographiant sans relâche. Le tatouage en Inde est probablement millénaire, pratiqué par les premières tribus comme signature clanique, bien avant l’hindouisme. Il est aussi populaire, associé à une ferveur particulièrement visible dans les pèlerinages et fêtes religieuses. Le tatouage est enfin urbain, les jeunes, tout comme en occident, gravant à même leur peau leur sensibilité et leur goût artistique. Tatouage tribal, populaire ou urbain, les trois parties du livre proposent un ensemble de 250 photos inédites.
> campagne de pré-vente de l'ouvrage via Kisskissbankbank

Art Demystified: What is the Role of Non-Profits in the Art World?

Source Artnet News by Henri Neuendorf
Between commercial galleries, museums, and auction houses lies the arts non-profit. But in the profit-driven contemporary art world, what role does the arts non-profit play? Although every arts non-profit pursues different organizational goals, broadly speaking, non-profits fill the gaps left by the commercial and public sector to advocate issues such as art education, art activism, and promotion of unrepresented artists.
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