With a new generation of Indian art proponents and foreign artists in attendance at the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the starting point of the ancient Spice Route to the West may spur a great Indian art trade in present times
Faizal Khan
A few paces from Fort Kochi?s eye-catching Chinese fishing nets sits Pepper House, an imposing complex, which, until half a century ago, was used to store sacks of black gold for loading on to ships anchored in Kochi harbour. Post-independence, however, this historic spice godown, with Dutch-style clay roofs and a large courtyard, was relegated to the periphery of long-forgotten history. The majestic waterfront structure slowly became just another colonial architectural wonder. On Wednesday, the fortunes of Pepper House changed again. The first biennale of India in Kochi has brought the building back to life. Many in the world of art think that the paintings on the walls of the renovated complex, a major biennale venue, could be the new wares for the future of art trade in India.
A short walk by the courtyard of the house will lead one to the threshold of wide wooden stairs, a short climb up where KP Reji, a Malayali artist, has mounted his massive painting. ?We were very careful not to impact the wall,? says Reji, sounding more concerned about the Dutch architectural structure than his own work, an oil on canvas inspired by an oral folklore of his village in Alappuzha. It is the story of a villager who tried to save his farm from floods, adds the 40-year-old artist, who lives in Vadodara, Gujarat. Reji?s personal story is also the story of contemporary art in India. ?I am doing huge works because there are people ready to buy my paintings,? says Reji, recounting an ironical instance, where his mother used one of his paintings as a curtain for their cowshed. ?Today, Indian artists like me can work without depending on others for assistance.?
The Indian contemporary art trade, which has had a comeback from the recession of 2009, boasts of a new generation of accomplished practitioners like Reji. Interestingly, half of the participating artists at the first Kochi-Muziris biennale are from India?seen by art historians as a positive trend for domestic art. ?There is a right mix of artists? 50% from India and 50% from abroad,? says Thomas Girst, an art historian and head of automobile giant BMW?s cultural engagement wing. ?It is important that India finds itself at the biennale. So the mix in Kochi is really helpful for India,? adds Girst, who believes contemporary Indian art is strong in its aesthetics and political message. BMW, which brought its Guggenheim Lab (a mobile architecture programme focusing on tomorrow?s mega cities through design projects and cultural activities) from Berlin to Mumbai earlier this week, has committed itself to a two-edition engagement with the biennale.
Though the biennale will not witness any transactions, gallerists like Abhay Maskara of Mumbai believe that the event would see people making up their minds about buying and even commissioning projects with participating artists. ?The audience will come, see and enjoy. The collector will come, appreciate and buy later,? says Maskara, who sees the prices of contemporary Indian art ?reasonable? compared to China?s. ?We take Indian contemporary art forward because of the young generation of Indian artists,? he reasons, before proceeding to talk with BMW?s Girst about T Venkanna, the 32-year-old painter from Vadodara he is representing.
While giant installations of prominent Indian artists like Subodh Gupta, Srinivasa Prasad, Atul Dodiya and Tallur LN are the major showpieces of the biennale?celebrated for their visual brilliance?the commercial art world is also looking for new talent. That new talent may not be from India alone, as Sumesh Sharma of the Mumbai-based Clark House curatorial collaborative points out. ?We don?t have a substantial collection of works of foreign artists in India. That could change with the Indian biennale when Indian collectors start taking notice of foreign artists,? he says. But barely into the first week of the three-month biennale, it is the crop of Indian artists who have impressed art lovers. Delhi-based Malayali artist Prasad Raghavan?s Biblically-inspired installation, The Ship of Tarshish, shows a vessel poised for spice trade from Kerala to the West. The work is set against the country?s newest international container terminal in Kochi?s Vallarpadam across the lakeside biennale venue with a view of the Arabian Sea. Works like Raghavan?s could catch the eye of gallerists in the coming months. That could, in turn, extend the focus of buyers of contemporary art, like BMW?s cultural engagement wing that buys art for their corporate offices across the world.
The writer is a freelancer
