Sunday, June 12, 2011

Art Bengaluru 2011: Article by Jayanthi Madhukar in Bangalore Mirror

Wanna have a dekko at Arakkal’s first car?

Art Bengaluru features a series of events including a childrens’ art contest, an art workshop, speaker sessions, a film screening and culminates with an art and luxury auction

Jayanthi Madhukar

Posted On Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 06:50:36 PM

Art Bengaluru 2011 is back with a bang. Organised jointly by Art Chutney, The Collection at UB City and Sublime Galleria, this festival celebrating contemporary art is on its second year and promises to offer plenty of new features to art connoisseurs and buyers as compared to the 2010 edition. “Art Bengaluru has a three fold mission; one, to reach out to a wider range of people, two, to have an auction that will connect art, luxury and charity and to educate people about art,” says Raj Bagaria of Art Chutney. The highlight of the festival is that there are several outside galleries participating in the festival right from Kanpur, Gurgaon to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.
Some standouts of the festival
The inauguration on June 17 will see the unveiling of Yusuf Arakkal’s art installation-cum-sculpture which happens to be his first car, a 1956 Millicento that had been retired after years of service. According to the artist, “Most of the time the car was in the garage. It began showing its age. And, soon talk of disposing it off began to be heard at home. It was at this that I decided to give it — in a writer’s word — a new avatar. Why not transform it into a work of art?”

Apart from the 17 participating galleries, there are eminent artists and designers who will be involved with the festival. Artists Arpana Caur and Krishna Mehta will talk of art as practiced by them. These speaker sessions promise to delight and educate art lovers.

According to Bagaria, it is the auction that is easily the most awaited event with almost 60 to 70 lots under the hammer. Conducted by noted auctioneer Angira Ariya, the proceeds from the auction is earmarked for the HCG Foundation that is dedicated to providing free cancer treatment to poor patients. Several prominent art enthusiasts supporting the cause this year includes artists Murali Cheeroth and Yusuf Arakkal, gallerists Renu George, Manu Dosaj and Raja Kamal and art consultant Franck Barthelemy.

The week-long art festival this year will feature an art exhibition and a series of events including a childrens’ art contest, an art workshop and film screening by Johnny ML, art critic and filmmaker.

This year, Art Bengaluru will adopt QR technology to help network with a wider section of art enthusiasts. With this technology guests will be able to connect with the festival website, access programme schedules, after-event party information, and the auction details — all from their mobile. The QR codes will be placed strategically throughout the festival zone and interconnected with social media sites.
Art Bengaluru will be at the UB City from June 17 to 25

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Art Bengaluru 2011: Event Schedule

Friday 17th June
Inauguration of Art Bengaluru @ 19.30
Unveilling of Yussuf Arakkal's car Installation @ 19.45
Cocktail from 20.00 onwards

Saturday 18th June
Speaker's session : Krishna Metha, artist and designer at Good Earth, an introduction talk about his work @ 18.30

Sunday 19th June
Children Art Competition from 14.30 to 15.30

Monday 20th June
Movie screening : Contemporary Videos by JohnyML followed by a discussion @ 16.00

Tuesday 21st June
Tainted glass making workshop from 16.00 to 19.00
Speaker's session : John Debraj and the 10 commandments of Art @ 18.30

Wednesday 22nd June
Tainted glass making workshop from 16.00 to 19.00

Thursday 23rd June
Speaker's session : Arpana Caur, an introduction to her art practice @ 18.30

Friday 24th June
Auction preview from 11.00 at the ground floor

Saturday 25th June
Art & Luxury Charity Auction cocktail @ 19.00
Auction to support the HCG Foundation @ 20.00
After auction dinner @ 21.30

Sunday 26th June
No activity

Art Bengaluru 2011

Friday, June 3, 2011

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Article by Jayanthi Madhukar in Bangalore Mirror

Perfect value

When its art for investment Bangaloreans make for hard-nosed buyers. This latest showing by artchutney.com taps right into that sensibility

Jayanthi Madhukar


Posted On Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 06:50:33 PM

The good thing about online galleries is that they can hold many more shows at various locations across the country. Dubbing these shows as the “moving shows”, Shiraz Vakharia, partner of artchutney.com, an online gallery, talks of minimal overheads in the absence of a brick and mortar establishment and the various tie-ups with establishments that enable them to put up the shows.

The gallery has come up with an art show titled 50.25.10 which is not an implausible date on the calendar but a grouping of 50 works from 25 artists across 10 states. According to Shiraz, the stress of this exhibition is on the quality of works, some done by master artists. “There are works by senior artists like Delhi-based A K Patnaik and Bangalore-based C F John who have their own fan following. Also featured are artists like H R Das and Amol Pawar whose works from the bull series has been displayed,” says Shiraz.

According to her, participating artists like Somu Desai from Gujarat and Vikash are showing for the first time in the city. The works have been sourced from the artists and together, they present an extensive array of media; from oil on canvas to water colours on paper to charcoal drawings. 50.25.10 also has some limited number of sculptures in bronze created by Bangalore-based sculptor Dimpy Menon.

“The idea is to present a rich offering for art lovers and investors,” says Shiraz. With a fuss free online gallery, she finds queries coming in from across the world. “The interest in art is there but Bangalore is not known for impulsive buys. Here, people look at ‘value for money’ buys. So, by giving some attractive buying options we hope to lure some truly interested buyers,” she adds.

Buyers’ gallery
The art show is on at the Art Corridor in hotel Taj West End, “In March 2007, both the Art Corridor and artchutney.com were simultaneously launched. Since then, we have done several shows there,” informs Shiraz.

Raj Bagaria, who is the founder of artchutney.com for the event, sums up the ideology of the show, “We take art to public spaces. Bangalore has some amazing public spaces. The real USP of this show is that it encompasses quality works from all corners of India and they come with different price tags. We believe in curating shows around the space keeping in mind the profile of people coming to space. Our next show will move to a restaurant and we shall have works that will be better suited for impulse buys by diners. That is the basic ideology of artchutney.com. Instead of just showcasing certain artists we would rather make the show more proactive.”

50.25.10 at the Art Corridor, Taj West End, from June 4 to 10.