10 asian art contemporary art
Broken White II (22, 24 and 25 May, 2011) by Nikhil Chopra. Performance at Centre Pompidou. Courtesy Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano
Reveal The Secrets That You Seek (2011) by Bharti Kher, mirrors and wood and plaster, bindis, variable dimensions. Courtesty of the artist with help of Galerie Perrotin, Paris
Hanuman (2010) by Pierre & Gilles, model Thomas Tabti, painted photograph, 200 x 145.5 cm. Collection of the artists © Courtesy Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris © Adagp, Paris 2011.
A Marriage of Convenience By Raj Punj
PROPOSING AN exhibition of cultural collaboration between two diverse countries, the new Pompidou exhibition of Indian and French contemporary artists appears to be no more than a well-intentioned ‘marriage of convenience’ with the established contemporary French art scene being sized up against the ‘emerging’ Indian art scene. In his opening address, the Pompidou’s Alain Seban declares a seemingly tenuous link between the French artists and their subject matter, ‘for most of the French artists invited to participate in this exhibition, their involvement in the project was what took them to India for the first time ...’. Seban hoped that the French contributions to the Pompidou exhibition might appear less considered and prove more impulsive responses to the curatorial remit. Unfortunately, such well-intentioned thoughts appear somewhat choreographed, engineered even, as the visitor’s (the Indians) play the home side (the French) at their own game and the art divides into cliques: two cultures attempting to cosy up to one another. The 1989 Pompidou exhibition, Les Magiciens de la Terre, was criticised outside of France for its exotic undertones and ill-considered display. Choosing 50 artists from the ‘centre’ of the world and 50 from the ‘margins’. In reference to this, Martin was accused of fashioning art history to fit a radical new formula. The rationale for Parisjune 2011
You Too Can Touch the Moon (2006) by Tejal Shah, from the series Hijra Fantasy, numbered photograph on archive paper, 147 x 96,5 cm © Courtesy of the artist and Project 88, Bombay
Delhi-Bombay in having many more Indians artists than French exhibiting might be considered a remedy for previous idiosyncrasies, but it still holds that this show, like its cantankerous predecessor, does little more than facilitate contrived cultural affiliations between two countries. It might be argued that artists Jitish Kallat, Bharti Kher and Orlan deserve a more considered curatorial approach that avoids these ill-conceived group shows that draw upon ‘the usual suspects’ in order to facilitate ‘cultural dialogues’. Historically, temporary alliances did exist between the French and the Indians that date back to the early 17th century (more often than not formed against the British in India) and in modern times France’s former President, Jacques Chirac, described a desire for an ‘ambitious relationship’ between their two countries, saluting India as ‘a nation which has affirmed its personality on the world stage’. Yet such historical substance tempers this show, as it actually claims to be a show based on a British-American style ‘special relationship’. Without these ties that bind the cultural associations that are recalled by the writer and art historian Deepak Ananth in the introductory literature, this proves enchanting but unconvincing. Ananth refers to the independent forays to the Indian sub-continent by French and European profiteers like film-maker Jean Renoir for his first colour film, The River (1951) and playwright and poet Marguerite Duras’ 1975 novel that inspired the film India Song and
Charu (2004) by Atul Dodiya, from the series Saptapadi: Scenes from Marriage (Regardless), 2004-2006, varnish on plywood, 183 x 122 cm. Collection of the artist © Prakash Rao
contemporary art asian art 11 House of Love (2010) by Dayanita Singh, collection of 42 colour and black and white photographs, each 54 x 54 cm. Ensemble de 42 photographies en couleur et noir et blanc 54 x 54 cm © Courtesy of the artist, Nature Morte, New Delhi and Frith Street Gallery, London
THROCKMORTON FINE ART
Weituo, Chief General of the Southern Guardian King, Guardian of the Temple and attendant to Guanyin, Ming Dynasty. 1368-1644. Polychrome Wood. H: 63 in. 145 EAsT 57TH sTREET, 3Rd FlOOR, NEw YORK, NY 10022 Tel: 212.223.1059 Fax: 212.223.1937 www.throckmorton-nyc.com info@throckmorton-nyc.com
Beyond Gods (2011) by Riyas Komu, recycled wood, iron and bronze, 188 x 993 x 96 cm. Collection of the artist.
P A R I S obviously the work of the Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier who was commissioned, in the early 1950s, to design the ‘city of the future’ in Chandigarh. Given the significance of what is being attempted here, it could be argued that this exhibition claims to do too much, as it appears to suggest an embryonic relationship between India and France. If only that were the case, as the majority of the Indian artists included appear uninfluenced by the specifics of ‘new dialogues’, whilst their French counter-parts have had to fashion their work to accommodate the Pompidou’s curatorial blue-print. Such an ambitious exhibition, first considered in 2007, might have been better served by introducing collaborative working relationships between the invited artists that would have actually addressed cultural differences and encouraged works of some substance. The Pompidou’s Eurocentric vision is further underlined by the exhibition title ‘Paris-Delhi-Bombay’, and not ‘Paris-Delhi-Mumbai’, ‘Bombay’ has long been considered a corrupted English version of ‘Mumbai’ and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule. In the exhibition, Mumbai’s Riyas Komu attempts to deal with the crosscultural motives well by introducing football as his visual allegory for examining the underprivileged classes in France and India in Beyond Gods (2011). Yet unlike Komu’s noble attempt at acknowledging something of his French setting for ‘Paris-Delhi-
Bombay’, one of Delhi-based Bharti Kher’s work Untitled (2011), is clearly a reworking of a 2010 work, first shown at the Hauser & Wirth gallery. Mumbai’s Nikhil Chopra is suited to relocating regularly and created performative works that respond very directly to the circumstances of Paris and the Pompidou. New Delhi’s collaborative duo Thukral and Tagra’s work, Kingdom Come I (couple) (2011), is exclusively Indian, a canvas of lovers from the temples of Khajuraho that are relocated to a contemporary setting in an attempt to use the sexual liberalism of the past to address the social chastity of the present. More engaging, Algerian-born artist Kader Attia depicts the hijras, or the third sex in India, that has acquired auspicious associations to ceremonious events. French artist Orlan’s Hybridisation of the French and Indian flags, 2011 is clumsy and Gyan Panchal’s stiff khaki saris is a reflection of his interests in the formal aspects of materialism and a cultural taste for abstraction while further into the show Philippe Ramette succeeds in addressing the histrionics of the Indian sub-continent by paying homage to the statuesque figures of Nehru and Gandhi that are cast in bronze and immortalisd into history. The Pompidou can only hope for a similar degree of recognition after this show. Until 19 September, Paris-Delhi-Bombay, at the Centre Pompidou, Place Georges Pompidou, Paris 75004, www.centrepompidou.fr. Closed Tuesdays. Catalogue available, edited by Sophie Duplaix and Fabrice Bousteau, price €49.90.
Exhibiting at the 7th «Brussels Oriental Art Fair» 8 - 12 June, 2011 5, Place du Grand Sablon, 1000 Brussels
Stupa Schist, Gandharan art, 2nd - 3rd century, H: 79 cm
w w w. g a l e r i e h i o c o . c o m Christophe Hioco Gallery - Paris - By appointment Tel: +33 (0)1 5330 0965 / Fax: +33 (0)1 7270 3328 info@galeriehioco.com Member of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires (France)
June 2011