Two Indian galleries to exhibit at Art Basel 2021
Galleries from Mumbai and Kolkata will be exhibiting the poignant artworks from a number of artists at Art Basel 2021 among 200 global galleries.
The world art fair is organised annually by the Art Basel, one of the biggest for-profit organisations that works in collaboration with the local institutions to help grow and develop art programs by providing a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers. 2020 edition got cancelled last year due to a raging pandemic. The 2021 edition will be held from September 24-26 at Messe Basel.
It is interesting to note that two of the progressive art galleries of India- Mumbai-based Chemould Prescott Road and Kolkata-based Experimenter will be showcasing the work of a number of Indian artists inspired by the emotionally challenging times that was the year 2020. The artworks capture the individual internal struggles and conflicts that featured artists went through as they sailed through the pandemic.
Last year, when pandemic brought the creative industries to a halt, the global art fairs were in a fix, but every artist responded to the fiasco in a different manner. While some artists went silent, and some were unable to access their studios, others sat by a desk and drew every day; and thrived like never before.
Kolkata-based Experimenter gallery’s show at the fair titled ‘The Production of Body-Spatiality’ will feature works by artists like Ayesha Sultana, Bani Abidi, Biraaj Dodiya, Praneet Soi, Prabhakar Pachpute, Radhika Khimji, Rathin Barman, Samson Young and Sakshi Gupta.
Some of the work includes, N S Harsha’s rendition of the Greek goddess Themis as a local Mysore schoolgirl, yielding a grocery bag instead of the sword attempts to amplify the voice of the countless unseen women caught in the domestic trap of contemporary society and Atul Dodiya’s set of six works that are translated onto canvas from everyday sketches drawn over the past year capture his response to the events he learned through the news during that time.
In earlier editions as well the galleries from Bangalore and other cities had exhibited a blend of traditional and contemporary artworks both in concept and material form.
Cover image by Art Basel
