Indian art in the spotlight (From Asian Image)

Indian art in the spotlight

8:40pm Thursday 28th January 2010

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After exploring China, the Middle East and America, the Saatchi Gallery is switching the spotlight to India with a display of paintings and sculptures from the country’s “flourishing” art scene.

The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, is an exhibition of contemporary work responding to “the complexities of 21st century India”.

Among the artworks on display is a giant rupee coin balanced on the gallery floor in a display titled Death of Distance by Mumbai-born Jitish Kallat.

Another work, Her Suburban Dream by Huma Mulji, shows a cow on its knees with a water pipe forced round its neck.

Huma Bhabha’s The Orientalist features a figure theatrically posing as a king or deity.

Cast in bronze, the statue’s regal look is topped off with an ethereal chicken wire veil.

A statement from the London gallery said of the Indian arts: “The rapid flourishing of this art scene on one hand and the recent economic downturn on the other have prompted critical questions about Indian culture and globalisation in a country torn between a proudly independent mindset and a dependence on global consumption.”

Previous exhibitions staged by the gallery include The Revolution Continues: New Art from China, Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East and Abstract America.

The shows have attracted more than one million visitors.

The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today opens to the public tomorrow and runs until May 7. Admission is free.

By Vicky Shaw

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