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JAMAAT turns 11! Art by AJAY DE BHARTI PRAJAPATI AMRUTRAJ KOBAN GAUTAM MUKHERJII ANAND PANCHAL SAMIR MONDAL ARZAN KHAMBATTA SUJATA ACHREKAR A. V. ILANGO SUNIL PADWAL VIJAY BELGAVE A happy happy 2010. This will be a good year , I just know it. A year has gone by. And now a daecade is over as JAMAAT turns 11! Time does run when you are having fun. It has been a great experience . agrowung up in a way. When I started JAMAAT in 1999, the art world was in a wonderful place. With the growing economy, and mutiple income households the vast middle class had more disposable income and could spend more on finer things in life; like theatre, dance,music,literature and art..... yes original art . So huseholds that would normally have posters , prints and photos on their walls , were able to afford good art without busting their bank . This meant there was a growing democratisation of art , which was earlier the purview of a select , elite , few . This lead to a larger number of artists creating good work and being able to sustain a life dedicated to the arts . Being an artist became an accepted , viable career . Truly , a golden era for the arts . Where the number of artists and patrons ,were growing nicely About 5 - 7 years ago , art was termed an investment tool , an alternate financial asset . All kinds of people became art consultants\ advisors . Everyone's wife \ daughter \sister was an art dealer . Anyone with money and connections started an art fund . Every winter was an critic , curator , expert . And art fund moved from being an aesthetic creation to an '' investment ''. Price was the talking point . not teh thought and quality . The genuine art lovers were frightened away by the sky rocketing prices . And investment bankers and stock - brokers entered the fray . The huge demad for art and astronpmical prices was pumped up by galleries / dealers and auction houses . The art created sufffered hugely as it was churned out with the help of numerous ''assistants'' .Some sensitive thoughtful artists could not accept this ugliness and stopped painting . Most played the numbers game Then came the financial crash in the world . India was fairly peotected from this and the basic economy is strong here . But confidence i the art world crashed badly . All the hypedup contemporaries took a beating , theri prices crashing by as much damage to the art world , than one realises .Till March 09 , nobody even visited galleries . And where are these galleries and art funds today ? Gone in the gas Fortunately , the love of art was stronger than the fear in people,and we saw people coming in and buying again. JAMAAT had also built a reputation of showing good art without hyping up the prices . The well put togather Art Summit in Delhi brought back even more buyer confidence. I was also fortunate to have relaised my dream of hosting a series of shows and workshops of Master Indian folk artists doing Mithila ,Gond , Pattachitra and Kalamkari paintings. These were very well recevied by the people , the media and international museums . So many people came and thanked me for showing such high quality folk art which has never been shown in galleries before . Very soul-satisfying and re-assuring. Moving into a new decade , I will defenitely be showing both contemporary art and master Indian folk artists . The balance is very interesting . I am exited by the sculpture shows planned . And the curatorial work for the master folk arists .
Fortunately , the love of art was stronger than the fear in people , and we saw people coming in and buying again . JAMAAT had also built a reputation of showing good art without hyping up the prices . The well put together Art Summit in Delhi brought back even more buyer confidence . Gallery
hours 11 am to 7 pm [ except Sundays ] Pravina Mecklai |
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