Medha Kapur shares a note on the five Indian artists currently featured at Wanås Konst.

Knislinge, Sweden: Wanås Konst is run by the Wanås Foundation, a non-profit art foundation located on an estate consisting of a medieval castle, an organic farm, an art gallery and a sculpture park, with a collection containing 50 permanent art works. Since 1987, Wanås has presented contemporary international art with a focus on sculpture and site-specific installations.  It represents a combination of art, nature and history. Wanås is located in Sweden, and every year world-renowned artists are invited to produce different artworks for the estate.

This summer, from 20 May till 28 October, the Indian artist Srinivasa Prasad from Bangalore is being represented with one of his pieces featured in an exhibition on the Wanås Konst grounds. Using natural materials such as mud, hay, water, grains, and cow dung, Prasad incorporates the essence of performance art in his works and emphasizes the interaction between the audience and the work.  Here, his work entails a a 40-metre long coiled stretch of willows planted on the lawns of Wanås, that would measure 500 metres if it were straight. The saplings are planted in the form of a labyrinth forming the artist’s signature in Kannada. This work has been co-commissioned by the Creative India Foundation.  Founded in 2010, the Foundation has been instrumental in creating opportunities for Indian sculptors to explore and push their creative horizons internationally through various platforms such as residency programs and production grants for exhibitions, fairs, and sculpture festivals.

“In and Out”, 2012, Srinivasa Prasad
Willow, grass, wood chips
The Wanås Foundation, Sweden
Co-commissioned by Creative India Foundation
Photo: Wanås Konst

This season, Wanås Konst has also opened an entirely new room dedicated to film and video art. In the film program, “But a pit stop on a long journey“, the Indian artists Neha Choksi, Rohini Devasher, Shilpa Gupta and Asim Waqif present viewers with loaded and imaginary landscapes. Go through ARTINFO’s slideshow of stills from the featured films to learn more about the artists and their works screened at Wanås Konst. 

Video still from “Tarq”, Asim Waqif, 2011
From Wanås Konst’s film program “But a pit stop on a long journey”
The Wanås Foundation, Sweden, 2012
Photo: Courtesy the artist.

Video still from “The Weather Inside Me (Bombay Sunset)”, Neha Choski, 2007-2010
From Wanås Konst’s film program “But a pit stop on a long journey”
The Wanås Foundation, Sweden, 2012
Photo: Courtesy the artist.

Video still from “Arboreal” Rohini Devasher, 2011
From Wanås Konst’s film program “But a pit stop on a long journey”
The Wanås Foundation, Sweden, 2012
Photo: Courtesy the artist.

Video still from “Untitled” Shilpa Gupta, 2012
From Wanås Konst’s film program “But a pit stop on a long journey”
The Wanås Foundation, Sweden, 2012
Photo: Courtesy the artist.

Shivajirao Gaekwar shares some highlights from Saffronart’s latest 24-hour auction catalogue

Mumbai:  For collectors of fine art photography, limited edition prints and sculpture, Saffronart’s Absolute Auction of Editions, which will be held online on July 25-26, 2012, offers a great opportunity to acquire works by artists like V.S. Gaitonde, Raghu Rai, Chintamoni Kar, Himmat Shah, Ram Rahman, Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya, Anita Dube and Shilpa Gupta among others. The sale features 110 works, all offered with no reserve prices and online bidding starting as low as $100 or Rs 5400 on each lot! For beginners, then, this is a great opportunity to start, or augment their art collection. Here are some highlights from the auction:

Lot #8 Raghu Rai, Nariman Point, Mumbai, 2006, Pigment ink on textured fine art archival paper
$2,225 – 3,335
Rs 1,20,000 – 1,80,000

Lot #1 V.S. Gaitonde, Untitled, Lithograph on paper
$2,780 – 3,705
Rs 1,50,000 – 2,00,000

Lot #21 Jitish Kallat, Onomatopoeia (The Scar Park), 2005,
Digital prints on Hahnemuhle fine art bright white archival paper
$37,040 – 55,560
Rs 20,00,000 – 30,00,000

Lot #39 Ram Rahman, Folk Singer, Delhi, 1987
Digital Print on Harman FB A1 Archival Paper
$1,670 – 2,225
Rs 90,000 – 1,20,000

Browse the catalogue here.

Saffronart’s Sanjana Gupta on Baptist Coelho’s residency at the Centre International d’Accueil et d’Echanges des Récollets, Paris

Baptist Coelho’s work in Paris

Paris: Since 2003, the Centre International d’Accueil et d’Echanges des Récollets in Paris has been organizing an annual residency program that hosts artists and writers from around the world in the historic Récollets Convent in the center of the city. So far, this residency has offered 180 artists from more than 80 countries the opportunity to develop and realize a specific project in Paris over three months.

These projects are required to be developed in Paris, and must also reflect Paris’s cultural environment. The residency program hosts select artists with specific profiles under three disciplines: the visual arts, the performing arts, and literature. Artists and writers who are professionally established in these three disciplines are selected by a consultative committee.

Among the eight visual arts artists selected for the 2012 residency, is Baptist Coelho, an artist from India, who will be living and working in Paris between July and September this year. Born in 1977, Coelho graduated in graphic design from the L.S. Raheja School of Art, Mumbai, in 1997. He then moved on to the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design in the United Kingdom, where he received his Master’s degree in visual communication. His work showcases collaborated personal research from various cultures, geographies and histories, in a wide variety of media such as installation, video, sound, photography and performance.

The idea of having such a residency program was to encourage international talent to engage with the rich culture of Paris. I think residencies like this provide a great opportunity not only for the artists who are able to reflect their creativity in a new, fertile environment, but also for the healthy evolution of the art scene in Paris.

Click here for more information.