Season Five

Kala Bharati raises a toast to the ART India – India Habitat Centre Promising Artist Award 2009.

COMPARED TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS, THE PROMISING ARTIST AWARD 2009 drew a record number of entries. It was heartening to see that artists from remote corners of the country had sent their applications along with, of course, practitioners from the metropolises. 400 in all, the works of this ebullient lot spanned video, photography and inter-disciplinary installation art along with more traditional forms like painting and sculpture.

The jury was re-constituted this time to include Melissa Chiu, the museum director and curator for contemporary Asian and Asian-American art at Asia Society; Atul Dodiya, one of India’s most accomplished artists; Sree Goswami, gallerist who has set up Project 88 in Mumbai as a space for exciting cuttingedge art; and Zehra Jumabhoy, ART India’s Assistant Editor; apart from Sangita Jindal, the president of ART India; Raj Liberhan, the Director of the India Habitat Centre (IHC); Alka Pande, the art consultant to the Visual Arts Gallery (VAG), IHC; and Abhay Sardesai, Editor of ART India.

From a short-list, drawn by critic Nivedita Magar, five applicants were chosen. Tahireh Lal, Mithila Baindur, Charmi Gada Shah, Tarun Jung Rawat and Tejal Shah made it to the final round. Tejal Shah’s application created a sense of déjà vu – Shilpa Gupta had applied for the award during its inaugural edition in 2005. The discussion that ensued around Shah’s application raised some important questions: Should applications from artists who have consistently exhibited inter/nationally be entertained for the award? If the works of an established artist are better than those of other applicants, should her/his application not be considered for the award just because s/he has shown in reputed galleries or museums? When does an artist ‘arrive’ and does fame always translate into money? The last question holds the real key to their professional lives, claim many video artists, who complain that they do not have the same kind of access to funds as trendy painters and saleable installation artists.

The final decision revolved around two artists: Tarun Jung Rawat’s cleverly conceived and designinspired displays found its supporters while Charmi Gada Shah’s explorations of built forms, spaces and memories were much appreciated. Was this going to be yet another contest between Delhi and Mumbai, some panelists wondered in jest. Gada Shah was finally chosen after carefully weighing every panelist’s opinion.

Charmi Gada Shah’s work comprises house sections, rooms, interiors and objects modelled in balsa wood, polystyrene, paper, glass and ceramic material: by playing with notions of scale and setting up encounters between the real and the illusional she explores the different ways in which spaces determine events and their memories. Coming up with proto-architectural interventions and capturing them in crisp photographs, she reimagines
and re-visits acts of habitation. The Common Wall project; The Staircase Project, Kashi
Residency, Cochin; and The Koder House project find Shah Gada getting under the very skin of buildings.

Charmi Gada Shah. The Koder House. Wall drawings with photographs and video. Size variable.

The award ceremony at the IHC amphitheatre was well-attended. The guests on the dias included Kiran Karnik, President of the IHC; Philippe Welti, the Swiss Ambassador to India; Christoph Schenker, Head, Institute for Contemporary Arts Research, Zurich; apart from Raj Liberhan, Abhay Sardesai and Alka Pande. The Swiss artist Claudia Ruegg performed her evocative Hits/Stills on the piano.

The award, which includes a cheque of 1.5 lakhs, also grants the artist a show at the (VAG), IHC, apart from a watch from Raymond Weil. Over the last five years, practitioners of diverse art forms have got the award – from the chic design installations of George Martin P.J. in 2005 to the Bastar-based craft-centric works of Shiv Kumar Verma in 2006 to the video installations of Baptist Coelho and sculptural installations of Chinmoy Pramanick in 2007 to the public art projects of Ashish Ghosh in 2008, one can see a wide range of approaches. Interestingly, not one application featuring Performance Art or Graphic/Cartoon Art has ever come the jury’s way. As one of the panelists said as a parting shot, “Hope we have art that is fresher, newer and more exciting in 2010”. Artists who feel they fit the bill should apply for the award soon. The last date for entries this year is the 5th of October.