In April 2014, Jonathan Smart took an exhibition to the Chatterjee & Lal gallery in Mumbai, India. The works, by a selection of his gallery artists, gave the local audience a snapshot of contemporary art from New Zealand. To complete the exchange, Chatterjee & Lal is currently presenting an exhibition of works by eight of its artists here at Jonathan Smart Gallery in Christchurch.
The Indian contemporary art scene in 2015, is marked by difference. Artists involved in the scene are based around the world, not just in South Asia. They are working in a range of media. Their works are being showing in venues that range from the smallest of galleries in rural India to the largest of international Biennales and art fairs. Concerns range from the highly political to an exclusive interest in colour and form.
Since 2004 Chatterjee & Lal has been exhibiting amidst a scene defined by a cacophony of artistic voices. There are a few constants that have emerged in their programing and which form some sort of credo: humour, the body, moving image, installation & drawing.
The artists included in the present exhibition are some of the most interesting to have emerged from the Indian contemporary scene over the past decade. The mastermind behind the exhibition is Sanjay Theodore, an artist whose practice manages to elude easy categorisation and who has worked in New Zealand, America and India over a career that span nearly two decades. With his site-specific installation functioning as an anchor to the show, other exhibits include video works by Bangalore-based Kiran Subbaiah and UK born Hetain Patel, photography by well-known author Rana Dasgupta and the young emerging artist, Sahej Rahal, along with works on paper by Minam Apang and Gagan Singh.
The hope of both galleries is that the two exhibitions which constitute the exchange, pique the interest of viewers in both New Zealand and India. Regardless of the very profound differences between the works in the two shows (and even within each of the shows themselves), it is hoped that there is an appreciation of the commitment of each artist to his or her own practice, and of the manner in which each can speak to the global audience without losing any integrity and relevance to the local context from which the work emerged
Press release courtesy Jonathan Smart Gallery.