I have found a few thinks of interest in the Indian Art news-
First the good news, Dayanita Singh et al. Awarded Prince Claus Award -
The Prince Claus Award for culture and development was awarded last month with its major recipient and one of its minor recipients, Indira Goswami (writer) and Dayanita Singh (photographer) both contemporary Indian artists prominent in their respective fields. The award, which has been handed out annually since 1997 is intended to honor and encourage the work of artists, thinkers and cultural organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. This years theme was Culture and the Human Body, which Miss Singh certainly explores with her intimately humane, highly contextualized, portraits. See the links below for information on the award as well as further links to examples of Singh's work:
http://www.princeclausfund.org/nl/what_we_do/awards/PrinceClausAwardDayanitaSingh.shtml - award information
And the bad news, Indian artist S. H. Raza finds exhibition of his work full of fakes.
See excerpts below from the Times Online
S.H. Raza, one of the country's foremost artists, attended an opening for an exhibition of his paintings in Delhi – only to discover that most were fakes.
Raza, who is based in Paris, had contributed some drawings to the show at the Dhoomimal Gallery while the gallery had borrowed about 30 more paintings – supposedly his early works – from his nephew.
"When I reached the gallery and started looking at the canvases on the walls, I was stunned," Mr Raza wrote in an Indian newspaper.
The scandal highlights the lucrative opportunities for forgers in India, which has witnessed an unprecedented boom in demand for local modern and contemporary art over the past few years.
The value of Indian art sold at auction has risen from about $5 million (£3.4 million) in 2003 to $150 million last year and the local art market in India is now estimated to be worth around £200 million.
But art experts and dealers say that one of the main risks for buyers is that India does not have any fixed mechanism for authentication of art works.
"Forgery is a tremendous problem now," said Mrs Jain. "In the last 10-15 years, so much money has come into the art market and a lot of people who are buying don't have much experience."
To Read the compleat article- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5544692.ece
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
In the Indian Art News
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4 comments:
Wow. That is so shocking about the forgeries. Raza's works are some of my favorites. I hope this event won't affect the market for Indian Art. That would be terrible for artists to be effected so adversely to a terrible situation! I'm glad this was brought this to my attention.
But that is good news for Ms Singh, so congratulations to her!
How terrible about the forged artwork. It must be awful for an artist to discover something like that. Hopefully it won't happen in the future.
How terrible about the forged artwork. It must be awful for an artist to discover something like that. Hopefully it won't happen in the future.
Congratulations to the recipients of the award! That's a great honor for them.
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