Sharan Apparao, founder, Apparao Galleries, tells Gargi Gupta that 25 years is just one milestone.
Wearing a flowing red kurta that she designed out of Tibetan prayer flags, sporting multi-coloured glares and carrying a colourful bag. Sharan Apparao is a flamboyant presence as she walks into Delhi’s Shridharani Gallery where Apparao Galleries is hosting an exhibition of Sakti Burman serigraphs. “The Delhi traffic...” she rails by way of apology at the delay, before settling down in a transparent yellow Philippe Starck Louis ghost chair for the interview. “I love colours, I think in colour,” Apparao explains, “and I thought it’d go very well with Sakti-da’s bright canvases.”
So which city does she prefer? Chennai, where she is diva of the art scene, her Apparao Galleries the leading purveyor of contemporary Indian art? Or Delhi, which she acknowledges to have the most “happening” art scene in the country, and where she maintains a toe-hold with exhibitions through the winter at the Triveni Garden Theatre? Given the brand equity that Apparao Galleries has gathered over the 25 years it's been in existence, hasn’t she ever thought of opening a gallery here? “I have been often tempted,” she says wistfully. “But no, given everything I'm happy to have exhibitions here for six months and then run away to Chennai. Anyway, I come often enough and even have a house here.”
Her sojourn this time is not just for the Burman exhibition, Apparao is also launching an arts education outreach — a series of lectures on classical and modern Indian art delivered by authorities in the field such as Ashrafi Bhagat, head of the fine arts department at Chennai’s Stella Maris College, Apparao's alma mater; photographer Ram Rahman; culture critic Sadanand Menon; and Apparao herself. These will be delivered in Chennai and video-streamed live to Delhi. “It’s critical,” says Apparao, “that we use this upswell in the popularity of art to build a solid base of knowledge, awareness, appreciation.” And buying too? “That comes last — you don’t have to own everything,” she says dismissively.
Given her enthusiasm, Apparao is thus extremely disappointed at the “dull” response to the first lectures held in early March. “I can't get people to come and listen,” she rues. “We just don't have people interested in the intellectual content of art. Perhaps it's a reflection of our times.”
It may be, but the times have also changed a lot since that autumn in 1984 when Apparao, then an enthusiastic 22 year-old with a BA in art history but no background in business or friends in the arts world, decided to open “The Gallery”, as it was called at first. “I had no idea...besides, art was not a business then. One of the first shows I did was on horses,” she still laughs at the commonplace nature of the concept. That was also her first contact with M F Husain, who contributed a work and with whom she’s done a number of shows since. “Then I decided that I wanted to do an exhibition on women artists and went all the way to Gorakhpur to see if I could persuade Amrita Sher-Gil’s husband to give me some of her works.”
That she’s come a long way is an understatement, building Apparao into the name it is in the contemporary art scene today, associated with senior ‘modern’ artists such as Burman, Husain, S H Raza and Jogen Choudhury, as also a few young artists she has helped grow into their now distinctive place among the contemporaries — Farhan Mujib, Alexis Kersey, George K. Apparao today is known for what may be called “expat art” — art by foreigners such as Andree Pouliot, Werner Dornik, Olivia Fraser, and many others who’ve lived in India for a long time and been influenced by its artistic traditions.
“Sharan has an instinctive sense of good art, of what people will like and the ability to take risks,” says Mujib, whom she decided to exhibit after one look at his works at Shabana Azmi's home, not bothered by the fact that Mujib’s paper-collage work was rather novel in the Indian context. The gallery has also in recent years diversified into art services and investments, auctions (it’s been moribund for the past three years, but Apparao promises to start it once market conditions improve), and now art education as well.
But there’s something else that’s brewing in Apparao’s mind — an institution to address the changing face of creativity, is all she’ll reveal about this new venture for now. It’s something she wants to do to mark 25 years of Apparao Galleries, as a way to “give back” to the field that’s given her such a lot. The plan is still taking shape, she protests, refusing to divulge much, but pressed, elaborates — “Most artists reach a kind of plateau by the time they are 50-60 years old. They can’t change because they have reached a comfort zone. What happens if they want to renew their creativity? Or if they have a creative idea, how do they translate it? This could happen even with young artists, so where do they go? My institution will be a platform for out-of-the-box thinking.”
The exact form of her next venture may be unclear, but what isn’t is Apparao’s fascination with the Dalai Lama, and her desire to know and hear him. Not that she’s turning Buddhist, but she finds the Tibetan spiritual leader “a great speaker”, who exudes a compassion and a contentment that she would like to imbibe. Does she, having crossed the quarter-century milestone with Apparao Galleries, feel a need for both?
