Indian art alert at Chelsea

Even though Indians have recently been blamed for causing the global food crisis by insular insinuations that they are eating too much (see Sepia Mutiny's Food Price Kerfuffle for an analysis debunking the claim), they have not yet been blamed for producing too much contemporary art. Judging by recent glut of Indian artworks doing the rounds in Chelsea, I must say that if the artworld prices suddenly changed tomorrow (for better or for worse), Indians might get blamed for that too.

I happened to visit a couple of galleries (Stux Gallery and the newly opened Lio Malca gallery) showing works by Asian (primarily Indian artists) and it was delightful.
Again, I am linking to the press releases on the gallery website rather than describe the art.

The Stux gallery had a showing of Contemporary artists from India, Pakistan and Middle East. The portrait by Reena Kallat (first image below) made from painted rubberstamps and the inkjet prints of Prema Murthy are the best of this show.

The collage artist Baba Anand was showing at Lio Malca (G’dS and Demig’ds). The art had a very kitschy feel (done with a mixture of collage and photographs) – I did not like it, but I can see people getting into this kind of tacky, glossy stuff. The artist seems to be alternately making fun of the Bollywood film machine and a motley assortment of Indian gods and goddesses.

Lalla Essaydi (Oil on canvas)

Negar Ahkami (Acrylic on panel)

Prema Murthy (Inkjet on paper)

Jaishri Abichandani (Acrylic on canvas)

Rajul Mehta (mixed media on canvas)

Images from Baba Anand exhibition at Lio Malca