KOCHI: As the curtain comes down on yet another year and we go about setting plans in place to welcome the coming year, most of us tend to take stock of our hits and misses, our highs and lows before we bid adieu and bravely go on to making the next list of New Year resolutions.
Shaking off the final weariness of a pandemic that shook us all to the ground, the contemporary art world too, witnessed some extraordinary, defining moments and had its share of rollercoaster rides. Jitha Karthikeyan gives us a peek into a few of them.
Fairs that fared well
One of India’s most sought-after art fairs, the India Art Fair, held in the capital city, Delhi, every year, was forced to take a hiatus for two years when the Coronavirus took over our lives. However, the post-pandemic edition of the fair, held in 2023, has been the largest thus far. The pandemic was a huge lesson in working collaboratively and equipped with these realisations, the India Art Fair set in place its most ambitious plans ever. The success of this year’s edition has further led to grand plans for the forthcoming edition in 2024, built on a commitment to creating a diverse and authentic ecosystem that facilitates the meeting of art with its patrons.
Meanwhile, India got another world-class cultural centre in March 2023, with the primary goal of not just preserving Indian art and culture but also, encouraging cultural exchanges with other countries. The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), opened with a group art exhibition featuring ten acclaimed Indian and international artists and has been hosting many more brilliant art shows ever since, in this first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary space.
The year gone by was certainly one of cascading challenges, turning points and lessons to be learnt. As we look forward to 2024, let us learn from history and allow new possibilities to take shape. May art light up the coming year!
Returning home
This year saw the appeal to return appropriated antiquities being considered seriously by several established institutions and museums, unlike the earlier attempts which were largely fruitless and wasted. As restitution efforts continued around the world, a lot of looted art, especially ancient sculptures, was also returned to India. Smuggled out of Indian shores over decades, either due to plunder by the colonial rulers or thanks to trafficking by smuggling kingpins like Subhash Kapoor, India has lost a lot of its heritage over the ages.
Priceless cultural artefacts have been traced back to world-renowned museums in several countries. The Indian government managed to bring back a stolen idol of Lord Hanuman from Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district in February. Later in March, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art returned 15 sculptures when it was proven that they were acquired from Subhash Kapoor, the notorious art dealer currently serving time in prison. By the end of the year, the government announced that 115 antiquities were traced and repatriated to the country in 2023.
These efforts paid off not just in our country, but all over the world. There were several instances of artworks that were looted by the Nazis during the Second World War being returned to the rightful owners. The year has increasingly seen a definite shift of tone with most countries making strong demands that their cultural property be given back.
Leading with success
The Indian art market has been not only favourable to the country’s early masters but also to those living and practising in contemporary times. When the Hunan Research Institute unveiled the India Art List 2023, British-Indian artist, Anish Kapoor, clinched the coveted top place with a mind-boggling turnover of Rs 91 crore. Following closely on his heels was Delhi-based artist, Arpita Singh, with a turnover of Rs 24.71 crore. Veteran artist, Jogen Chowdhury, was in the third spot with a turnover of Rs 19.76 crore. Surprisingly, the seventh on the list was a young artist, Raghav Babbar, who at the age of 26 years, boasted a turnover of Rs 11.77 crore, which was a reassuring fact that success was not only at the doorstep of the seasoned stalwarts but was opening its gates for promising talents too.
When the hammer came down on Indian art
World records were broken and milestones were set for Indian art this year, with Amrita Sher-Gil’s painting setting a record for the most expensive work of Indian art sold at an auction. One of India’s most famous artists from the pre-Independence era, Sher-Gil’s painting titled ‘The Story Teller’ fetched Rs 61.8 crore at an auction in New Delhi. At another auction held in Mumbai, late Indian artist SH Raza’s ‘Gestation’ sold for Rs 51.75 crore. The art market has seen a steady increase in new collectors, especially home-grown buyers enthusiastically investing in art ever since the pandemic and prices have been on a high, in recent years, for modern masters. Hopefully, this upward trend will weave its way into the coming year too!
Artificial art
The year 2023 has been witness to a new era of artistic expression — art generated by Artificial Intelligence. When Swedish artist, Annika Nordenskiold, won the first AI art award this year, it naturally ignited a fierce debate about what actually could be termed art or photography. AI uses text prompts to create photo-like images that may never exist in the physical realm. Questions of moral rights, authenticity, and the potential to create disinformation by using these tools to create art, remain unresolved. With no laws in place as yet, artists and photographers feel a sense of threat as to how far this new technology would impact our visual culture.