Ipshita Sen of Saffronart shares a note on Raqib Shaw’s current exhibition at Pace Gallery.
New York: Raqib Shaw once again makes his mark in the New York public art scene. With his last show in 2008 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this year Pace Gallery holds a three-venue exhibition of the artist.
The exhibition titled ‘Paradise Lost’ is based on the theme of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. His works are a blend of Indian mythological figures, half man half beast, warring through renaissance inspired landscapes. They are an interesting juxtaposition between Indian miniatures and classical Western architecture. This series of work portrays the triumph of the East over the West –illustrated through the shattered monuments depicted in the works.
His artistic oeuvre is unique and distinctive. Sir Norman Rosenthal says that “Shaw creates truly modern transformations of lost worlds of culture that arise from the exotic gardens of Kashmir to the memories that lie ‘imprisoned’ in the great museums of the Western World.”
New York: In continuation of last year’s list of 50 collectible artists by ART+AUCTION, this year, the list focuses on artists under the age of 50.
The selected artists have global backgrounds, and are well known in the international art circle for their solo exhibitions and awards. The list encompasses artists such as Ernesto Neto from Brazil, Raqib Shaw, an Indian artist based in London, and others from Southeast Asia such as Chiharu Shiota and Eko Nugroho.
The shortlisted artists represent a versatile spread of techniques, mediums and styles. When it boiled down to the reason for choosing these artists, according to the editors, “…two reasons for this emerged. First, there is a genuine resurgence of non-representational painting as artists under 50 re-examine that key modernist pursuit. Second, collectors perennially favor painting because it is understandable within an established tradition and is comparably easy to display and conserve.”
According to the article, the other artists to take note of are Imran Qureshi, Ali Kazma, Tala Madani, and Idris Khan.
To read the full ART+AUCTION articles see Part 1 and Part 2.
New York:Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague is currently exhibiting a selection of Raqib Shaw’s recent works.
His array of works ranges from intricate bejewelled paintings on canvas to painted bronzes. Different kinds of medium and diverse themes intermingle together to create multi-layered works. These merge together traditional sensibility through their medium and modernity through their composition and theme.
Born in Calcutta, the London based artist’s work is a convergence between these worlds.
Raqib Shaw creates a surreal juxtaposition of mythical forms against metaphysical spaces set in a dreamy atmosphere. The characters populating his works are half-human, half-animal and they live only according to their instinct. The background of his paintings, contrasts this surreal atmosphere showing nuances of Oriental motifs as well as Greco-Roman thematic influences.
Manjari Sihare on the inaugural Frieze Art Fair in New York
New York: May saw New York host its first edition of the Frieze Art Fair, where an eclectic selection of 180 galleries from around 30 countries represented what is considered the best of the global contemporary art scene. With the London edition of this fair always held in the city’s famous Regent’s Park, one expected New York to host its version in the bustling Chelsea district or Central Park; instead the Fair was held in the obscure expanse of Randall’s Island Park, an off-shoot island separating the East and Harlem rivers, accessible to visitors by ferry. We found the layout of the Fair to be refreshing compared to the city’s annual Armory Show, which is held in the Piers and has everyone cramming for space. The fair’s signature tent was designed like a stretch limo overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
Like its London counterpart, this fair was touted as highly international, but turned out to be mostly European and American with only a handful of Asian galleries and an almost negligible African and Middle Eastern component. The “Frames” section showcased solo shows of artists represented by galleries in inception from 2001 onwards, providing a kind of edginess.
Here is a peak into the South Asian component of the Fair!
For this inaugural fair, Frieze commissioned select artists to create large-scale outdoor installations themed around the unusual location of the Randall’s Island. Each of these works responded to the island in one way or the other. Among key pieces were Kolkata based artist Rathin Barman’s Untitled work based on an aerial image of Randall’s Island and the surrounding mainland of New York City available on Google Maps. We spoke to Prateek Raja of Experimenter Galleryabout this work and the gallery’s booth, the only Indian gallery to showcase at the fair. The Experimenter booth also scored a congratulatory mention in NY Times critic Holland Cotter’s previewof the fair. Barman was in the company of several greats in the Sculpture Park including Louise Bourgeois, Tomas Saraceno and Subodh Gupta. His installation has been supported by the Creative India Foundation.
SAN FRANCISCO: The Asian Art Museum breaks new ground with its first large scale exhibition juxtaposing ancient and contemporary Asian art -‘Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past’. With a total of 140 artworks on display the exhibition covers a vast array of materials, genres and media including masks, textiles, sculptures, ceramics, film and video art, photography, and, of course, painting.The exhibition offers a unique insight into Asian cosmology, mythology and spiritual belief systems. It includes 90 objects from the museum’s collections, some dating back 2,000 years and works by 31 contemporary artists including, Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japan/USA) Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Adeela Suleman (Pakistan), Jagannath Panda (India), N.S. Harsha (India), Raqib Shaw (India/UK), and Choi Jeong Hwa (Korea).
