Life in an empty space: The art of Prabhakar Barwe

Source Architectural Digest by Avantika Shankar
A hidden gem of the Indian contemporary art movement has been dazzling audiences at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai this month. Prabhakar Barwe (1936-1995), a post-progressive, pre-contemporary era painter, whose work was far ahead of his time, has been brought back into the public eye by curator Jesal Thacker, founder of the Bodhana Art and Research Foundation, and long-time admirer of Barwe’s work. Featuring a staggering collection of paintings sourced from numerous galleries, museums and public collections—not to mention the artist’s own estate—as well as diary pages, interactive displays, activity corners, and audio recordings, the retrospective takes audiences not only through Barwe’s life and work, but also through his artistic process. “This is the first exhibition after his death,” Jesal says, “so we felt it was very important to create a timeline of his entire life, from his birth to his death.”
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The catalyst named Feroze Gujral

Source The Hindu by Georgina Maddox
Feroze Gujral is in London when we get her on the phone, at the Tate Modern. Though we aren’t privy to the why of her visit, as one of India’s leading patrons of South Asian art, we are expecting interesting projects in the near future. She is, after all, the impetus behind initiatives like the VS Gaitonde: Painting as Process, Painting as Life exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim (2014), and My East is Your West collateral event — a collaboration between India’s Shilpa Gupta and Pakistan’s Rashid Rana — at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). “We are a massive sub-continent and we cannot be ignored. We need more philanthropy for the younger generation,” says Feroze.
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Inspired by Indian Railways, Japan set to engrave ‘Madhubani’ art on its trains

Source Opindia
According to the reports, Japan authorities have requested the Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry to send a team of Mithila artists so that Japan can emulate the art form on its trains. A railway ministry official has said that a team of Madhubani artists may be sent to Japan. India and Japan, one of the successful democracies in the world, shares an immense cultural, spiritual and religious relationship between each other translating into other political, economic and security areas of co-operation. The cultural similarities between the two countries and the influence that India has on Japan have been manifested throughout history as several Indian languages have influenced Japanese culture.
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Art, and nothing more: The Irregulars Art Fair is back

Source Hindustan Times by Aditya Dogra
Co-founded by Tarini Sethi and Anant Ahuja, the fair in its second year has grown exponentially over the last year, and manages to subvert the concept of art being an affair of the elite beautifully. “One could say that our first edition was a little rushed. We just wanted to do this, and went ahead with it. But, this year we have more curators who have carefully put together this fair. In our first year, we had 56 artists in total, and this year we have over 150. So, one could say that we’ve tripled in scale. The theme this year is Alternate Realities, and each exhibit offers something interesting for the visitors. This always has, and will continue to be a space for independent artists to take the centre stage; we’re just doing our best to keep that going,” says Abuja.
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India Art Fair 2019 Proves The South Asian Market Is On The Rise

Source Harpers Bazaar by Rebecca Proctor
The fair’s 11th edition reported swift sales for regional and international galleries alike attesting to the growth of the South Asian art market. At this year’s India Art Fair, the country’s largest modern and contemporary art fair, 75 galleries gathered in New Delhi from 24 Indian and international cities. While the fair, which saw its last day yesterday, featured a majority of South Asian, predominantly Indian galleries, this edition witnessed a continued presence from international art world heavyweights, namely David Zwirner, Blain|Southern, Grosvenor Gallery and neugerriemschneider, which participated for the first time. The overall sentiment was one of increased confidence in the Indian art market – one much more positive than in previous years.
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Jane and Kito de Boer on why Indian art is at such an exciting phase -- and how to spot the next big artist

Source Times Now by Akrita Reyar
“Art is key to understanding a society. Our collection of Indian Art helped peek into the soul of the nation. No nation can be understood by others if it does not understand itself. One of the reasons that China in its 5-year plan a decade ago made Art and Culture a ‘Strategic Industry’ was because it understood the power of culture to engage with its own people to shape a narrative of their national identity. This also helped communicate the best ‘face’ of China to the outside world. Culture is also a good business.” “The ability of Art and Culture to decode the soul of a nation is a help to diplomacy. As a diplomat, you want to seek understanding beyond the facts and figures. Painting, poetry, literature, music and dance are powerful ways to transmit what people stand for, what makes them sing. Culture is a bridge - it comes from a place of love - and this is a powerful diplomatic asset.”
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Watch: Hip-hop band Swadesi’s new song asks for Mumbai's Aarey Forest to be saved from ‘development

Source Scroll In
The multilingual hip-hop band Swadesi has released a new video in collaboration with activist Prakash Bhoir and The Aarey Collective. The video tries to draw attention to the alarming rate of destruction of Aarey Forest under the guise of development. Aarey Forest is the only green patch of significant size in the northern suburbs of Mumbai. The Warli people live in the area, and constant development projects are threatening them with displacement and loss of livelihood. The Marathi rap song, titled The Warli Revolt, is something of a war cry. It begins by outlining the history of the Warli people, and then goes on to suggest that development projects are selling “fake progress” for profits. The song threatens a “massive revolution” against the cutting down of the forest.
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