Summer Wind Blows Hot at Saffronart

What won’t sell? That’s an intriguing question as Indian modern and contemporary art continues to remain a sizzling sellers’ market, as Saffronart’s annual Online Summer Auction 2008 has once again reminded collectors. Held June 18 –19, works by the PAG masters, regardless of the medium, are still highly sought after, as are artists who arrived on the Indian art scene later. Of the 90 lots that sold, 69% went down the hammer at above their pre-auction estimate.

The prices heated up early on with an oil and ink on canvas of a figurative horse painted by MF Husain selling for $201,250*, a cubism piece titled Dark Silhouettes, The Moon by Jehangir Sabavala for $146,625, and two FN Souza oils on board going for $232,300 and $218,500. One of the most revolutionary of India’s modernists, Jagdish Swaminathan’s untitled oil on canvas doubled estimates and sold for $460,000.

Next up were artists born during or after the 1940’s. A painting by Manjit Bawa finished at $117,875, Atul Dodiya’s mixed media piece Each Father Lost-III at $201,250, Rashid Rana’s Red Carpet – 2 for a hot half million dollars, TV Santhosh’s untitled work tripling estimates at $140,875, Jagannath Panda’s acrylic on canvas, The Urbanscape III, for $129,375, and Jitish Kallat’s Rubber Hammer for $197,225. Also performing well were works by Barl Kumar, Anant Joshi, Jayashree Chakravarty, Meera Mukherjee, KM Adimoolam, and Bose Krishnamachari.

Prices midway through the two-day auction caught fire when SH Raza’s acrylic work Germination, an outstanding combination of line, color and shape, sold for $1,056,250, and Subodh Gupta’s untitled oil on canvas of shimmering stainless steel pots and pans sold five times the estimate at an unbelievable $1,427,500. Also smoking were Hema Upadhyay’s mixed media on paper, Bleeding Hearts ($133,975), Justin Ponmany’s mixed media on canvas Riverbed ($235,750), an untitled oil on canvas by Jagdish Swaminathan ($218,500), other works by Husain and Souza, and a Bikash Bhattacharjee that sold for $132,250.

Prices cooled a bit for the remaining lots, but still managed solid numbers for other Indian contemporary artists. A bronze untitled bust by Akbar Padamsee sold for $34,500, Himmat Shah’s bronze Head of a King for $47,150, a Lalu Prasad Shaw tempera on handmade paper for $25,300, and an untitled K M Adimoolam oil on canvas for $27,025.

As summer officially begins and the art auction world relaxes some, it still seems as though the market for anything Indian—regardless of artist or medium—continued to be dominant for the first half of the year. Autumn will bring cooler temperatures, but hopefully the heat drawn from these prices will remain throughout the remainder of the year.

*Winning bids include buyer’s premium

Baithak performance by Pandit Birju Maharaj on June 25, 2008, 6:30 to 8:30pm.

On June 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 Pandit Birju Maharaj will honor us with a Baithak performance at the gallery. His performance last summer was an outstanding success and we are looking forward to this evening.

Pandit Birju Maharaj is the torchbearer of the famous family, Kalka-Bindadin Gharana of Lucknow. Named Brijmohan Nath Mishra, he is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lacchu Maharaj and his father and guru, Acchan Maharaj. He took Kathak to new heights by composing choreography of new Kathak dance dramas. He has toured extensively across the globe, given thousands of performances and held hundreds of workshops for Kathak students.
Even though dancing is his first love, he also has an excellent command over Hindustani classical music and is an accomplished vocalist as well having command over Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan, Abhinaya and Ghazals, which will be a part of this Baithak.

For more information on this event or to attend RSVP to rsvp@tamarindart.com or call 212-200-8000.

Tamarind Art is located at 142 East 39th St between Lexington and 3rd Avenue.

Herd on Wall Street, Masterpiece in Midtown East

By Christina Wilson

The Scoop... Behind the bull on Wall Street, mathematically-minded suits use complex formulas and algorithmic sophistication in search for new patterns in the stock market. In the end, for some Wall Street traders, it can present opportunities for high-profit returns. It is with this practice of precision, the symbol of the bull on Wall Street holds true to the meaning of financial optimism and prosperity. Excited 1 Acrylic on Canvas A.V. Ilango However, the bull has taken on a new meaning in New York City and Tamarind Art, holds the secret. Tamarind Art, located on 142 East 39th Street, represents one mathematically educated artist by the name of A.V. Ilango. This European Academy of the Arts Gold Medal artist is showcasing his new exhibit titled, "Introspection," which places the bull at the forefront of Indian culture. In Indian culture, the sacred bull is associated with Hindu Mythology. Shiva, one of the primary deities of Hinduism, cherished Nandi, the sacred bull. In addition to being the principal gana (follower) of Shiva, Nandi also posed as Shiva’s transportation, the gatekeeper of Shiva temples, as well as, a guru in Natha and Siddhar traditions. Ilango earned his B.S. and M.S. in Mathematics from Central College, Bangalore in 1971 and 1973. His exhibitions have been displayed in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, London, Singapore, Kuala Lampur and San Francisco. Along with his art installations, Llango has received many awards such as, in 1992, he received the ABS Chennai Chapter & British Council Fellowship and in 2001, he received the Jury Award of the Lyons Fine Arts Society Salon International de Printemps, Lyons, France. Ilango fuses the meaning of the bull by capturing the mood of the bovine through such works as, "Charging," a sculpture made up of hundreds of aluminum hangers intricately connected to form a bull in motion. Along with his metal and stone sculptures on display, he is also showcasing acrylic on canvas with "Mahishasura I, II, III," "At Rest III," "Excited I, II," "Jallikattu I, II;" also portraying mood and posture. It is with this practice of precision, the symbol of the bull in Midtown East holds true to the meaning of divine introspection, at least, for, this area of the city. The "Introspection" exhibition will be showing at Tamarind Art Council. 142 East 39th Street, New York. For more information, call 212-200-8000; e-mail:admin@tamarindart.com; visit www.tamarindart.com, This Article was Article of the day in the Art Business News Website.

dance and painting performance

Tamarind Arts Council presents an evening of live dance and painting performance by the dancer Mrs. Jayanthi Subramanian and the artist A.V. Ilango

Wednesday, 21st of May, 2008. The event starts at 7.00pm.

Mrs. Jayanthi Subramanian is a Bharathnatyam dancer and choreographer from Chennai, India. She has received her B.A. in Fine Arts and M.A. in Sanskrit. A disciple of Guru Adyar Lakshmanan, she has specialized in abhinaya* under Shrimati Kalanidhi. She will perform the Nandi Sol choreographed by Guru Adyar Lakshmanan and extrapolate the nuances of Mr. A.V. Ilango’s paintings, sculptures and installations which
are conceived from the Saivite* philosophy and mythology.
Mr. Ilango will create a live drawing or painting capturing the dancer’s performance.

• Abhinaya is a narrative concept emphasizing on expressions in Indian dance and drama derived from Bharata's work of dramatic theory, encompassing dance and music, in classical India.

• Shaivism encompasses the traditions of Hinduism that focus on the deity Shiva.

Mr. A.V. Ilango is a Chennia based artist. He earned his B.S and M.S in Mathematics
from Central College, Bangalore in 1971 and 1973. Ilango’s career as an artist includes
many national and international one man, and group shows. His work has been presented
at the Salon International de Printemps, Lyon Fine Arts Society. Other exhibitions
include Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kuala Lampur, Singapore, London,
and San Francisco. In 2006, Ilango exhibited at the Indian Consulate in New York as the
sole participating artist. In 2008, his solo exhibition “Bovine Principle” was featured at
the Forum Art Gallery in Chennai. “Bovine Principle” was also depicted a year earlier at
the Art Samar Gallery in Trevendrum. For the first time, his exhibition is now being held
at the Tamarind Arts in New York.

Beginning in 1992, Ilango has been the recipient of many awards. Most recently in 2002,
he received the International Gold Medal at the Salon d’Automne, European Academy of
Arts, Paris. In 1992, he received the ABS Chennai Chapter & British Council Fellowship
during his visit to the UK. He received the State Award at the Golden Jubilee of
Independence Exhibition in 1997.

Tamarind Arts Council
142 East 39th Street,
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-200-8000
Email: admin@tamarindarts.org

Sotheby’s London—Is Indian Contemporary Art Market Resistant?

Two diametric figures stand out in Artprice’s most recent edition of ArtMarketInsight: one, that Contemporary Indian art has made spectacular gains--in January 2008, the sector’s price index was up by 830% over the decade; and two, that in the first quarter of 2008, international art prices were 7.5% below those recorded in the last quarter of 2007. So, collectors may have been wondering which trend would prevail at Sotheby’s Indian Art sale held this morning in London.

Apparently the former, as both established names and younger artists in the secondary market performed very well, with 65% of the sold lots going above their pre-bid estimates. A total take of $8,463,437* may be the bellwether that indeed Indian art may be able to sustain its ferocious climb it has made over the past decade.

The auction showed strength early on when four George Keyt oils and five Jamini Roy tempera on cards all sold at least double their estimates, with two Keyt’s selling in the $50,000 range. Next up, two Rabindranath Tagores’ sold extremely well—a pen and colored ink on paper titled Bird for $138,213; Death Scene, a gouache and colored ink on paper, for $284,904.

By mid-sale, PAG works went up for auction and, for the most part, did not disappoint those who were watching to gauge the resiliency of the country’s most established artists. An Akbar Padamsee untitled nude, painted in 1956, sold for $498,000 and an archetypal “metascape” from 1983 for $521,630. F. N. Souza’s The Red Road, representing the personal, the political and the spiritual struggle of the artist, and one that Shelley Souza, the artist's daughter, wrote that “so emphatically belonged to my mother, meaning more than any other Souza painting in her collection” sold for $1,144,208. Two other Souzas’ went down for $450,390 and $222,584. S. H. Raza’s La Source, an acrylic on canvas, went for $213,977; an F. M. Husain for nearly $300,000.

But the most positive signs of an Indian contemporary art market not willing to concede to global market forces were yet to come. A 2005 untitled oil by Subodh Gupta went for a final, eye-opening bid of $521,780. Atul Dodiya’s Each Father, Lost (VIII), a mixed media installation in three sections produced shortly after his father's death, sold for $273,163. Bharti Kher’s Missing, bindis on composite aluminum panel, for nearly $210,000 and Thurkral & Tagra’s Stop Think Go, a work that addressed the problem of HIV and AIDS in India, for $202,160. T. V. Santhosh, another young artist who also remains red hot, had an oil on canvas titled A Handful of Ashes, go for $202,478. Jitish Kallat’s mixed media on canvas Humiliation Tax – II, a piece dominated by the centralized image of a young underprivileged child, a symbol for the most vulnerable and impoverished members of Indian society, went for $114,588. And two Sakti Burman’s cashed in at $154,860 and $72,005.

Other names that did well today at Sotheby's include Ambadas ($72,019), Prajakta Palav ($48,320), Chintan Upadhyay ($57,788), Nalini Malini ($71,989), and Shilpa Gupta ($48,333 and $43,595).

Although 26 of the 123 lots (21%) were withdrawn, passed, or unsold, including four works each by Avinash Chandra and F. N. Souza, it seems the 2008 market for Indian Contemporary art remains stable, if not even increasing in value, even when other genres around the world may be waning a bit. Time will tell in upcoming summer and autumn sales if this is indicative for the remainder of the year.

*All prices quoted include the Buyer’s Premium, but do not reflect any Value Added Tax. They were also converted from Great Britain Pound (GBP) to United States Dollar (USD) on 5/2/08. Actual conversion rates may fluctuate from time to time.

Introspection

Tamarind Arts Council is delighted to present A.V. Ilango’s solo exhibition “Introspection.” In this new body of works, the artist features his iconic portrayal of the bull on his canvases and in metal and stone sculptures. The title is a reference to the nature of the artist’s engagement with a specific subject that is embedded in the mass consciousness of the people of South Asia. An opening reception will be held 14 May 2008, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm; the exhibition will run from 14 May - 21 June 2008.

About the Artist

The Chennai based artist A.V. Ilango earned his B.S and M.S in Mathematics from Central College, Bangalore in 1971 and 1973. His career as an artist includes many national and international one man, and group shows. His work has been shown at the Salon International de Printemps, Lyon Fine Arts Society. Other exhibitions include Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kuala Lampur, Singapore, London, San Francisco. In 2006, Ilango exhibited at the Indian Consulate in New York as the sole participating artist. In 2008, his solo show “Bovine Principle” was featured at the Forum Art Gallery in Chennai, which was shown a year earlier at the Art Samar Gallery in Trevendrum. And now at Tamarind Art Council in New York.

Beginning in 1992 Ilango has been the recipient of many awards; most recently in 2002 he received the International Gold Medal at the Salon d’Automne, European Academy of Arts, Paris. In 1992 he received the ABS Chennai Chapter & British Council Fellowship: during his visit to UK, and in 1997 he received the State Award at the Golden Jubilee of Independence Exhibition.

About Tamarind Arts Council

Tamarind Arts Council (TAC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting art of Indian influence in North America. Our focus is to support all types of artistic expression, including performing and fine arts inspired by the arts of India. We also sponsor art-related activities and cross-cultural events that expand the audience for Indian art. In addition to hosting artist interviews, producing art shows, and providing a creative outlet for performance artists, TAC sponsors various cultural events throughout the year: film screenings & lectures, cultural dance performances, book launches & readings, artist performances, Indian musical concerts.

To fulfill our mission of encouraging and showcasing Indian artists and performers, Tamarind Arts Council provides fellowships and scholarship opportunities. We have also established an outreach program to art schools in India, which aims to maintain and improve art universities, while creating a channel for creative connections between India and the U.S.

Tamarind Arts Council exemplifies how life can indeed revolve around the arts. Our mission is to inspire the work of contemporary Indian artists and performers and to facilitate public appreciation of these unique cultural art forms and create dialogs between artists in India and the United States through a number of cultural programs and exchanges.

Rsvp: rsvp@tamarindarts.org or call 212-200-8000 ext 105 For more information, please contact us or email admin@tamarindarts.org or visit our web site at www.tamarindarts.org. Hours of operation: Tuesday - Saturday 11 am to 6 pm. Closed on Sunday and Monday.

Tamarind Arts Council Presents "Gandhi - A Legacy"

Mahatma Gandhi has inspired many of the world’s greatest political leaders and freedom fighters, including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Abdul Gafar Khan who fought for equality following his dictums of ‘Ahimsa’ – non-violence and ‘Satyagraha’ - ‘clinging to truth’. His sterling words of pacifism ring clear today: "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for." Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth, or Satya, and his pleas for peace inspired future international icons like John Lennon.“Gandhi: A Legacy”, an exhibition featuring exceptional monochrome photographs, which have been kindly loaned from private collectors, will be on view at Tamarind Art Gallery,142 East 39th Street, New York. These rare photographs capture private glimpses into the man, the legend—India’s Father of the Nation—how he lived, thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony.

The exhibition opens to the public on the 10th of April and runs thru the 23rd of April 2008.

This is your chance to witness history.