In its element

With several art exhibitions going overseas, genuinely good shows deserve special attention: such as this one by Art Alive.

Put it down to the love of art, or the love of lucre. Either way, let's hope that figuring out Indian art gets increasing command of quality time, even as prices serve to lure public attention.

There are good signs and bad. Last week in London, on Friday the second of June, Indian art aficionados had a sneak peak at the current works of six contemporary Indian artists of high signature value. And the buzz is that even before the preview was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, many of the works sported the small red dot "" "sold".

The good sign, though, is that it's a genuine exhibition "" in contrast to the dozens of shows that threaten to turn Indian art into a veritable village fair, with stuff tumbling out of canvas-crammed suitcases in search of quick money (the bad signs).

Apart from the bad name carpet baggers could give to Indian art, gallerist Sunaina Anand of Delhi's Art Alive gallery need not worry.

She and her associate Sangeeta Ahuja of S A Fine Arts in London have a sense of true accomplishment, having managed to bring together six important Indian contemporary artists for a show at The Air Gallery in London (11-17 June 2006). Each artist is displaying between 2-6 new works, based on a common theme tiltled "Tatva - The Elements".

"It's an endeavour to show a larger representation of Indian contemporary art," says Anand, "and collaborating with local galleries makes it more professional."

The show has Anjolie Ela Menon's lone figures of oil on masonite, and oil wash on acid proof paper. It has Aparna Caur's spiritual paintings of garments on bodies.

Also Jogen Chowdhury's erotic dry pastels on paper, in steep contrast to Paresh Maity's oils of gold and yellows of masked images. As also Prabhakar Kolte's abstract works of his signature dripping paint look, and Yusuf Arrakal's lonely and melancholic figures set against the play of light.

As the show's curator, Anand conscientiously chose the six artists, as each of their signature lines would complement a similar thought "" Indian philosophy and elements, hence Tatva.

Also, the six artists come from different parts of India, so the exhibition would be able to display "a thematic and yet larger representation of Indian art from large regions and different schools" in Anand's words.

As a lot of the paintings have already been picked up at Art Alive's website, their prices are not likely to be jacked up specially for the show. That places the collection in a current value range of £4,000-18,750 (Rs 3.2-15 lakh). There's no saying just yet what prices they actually fetch, though.