We spent a few hours at the India Art Fair yesterday. And it was wonderful. They had 3 halls, choc-a-bloc with contemporary art and we dearly wished we had more time to spend there. As it is we spent about 4 hours, which was too little. S and I split up for the most part. We took turns to watch the kids, the parent without the kids could walk around at their own pace while the one with the kids meandered around, (trying to) answer Ads' 101 questions on each exhibit. We introduced him to MF Husain, Picasso, Dali for the first time. I was thrilled to see an entire gallery devoted to Damien Hirst. I saw my first Henry Moore. S decided that Ravinder Reddy was his new favourite, while I plumped for Vivek Vilasini and Seema Kohli.
A lovely, lovely few hours of feasting for the eyes. Some of the stuff was plain weird though. Sorry, I may be an art philistine, but I didn't 'get' Subodh Gupta at all.
Leaving you with some pictures. Speaking of art, how wonderful is this?? Awesome, right?? I can't wait to go for one of these workshops/tours.
Next stop, Surajkund crafts mela, Feb 1-15. Already salivating :)
Ravinder Reddy.
Willie Bester (south africa) - Trojan Horse.
A thousand desires - Ravikumar Kashi.
Picasso.
Manjit Bawa.
I really like Tapas Basu.
Kids' favourite - the Infinite Depth series.
One of the Subodh Guptas.
Another one - titled - sarees, resin and wooden chairs.
Butterflies - Damien Hirst.
This one took me aback. Again a Damien Hirst.
Paresh Maity.
Another Ravinder Reddy.
The Last supper - Vivek Vilasini.
Another Michelangelo interpretation by Vilasini.
Seema Kohli.
Wow how interesting it all looks Aparna, so great that you are introducing the kids to such exhibits, I think Ads will probably be more knowledgeable than me in these matters :). Have heard that Delhi is great for such events, if you hear of any in Bangalore, do ping me about it :).
ReplyDeleteha ha ha, I am learning along with ads. Growing up, we never had these opportunities, did we? Donno if u have checked out the national gallery of modern art in blr. The ones in delhi and mumbai are really good and i am sure blr is great too. They have very cheap, good quality prints available in the shop. I have a few raja ravi vermas and anjalie ela menons hanging on my walls :)
ReplyDeletewow, Aparna, you seem to have a great taste in art. you know, to be very honest, I am not a very museum person, and while I can appreciate good art, I cannot call myself anywhere close to a connoisseur..:-0
ReplyDeleteHi Uma, I'm very far being a connoisseur!!! I'm just learning about the indian masters, very slowly. The only thing that can be said in my favour is that I know what I like, and I'm not afraid to say something is crap if that's what i feel :) I just enrolled myself for a 2hr workshop at the national gallery in a couple of weeks, to get some gyan :)
DeleteWow! It all looks and sounds very interesting! I do not have much of a knowledge about fine arts, but would love to start exploring. :)
ReplyDeleteMissed the Santhe at the Chitrakala Parishath this year, but am going there next year for sure!
the galnxtdoor: neither do I! Am learning ...very very slowly...:)
DeleteI am totally impressed that you took the kids along!
ReplyDeleteAnita, my kids know that in this family 'family-friendly' does not necessarily equate to 'kid' stuff :) But seriously, if we as parents don't introduce them to art, diff cuisines and travel at an early age, then where are we? Can u imagine the horror of a life with weekends at amusement arcades in malls and every overseas holiday in HK or singapore?
DeleteHi Aparna,
ReplyDeleteThis is Katherine here from Flow India. I was delighted to find your blog, and thank you so much for mentioning Flow India us here! It's fantastic to hear about your taking the kids along to the Art Fair. I wonder what their favourite work of art was? I bet they are still talking about all the things you saw...
In light of this I thought you might like to know about our art appreciation courses for kids - aged 6-10. We're actually running one in Gurgoan, in Nirvana Country, starting next Monday. It's six sessions, of 1.5 hours each (4.30-6pm), and we introduce kids to looking at art through some big name artists, and have lots of fun discussing, and then responding by creating our own artwork. Kids have *lots* of fun!
If you'd like further information please do give me a call on 8130868133 or mail me at info@flowindia.com and I can tell you more.
Otherwise, we'll look forward to welcoming you at one of our family museum programmes soon!
And looking forward to more posts here...
Warm wishes
Katherine
Director, Flow
We wanted to let you know about our new programme starting in Gurgaon on Monday - art appreciation - in a fun and creative way - for 6-10 year olds, looking at the story of Indian modern art. Do mail me at info@flowindia.com if you'd like any information.
all the best
Katherine