New Delhi: In an effort to rekindle the good old days of serious art discussion, Gallery Ragini presents its unique initiative titled Arty Acoustic, a monthly conversation over coffee with a prominent Indian contemporary artist. While each of these monthly sessions would be held on the last Friday of each month, the first talk has been scheduled for August 21, 2009 at Choko La, Khan Market (5 pm onwards) to coincide with India Art Summit so that a wider audience can interact and reflect upon the participating artist’s life and art.
The first three artists selected for this year-long programme are Bose Krishnamachari, Manjunath Kamath and Gigi Scaria for the month of August, September and October respectively.
Says Nidhi Jain, Director, Gallery Ragini: “The programme has been conceptualized to provide a serious platform for contemporary artists to interact with an enthusiastic audience comprising of artists, art lovers, collectors, gallerists and critics. The artist would explain his/her work through a slide show leaving the floor open for questions by art critics and subsequently by the audience. Ranging from being provocative to inquisitive, the question and answer session is sure to bring out the best in the artist.”
The first talk on August 21 would witness acclaimed artist Bose Krishnamachari in conversation with art curator and critic Johny M.L. The discussion would have varied nuances relating to creating art, hosting exhibitions, curatorial and museum practices in India and elsewhere. Bose Krishnamachari would also be presenting a slide show of his works to make the conversation more realistic, informative and fruitful. The presentation will include examples from his early works, his “Ghost - Stretched Bodies” series, installations, designs and all major works of art he has done so far. Also, a large 6ft x 3ft work titled Ghost would be displayed during the talk.
Says artist Bose Krishnamachari: “Unlike in the past, people are more aware of the investment possibilities in art. Though art always had a business aspect to it, in India this awareness has come very late. Now art is not just seen in terms of its aesthetical value but also its monetary value. Unfortunately, people forget that it is the aesthetic value or the historical value of a work of art that generates the monetary value to it. I find that this aspect is missing in our conversations about art.”
He further adds: “Conversation over coffee with an artist is an interesting idea with its main aim being to bridge this gap between the aesthetic and monetary value through an involved dialogue between the artist, critic and the audience. It gives the artist an opportunity to speak about his work in retrospect while being able to listen to first-hand audience comments.”
Profile: Bose Krishnamachari
Born in Kerala in 1963, Bose Krishnamachari had his informal art training at the Kerala Kalapeethom and before he joined Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai for graduate studies in Fine Arts. A recipient of Kerala Lalit Kala Akademy Award for painting, he has also been supported by Charles Wallace (India) Trust Scholarship for his Post Graduation in Fine Arts from the illustrious Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Bose Krishnamachari came back to India after his studies in London. His annual display had already been noticed by the British artists and scholars and Bose gathered curatorial ideas while he was in his foreign sojourn. London stint was just a beginning of his innumerable travels and researches.
Bose’s solo shows are important for their self curatorial interventions and ideas. Most of his solos are large in scale. ‘Amuseum’, ‘Decurating’, ‘Ghost Trans-memoire’, ‘Ghost’, ‘LaVA’, to name a few, are his important solo exhibitions.
Bose Krishnamachari became an internationally acclaimed curator when he became the India Section curator of ARCO, 09, Madrid, Spain. He also guest curated ‘Indian Highway’, one of the path-breaking shows on Indian contemporary art on an international platform. The show started early this year in Serpentine Gallery, London and currently it is traveling to different cities in Europe.
Known as a great talent scout, Bose always spots interesting artists from all over India. He diligently visits studios of young artists and encourages them in several ways. Bose started his curatorial venture in mid 90s with ‘Bombay X 17’, then the well known ‘Bombay Boys’. Bombay Boys later became a stand-in-name for all the successful and young contemporaries from the city of Mumbai. ‘Double-Enders’, ‘KAAM’, ‘SPY’, ‘Soft Spoken’, ‘AFFAIRS’, to name a few, are his important curated shows.
Bose is currently working towards establishing a gallery named ‘BMB’ in Mumbai. This gallery with state of the art facilities would play a very important role in bringing international art onto Indian shores. Bose Krishnamachari has a huge dream - the dream of setting of an international art museum in India. He has already started working on this and in a few years’ time, a world class museum will be set up in Kerala.
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