atul dodiya - Indian Art News

issue 23
dec 2013
atul
dodiya
not to miss:
posternama
bengal masters
exhibition
in conversation
with:
manu dosaj
writing
on the
wall
Dear Readers,
Welcome to a brand new issue of The Wall!
The end of a year is a time for retrospection and NGMA
Delhi seems to be doing just that with an exhibition
showcasing Atul Dodiya’s works spanning the last three
decades. Ranjit Hoskote, India’s most eminent curator and
an old friend of Dodiya’s, paints a vivid picture of the artist
and his vast repertoire in our cover story this month.
We also review two exhibitions from Delhi’s Art District in
Lado Sarai’s, recent art night – ‘Posternama’ by Muhammad
Zeeshan at Latitude 28 and a very different collection of
Bengal Masters at Wonderwall in association with Gallery
Sanskriti.
As highlighted in last month’s issue, 2013 has been a
difficult year for Contemporary Indian Art but as Manu
Dosaj puts it, ‘you have to keep doing what you do.’ Do
read the Gallerist wherein she generously shares wisdom
gathered over 15 long years of founding and running
Gallerie Alternatives, a pioneer of Gurgaon’s art scene.
And that’s what we do at The Wall. We bring you honest
opinions and fair reviews of all the happenings in the
Indian art world and will continue to do so in the coming
year as well.
Until then, on behalf of The Wall I wish you a Merry
Christmas and Prosperous 2014 !
Warm wishes
Kapil
in this
issue:
Cover Story
My Experiments with Truth:
Atul Dodiya through the eyes of poet
and critic Ranjit Hoskote.
High Five
Freeze
Vinit Gupta showcases his portraits of
the Jejury tribe
Lounge
Selected works from premier
galleries and auction houses
Ashishwang Godha samples the
flavours of Alto Vino at J.W. Marriott
Pune
Spotlight: Art
The Gallerist
This month the spotlight is on N.S.
Bendre’s work from Saffron Art’s
Winter Online Auction
Spotlight: Music
Make the most of the festive season
with choirs and carols!
Red Carpet
Our selection of events for you
to go through at your convenience
Kickstart
Our selection of works priced below
99,000, for those starting out on their
journey of collecting art
Manu Dosaj looks back on 15 years of
being Director of Galleri Alternative
Critique
The Wall reviews ‘Posternama’ at
Latitude 28 and the Bengal masters
exhibition at Wonderwall
cover story
the
various truths
of
atul dodiya
Ranjit Hoskote
Image Courtesy: Nancy Adajania
Atul Dodiya’s retrospective show recently opened at the
National Gallery of Modern Art Delhi. We look at the artist and
his vast repertoire through the eyes of the curator and his long
time friend, Ranjit Hoskote, in an exclusive interview with
Stephanie Samuel.
S.S: What is the underlying idea
behind ‘My Experiments with Truth?
What are the major trends and phases
that one will see in this retrospective
that spans 33 years?
R.H: As the curator of this exhibition,
I intend ‘Experiments with Truth: Atul
Dodiya, Works 1981-2013’ to be the
portrait of one of the most versatile,
multi-directional, self-renewing
artistic practices on the contemporary
Indian art scene. It brings together
works from various phases in Atul
Dodiya’s career, beginning with
a series of portraits of the artist’s
heroes, rendered in oil on paper,
student work from 1981 that has
never been exhibited before, and
coursing across his work in painting,
assemblage, installation and diverse
media including oil, the large-format
watercolour, the laminate surface,
the metal roller shutter, as well as
found objects and sculpture. The most
recent work in the show consists of
a sumptuous trilogy of portraits of
Bhupen Khakhar, marking a triumphant
Atul Dodiya
Image Courtesy: Saatchi Gallery
proclamation of Dodiya’s return to
oil as a medium, as well as the series
Painted Photographs/ Paintings
Photographed, in which every element
is a diptych setting up an interplay
between incidents from the life of
Mahatma Gandhi and correspondingly,
an iconic work of modern art from
roughly the same year. This series
brings into startling juxtaposition
Dodiya’s twin concerns and lineages one that connects him to the Gandhian
movement of social transformation
and liberation from colonial rule, and
the other, which situates him within
the genealogy of modernism and its
successor movements.
At the heart of Dodiya’s work is
what I identify as an ‘experimental
continuity’, by which I mean an
ability to create an artistic genealogy
for oneself, a tradition if you will,
which is dynamic and continuously
engaged with, and brings together,
in the artist’s mind and his work, an
assembly of presences -- interlocutors,
mentors, points of inspiration and
departure, ancestors to quibble with
and argue with. The manner in which
Dodiya does this is transhistorical
and transcultural - his exemplars,
the presences in his work, include
Abanindranath Tagore and Gerhard
Richter, Nandalal Bose and Sigmar
Polke, Robert Rauschenberg and
Benode Behari Mukherjee, Bhupen
Khakhar and Roy Lichtenstein.
Dadagiri, 1998
And throughout, there is the presence
of Mahatma Gandhi, a figure who
bears philosophical, spiritual and
political significance for Dodiya,
who grew up in a Gujarati milieu in
the multilingual, politically fraught
Bombay of the 1960s and 1970s.
Indeed, I chose ‘Experiments with
Truth’ as the title for our exhibition
in a deliberate act of homage and
alignment with Gandhi, whose
autobiography is titled The Story of My
Experiments with Truth. Dodiya, like
Gandhi, tests out various conceptions
of truth experientially, through his
work, attending to rival conceptions
of what the truth might be, in terms
of the nature of the imagination,
the objects of the artist’s attention,
the unfolding imperatives and
emphases of artistic practice, and the
relationship between the artist and his
context.
S.S: When did you first come across
Atul Dodiya’s work? Was it a common
interest and perspectives on the
socio – cultural ethos of India and the
globalized world that attracted you?
R.H: Dodiya’s career and mine began
at roughly the same time. My first
piece as art critic to The Times of India
was published in 1988. Dodiya’s first
solo exhibition was held in 1989. I had
seen, and been struck by, his work in
group exhibitions at the Jehangir Art
Gallery, and we found a natural affinity
that drew us together. We respond
intuitively to one another’s work, and
I am always fascinated by the range,
complexity and unpredictability of his
art.
Over the years, this has grown into a
friendship and a collaboration. With
no more than two or three exceptions,
I have written the catalogue essays
for almost all of Dodiya’s exhibitions
during the last 25 years. We worked
together on a mid-career survey of
Bhupen in Xavier’s Villa, Khandala - II, 2013 (left)
Bhupen in Xavier’s Villa, Khandala, 2013 (below)
his work, which I curated, in Tokyo
in 2001. We also collaborated on an
artist book, Pale Ancestors, which
presented 48 of his large-format
watercolours and 48 of my poems and
prose poems.
Although Dodiya is 10 years older
than I am, we made the transition
together from the last years of the
postcolonial period proper into
the epoch of globalization. We
were shaped by many of the same
political and cultural energies of the
Nehruvian period - an emphasis on a
liberal approach to social and cultural
issues, a belief in the inclusive and
secular character of the Republic
of India, an absolute opposition to
right-wing sectarian, revanchist and
fascist ideologies. We also share a
voracious appetite for world literature,
a commitment to poetry, and a love
of the work of specific artists such as
Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Jasper
Johns and so forth. Both Dodiya
and I have also seen the Indian art
world grow in scale, and meanwhile,
across a 15-year period, both of us
have conducted our practice in an
international context, often working
more elsewhere than in India.
Image Courtesy: Vadehra Art Gallery
My Experiments With Truth at NGMA Delhi
S.S: You organised a mid-career
retrospective, Bombay: Labyrinth/
Laboratory in 2001. Would you
share the experience of curating
that exhibition? What has been Atul
Dodiya’s journey from then to the
current retrospective?
R.H: I was already working on a
long-term, collaborative trans-Asian
exhibition project with the Japan
Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, over
2000-2002, when the Center invited
me to curate a solo exhibition for the
solo exhibition series of Asian artists
that they had planned, and to select
an artist. I chose Atul, who was poised
at a singularly vibrant moment in his
career (the Indonesian artist Heri Dono
was the first, curated by the Thai critic
and curator Apinan Poshyananda; Atul
and I were second; and and the Korean
artist Lee Bul, who conceived and
directed her own show, was the third
in the series).
The experience was wonderful. It was
a major showing for Atul, giving him
the latitude to explore new forms and
lines of inquiry. He had just begun
to work on his roller shutter works,
first presented at the Tate Modern in
2000 (Century/ City, curated by Geeta
Kapur and Ashish Rajadhyaksha). For
our Tokyo show, Bombay: Labyrinth/
Laboratory, Atul extended himself
in diverse directions, producing a
memorable series of mixed-media
sculpture-assemblages that brought
together found forms such as ladders
and playground slides, as well as
photographs, textile fragments,
flowers, newspaper clippings and
so forth. I designed the space originally a concert hall, with a grid
of moveable blocks for a floor - as
a hybrid between a kund or temple
tank and a walled city, generating the
sense of climbing and descending, and
negotiating a maze. It was a portrait
of Bombay, and allowed Dodiya to
articulate his concerns with the city’s
propensity for rich cultural experience
as well as political violence, its
position as a South Asian as well as
a global city, and generally to bear
witness to the diverse concerns he
was already exploring, including the
popular culture of posters, graffiti
and the commercial cinema; India’s
pantheon of gods, saints and political
leaders; masters of world cinema
such as Antonioni, Ray, Ghatak and
Tarkovsky; and moments of crisis
and catastrophe such as Hiroshima,
Bamiyan, and the cyclic riots and
pogroms of South Asia.
Between 2001 and 2013, Atul has
gained enormously in a confident
articulation of his artistic concerns.
He has followed through on the
formal adventures of the Tokyo midcareer retrospective by developing
a consistent body of work in the
sculpture-installation, as well
as exploring media such as the
photography-based installation and
the Wunderkammer or cabinet. He is
animated by what I have, elsewhere,
described as “the encyclopaedist’s
desire for the world”, a desire to
encompass the most maximal
spectrum of sensations, affects,
effects, reflections and provocations!
of preoccupation, and take diverse
shapes. I was already writing poetry
and my early essays in college. I was
invited to become art critic to The
Times of India, Bombay, while I was
in college, and published my first
book of poems during my first year
at university. Curating grew out of my
need to extend certain arguments I
was making about contemporary art
into palpable shape - I needed to
show rather than tell, or to show as
well as tell! I’ve always seen curatorial
practice as an intellectual practice
aligned with my ongoing cultural,
political and theoretical research
interests. My exemplars and mentor
figures are curators whose practice
evolved in this way, above all Okwui
Enwezor, who I regard as my guru and
with whom I’ve had the privilege of
working closely.
S.S: Barely out of college and you
curated your first show at the age of
25! Was the transition from literature
and poetry to art a natural one?
R.H: In a conversation with Hans Ulrich
Obrist, who asked me much the same
question during one of his legendary
interview marathons, I said that my
practice was like a starfish. Poetry
does not come before art criticism
for me, nor does curating come after
theory. These concerns spring, as far
as I can tell, from a common centre
Leopold, 2012
Grace, 2012
26/11, 2012
My Experiments With Truth at NGMA Delhi (left)
Image Courtesy: Vadehra Art Gallery
Woman With a Chakki, 1999 (right)
S.S: For a collector, especially those
who have just begun, retrospectives
are a good way of educating one
about the artist and his/her works.
Would you agree?
structure of a symphony, in terms
of its development, elaboration and
summation. And yes indeed, to me, a
retrospective is always a major and
invaluable pedagogical occasion.
R.H: Yes. A retrospective offers its
viewers the unprecedented luxury of
seeing the artist’s career -- or much
of it, and even if it is in the form of
extracts, so to speak -- in one space,
and seeing it as whole as possible.
Continuities within the work, ruptures,
moments of crisis and breakthrough,
the ascending scale of virtuosity,
the passages of experiment and
transition, all become clear. In that
sense, a retrospective can have the
S.S: In spite of some great shows,
this year hasn’t been a good one for
Contemporary Indian Art in terms of
sales. From a critic’s point of view,
what is your take on the prevailing
situation and what are the measures
you suggest to revive sales and
collector interests alike?
R.H: I’ve always said and I said
it at the height of the boom in
contemporary Indian art that no
market could survive without a
substantial knowledge infrastructure,
all of those invisible but absolutely
invaluable mechanisms, the journal,
the archive, the museum, the library,
the practice of responsible and
responsive criticism, and so forth.
When, instead of this, you make price
the only criterion of value, and have
an apparatus of publicity to buoy
up the marker of price, your ship is
headed for the sand. The pervasive
sense of a betrayal of trust, felt by
serious collectors during the boom
and the bust that followed it, remains
an obstacle. The art market attracted a
number of investors and speculators
during the boom; their exit left
damage in its wake. Also, there was
an overemphatic obsession with the
new and young, so that artists were
making their debut too quickly, on the
basis of work that had yet to find its
stride, and with too many expectations
riding on them. An entire generation
of artists received opportunities that
they could barely integrate into a
coherent practice; and meanwhile,
those opportunities have evaporated
for many of them. Meanwhile, galleries
have been addressing the question of
how to reorient their practice, but only
a few of them have found answers
to this problem yet. A major problem
with the Indian art world is our lack
of diversity in terms of systems and
ecologies of production.
My Experiments With Truth at NGMA Delhi
Image Courtesy: Vadehra Art Gallery
The gallery is the one institution that’s
left to do most of the heavy lifting.
In a robust art world, we would have
had, in addition to the dynamic gallery,
also the self-renewing museum, the
public commission, the biennale,
the artist residency network, the
open studio, the publicly funded arts
complex, the para-academic platform
and many other alternative space.
Of course we do indeed have heroic
and sterling examples of such spaces
and platforms - especially in Delhi,
Bangalore and Bombay, but also in
Jaipur and Chandigarh, to name only
a few locations - but many more are
needed.
high 5
This month’s
selection of high
priced works from
premier galleries
and auction houses
across the country.
1
You cannot of course,
believe all this...
Vivek Vilasini
Digital print on canvas
90 x 57 in
Rs 6,00,000/Sakshi Gallery
[email protected]
www.sakshigallery.com
high 5
2
Untitled
Paramjit Singh
24x36 Inches
Oil on canvas, 2011
Rs. 6,00,000/Chawla Art Gallery
[email protected]
www.chawla-artgallery.com
3
Marve, Mumbai
Paresh Maity
55 x 96 in
Water Colour on paper
Rs 40,00,000/The Arts Trust
[email protected]
www.theartstrust.com
Couple 2
Prashanta Nayak
acrylic on canvas
48 x 56 inches
Rs1,40,000/[email protected]
bestcollegeart.com
high 5
4
5
Untitled
Manisha Gera Baswani
oil on canvas
72 x 60 in
Rs 3,50,000/Gallerie Alternatives
[email protected]
www.galleriealternatives.com
presents spotlight: art
Untitled
N.S. Bendre
Oil on Canvas
44 x 41 in
winter
online
auction
Narayan Shridhar Bendre (1910 1992) was born in Indore, where
he initially attended the State Art
School before getting his Government
Diploma in Art in Mumbai in 1933.
Conditioned by the quasi-modernist
landscapes of the Indore School in the
early 20th century, his early interest
in landscapes continued throughout
his career, being the avid traveller that
he was. His earlier works, primarily
landscapes and portraits in oils and
gouache, were classified as academic
and impressionist.
Image Courtesy: Saffron Art
During his teaching years at Baroda’s
Faculty of Fine Arts (where he taught
from 1950-1966 and became Dean
of the Faculty of Painting in 1959), he
embarked on what is perceived as the
most important phase of his career:
cubist, expressionist, and abstract
tendencies, trying to combine Indian
formal themes with mainstream
European modernism. He continued
to travel within India and abroad, and
after he resigned from Baroda in 1966,
he started experimenting with his
version of pointillism, receiving the
Padmashri Award from the President
of India in 1969.
spotlight: music
Image Courtesy: Capital City Minstrels
let’s go
caroling!
India has a rich tradition of choral
music which has something for
everyone, from the classical finesse
of the Paranjoti Academy Chorus to
contemporary college acapella groups.
However due to a small number of
enthusiasts little is heard of this tiny
section of the very large and diverse
independent music scene in India.
But the festive season would be
incomplete without soulful voices
reminiscent of the angels choir at
Christ’s birth.
Capital City Minstrels, Delhi
2nd Dec - Hungarian Information
& Cultural Centre
3rd Dec - India Habitat Centre
Festive Music Festival, Mumbai
14th - 15th Dec – NCPA, Nariman Point
So if in Delhi be sure to catch the
Capital City Minstrels led by Carolin
Remy and the Delhi Chamber Choir by
Nadya Balyan. Those In Mumbai must
head straight to the NCPA – Nariman
Point in the 2nd week of December
when the city’s best choirs put up
a 2 day concert with headliners,
The Stop Gaps Choral Ensemble. Or
simply make your way to a church
on Christmas eve and let the simple
music warm you on a chilly evening.
artevents
red carpet
dec
1-dec 31
An Exhibition of Bengal Masters
Group Show
Wonderwall (in association
with Sanskriti Gallery)
F – 208, 2nd Floor
Lado Sarai
New Delhi
www.wonderwall.co.in
dec
1-jan 19
Deep Time
Roshni Devasher
Project 88
BMP Building, Ground Floor,
N.A. Sawant Marg, Colaba,
Mumbai
www.project88.com
dec
1-dec 29
My Experiments With Truth: Atul Dodiya
Atul Dodiya
Curated by Ranjit Hoskote
National Gallery of Modern Art – Delhi
Jaipur House, C-Hexagon Road,
India Gate,
New Delhi
www.ngmaindia.gov.in
dec
1-dec 4
At War With The Obvious
Anita Ahuja
India Habitat Center
Lodhi Rd, Lodi Estate, Lodi Colony,
New Delhi
www.indiahabitat.org
dec
1-jan 5
Posternama
Muhammad Zeeshan
Latitude 28
F 208, ground floor,
Lado Sarai
New Delhi
www.latitude28.com
dec
10-dec 17
Symphony of Silence
Paresh Maity
Jehangir Art Gallery
161 Kalaghoda,
Mumbai
www.jehangirartgallery.com
dec
18-jan 20
Symphony of Silence (continued)
Paresh Maity
Art Musings
1 Admiralty Building,
Colaba Cross Lane
Mumbai
www.artmusings.net
dec
1-dec 17
“Q”
Thukral & Tagra
Presented by Nature Morte
Famous Studio Ltd.
Famous Cine Building
20, Dr. E. Moses Road, Worli,
Mumbai
www.naturemorte.com
dec
1-dec 30
Transcendental Evocations
Group Show
Curated by Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala
Lakeeren Gallery
6/18, Grants Blg, 2nd Floor,
Opposite Basilico Restaurant,
Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba,
Mumbai
www.lakeerengallery.com
dec
7-feb 28
When High And Low Art Meet…
Group Show
Curated by Rupika Chawla
Art Alive Gallery - Gurgaon
Plot no. 120, Sector 44,
Gurgaon, Haryana
www.artalivegallery.com
international
dec
1-dec 15
Thresholds
Group Show
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
57-59 Hollywood Road, Central,
Hong Kong
www.sundaramtagore.com
dec
5-dec 8
Art Basel: Miami
Miami Beach
USA
www.artbasel.com
critique
..............................................................
posternama
Muhammad Zeeshan
FLOOR 1
Latitude 28
Lado Sarai, New Delhi
16 November – 5 January
BY TH E WA L L E D ITO R I A L TEA M
Latitude 28 kickstarted the winter
season with Karachi – based artist,
Muhammad Zeeshan’s ‘Posternama,’ a
series of works based on mythological
Islamic and Sufi charecters that
repeatedly appear in miniature
paintings. The artist takes on the
simple idea of the endless process
of copying an illustration until it
becomes iconic of what it represents.
Like the mythical Buraq that has been
described in sacred texts as a stallion
with ‘a handsome face’ which in turn
led to it being depicted literally as a
white stallion with a handsome human
face. Constant copying of this painting
over the years has fixed its position as
the ideal representation.
By using the technique of laser
scouring, Zeeshan has added his
original touch and yet is unable to
break away from the stereotypical
representation of the characters.
Take for example the portrait of Shah
Abdul Latif Bhitai. The Sindhi Sufi
mystic is depicted as seen in common
posters, but with the artist’s intricate
detailing completing the work. The
Vidya, 2013
Image Coutesy : Latitude 28
eyes, however, have been done in
gouache in the poster style, keeping
the recognisable trait.
A refreshing idea executed with
utmost skill, this collection blurs
the lines and one is left pondering
whether it is the icon or the artist’s
work that is an original
critique
..............................................................
an exhibition of bengal masters
FLOOR 2
Gallery Sanskriti at Wonderwall
Lado Sarai, New Delhi
Untitled (1960), Bikash Bhattacharjee
17th November – 31st December
BY TH E WA L L E D ITO R I A L TE A M
Exit from the door behind the front
desk at Latitude 28 and take the
stairs up to the second floor. Walk
through the open door into the large
room an make your way to the centre.
Now take a look around and you find
yourselves literally surrounded by
exquisite works from Bengal Masters.
A photography gallery, Wonderwall
instead has put up a show of Bengal
Masters in collaboration with Gallery
Sanskriti Kolkata with works by
Ganesh Haloi, Paresh Maity, Shakti
Burman, Bikesh Bhattacharjee and
Paritosh Sen to name a few.
Shipra Bhattacharya’s ‘SHE’ had our
attention right from the time we saw
it in the invite to the moment it stood
before us in the gallery. A beautiful
example of her recurring feminist
theme this work presents the Indian
woman devoid of any social labels
Untitled (2009), Prasenjit Sengupta
Untitled (2004), Jogen Chowdhury (above)
Untitled (2007), Chandra Bhattacharjee (right)
and duties, carefree and daydreaming
of love. Maya Burman ‘s unique style
of blending patterns in what has
been called a ‘tapestry-like’ effect,
comes through in her watercolour on
paper work while Prasenjit Sengupta’s
acrylic on canvas of apples raining
over a sea of chawls and done in dark
tones makes a sharp social comment.
Shuvaprasanna’s beautiful rendition
of Radha-Krishna and Paresh Maity’s
Romance are other works to look
out for.
kickstart
Our selection
of works for
those starting
out on their
journey of
collecting art!
Untitled
Suchender P
Watercolor on paper
26.5 x 11 in
Rs 45,000
Sakshi Gallery
[email protected]
www.sakshigallery.com
Rabindranath
Tapas Sarkar
13.75 x 4.25x7 in
Bronze, edition 6/9
Rs. 75,000/Chawla Art Gallery
[email protected]
www.chawla-artgallery.com
Untitled
Manisha Gera Baswani
mixed media on paper
Rs 95,000/Gallerie Alternatives
[email protected]
www.galleriealternatives.com
Still Life -2
Tauseef Khan
oil and acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 in
Rs 65,000
bestcollegeart.com
[email protected]
www.bestcollegeart.com
Couple-2
Girish Gurav
Oil on canvas
36X30 in
Rs 60,000/Bestcollegeart
[email protected]
www.bestcollegeart.com
photostory
freeze
Jejuri town is pilgrimage site in
neighbourhood of Pune, Maharashtra;
it is an enchanting place full of
myths, paradoxes and spell-binding
tribal traditions. Jejuri is the abode
of Khandoba the lord of the oldest
tribes in Maharashtra, The Dhangars.
They are an upright and valiant tribal
community of shepherd and have a
rich cultural history. Because they
lived a socially isolated life due to
their occupation, wandering mainly
in forests, hills and mountains, even
today the community is politically
disorganized and socially and
economically backward
From the month of October to
December thousands of pilgrims come
to Jejuri from across the Maharashtra
and Karnataka to offer turmeric
powder to Khandoba and paint the
town golden yellow, a colour they
associate with the power of the sun
and one suggestive of Khandoba solar
origin.
We first came across Vinit Gupta’s work at United Art Fair 2013
where he had displayed his compelling documentation of the
Mahan Forests, and decided to feature him in The Wall!
I made these portraits during my
visits in Jejuri in between 2008
and 2010.I took these portraits of
Pilgrims with the idea to create a
record or document the visual culture
of these tribal communities, as well
as introducing a way of life rapidly
disappearing in the onslaught of
modernization.
presents
lounge
luxurious
delicious
Alto Vino
JW Marriott
Pune
BY ASHISHWANG GODHA
At the newly christened JW Marriott,
the Italian Alto Vino takes you a
soulful, luxe journey into the world
of food
Alto Vino gleams silver and white,
tall glass wine chillers shimmer in
the subdued lightning and the suited
service is discreet. Our first visit to
the rebranded JW Marriott’s Alto Vino,
with its new menu, is luxe redefined.
While the menu is subtle and
succinct, each dish is a medley of fine
ingredients worked on with minimal
intrusion to create sublime delicacies.
Alto Vino is perfect for long, Italian
wine dinners with family and friends
or even business meetings. But, it’s
just as delicious for a pizza binge all
by yourself. We’ve indulged in both.
This time, we take it slow, course
by course, absorbing the new
mannerisms of the hotel. The healthy
Grilled Vegetables, Smoked Ricotta
and Herb Oil salad, makes for a light
start (because you need the space for
the rest of the meal). The zucchini and
peppers are grilled to perfection, the
ricotta a fresh contrast to their smoky
flavours.
Time for the pizzas. The Carettiera
Crudo seems to be the popular choice
with all our international diners, smiles
are table executive, as he serves the
fully-loaded pizza. It’s crisp, thincrust and freshly layered with folds
of pink Parma ham, topped with dark
green rucola. The fact that the meat
and salad are layered on after the
pizza comes out of the oven, helps
them retain their original flavours. It’s
a gorgeous salty, fresh and crunchy
pizza experience.
So good is this one, that we just have
to try another Alto Vino pizza. The
Frutti de mare is just as good. Another
subtle pizza that uses minimum but,
high-quality ingredients to their
best. The mixed seafood pan comes
topped with whole roasted garlic
and sprinkled with oregano. A fine
example of how your pizza need not
be complex to be finger-licking good.
High as we are on the pizzas, we
chatter on and enjoy the buzz in the
restaurant, letting the wine create
some stomach space. Soon, our mains
arrive with a flourish. The Rye Ravioli
stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta is a
pretty picture. Sitting side by side in
melting sage butter, the healthy rye
grain raviolis are a delight -- melt-inyour-mouth velvet, with the spike of
creamed spinach and the smoothness
of fresh cheese.
The Herb Crusted Red Snapper with
Eggplant Caponata is just as good.
The thick layer of blended herbs
sits distinct on the fish, lending the
delicate flesh character – a texture
and crunch in every bite. We aren’t
fans of eggplant but, this warm
Sicilian vegetable side is a wonderful
compliment.
A good meal can’t be complete
without dessert. The good old
Tiramisu, served family-style from a
bowl allows you to indulge in a hearty
Italian finale.
What tops the charts here is the
service. Warm, attentive to guest
preferences and absolutely in tune
with their menu selection. This one
makes a perfect meal.
the gallerist
January 1999. Balbir Singh Kat was
there along with Anupam Sood, Jatin
Das, Jagdir Chander, Kavita Jaiswal and
the late Khemraj, who worked a lot
with us when setting up. All our artists
helped us out and gave their best
inputs.
S.S: So for this first opening did you
have an audience largely from Delhi or
there people from Gurgaon?
Image Credit: Gallerie Alternatives
Manu Dosaj
Manu Dosaj feels that art needs
patrons to ensure its survival for it
is a society’s heritage and history.
The Director of Gallerie Alternatives
reminisces with Stephanie Samuel
the last 15 years, discussing the
need for nurturing young talent
and the challenges of setting up a
gallery in Gurgaon where once the
only culture was agriculture!
S.S: Gallerie Alternatives was set up
15 years ago in Gurgaon, at that time
considered a rural outskirt, far away
from Delhi the cultural hotbed. What
were the challenges you faced?
M.D: I turned 40 and had been
working with my husband for a long
time. We had a big place in Gurgaon
that we could use as a gallery, and we
started one! There was no idea of a
business venture; it was pure interest
where one thing led to another. It
took us 2 years to change a home into
a gallery and after many delays the
gallery held its first exhibition on 15th
M.D: Both. The neighbours came
because we had been working on
the house for 2 years, knocking down
walls and what not, so everyone
was curious! And all the people
around were so nice. Anyone in our
neighbourhood who had a guest from
abroad or even Delhi would show
them our gallery. So the clannish thing
that was there in Delhi didn’t exist
here.
The first gallery was beautifully laid
out with a garden in the front and
back. We ran book and film clubs
there and did art walks with children.
Across the road we had Kathakali
exponent Arjun Raina who do his
Shakespearean recitals. We even
had a painting competition that we
hosted in collaboration with British
Council, in a nearby park. We couldn’t
accommodate the numbers who came
so we had to put them under different
trees in different categories!
We had a really nice time there but
unfortunately due to changed laws
had to move to our current location in
Mega Mall, Gurgaon. Unfortunately the
older place was 5 times bigger than
the current gallery. Even during an
exhibition if someone wanted to see
something else we could show them
works in our office. Here that becomes
a problem. We’ve literally learnt to
enjoy each inch! We have smartly
planned out our space, our partitions
double as storage cabinets and
window shades as projection screens.
In the beginning it was very difficult
so we had to plan every small detail.
The previews and anything to do with
the press is done in Delhi since it is
difficult for them to come to Gurgaon,
which they did. The internet has made
things much easier now otherwise,
earlier I used to send each newspaper
individual press kits with pictures
painstakingly marked.
S.S: How would you define the art
audience in Gurgaon?
M.D: Gurgaon is definitely more
commercial. As a welcome gesture we
always keep the gallery doors open.
People just hop off the escalator and
we’re right there in front of them so
we have all kinds of people coming
I also feel responsible
I also feel responsible
I also feel responsible
journalism is very
journalism is very
journalism is very
important because a
important because a
important because a
common person reads
common person reads
common person reads
the printed news and
the printed news and
the printed news and
goes by it.
goes by it.
goes by it.
in, many who are not familiar with
art. Some even touch the art works,
some ask why a certain painting is so
expensive. It takes time and patience.
You have to talk to them, explain at
length, and simplify the language of
the art. Learning will take time, and
in 15 years I can see now that the
younger people looking at art are well
aware, they see art works, check the
prices, and meet artists. It is fabulous.
The internet has really helped in this
regard. You can see any exhibition in
the world, source works etc. The entire
process has become transparent which
is very important.
But although things have changed I
still think there is a long time before
people go to a website and pick
works. Even collectors i.e. people who
know what an artist’s work looks like,
still want to see the work. Very few
people buy it off the net unless it is a
very senior artist whose work they are
familiar with.
The thing is even if the market is not
doing well you have to keep working
at whatever it is you are doing. The
quick buck that people wanted to
make in art is over. People have made
tonnes of money, the ones who came
in at the right time and went out at the
right time. But I can safely say that the
people who are here are here to stay.
S.S: Given the volatility of the market,
do you feel connoisseurs are what
galleries should concentrate on since
they ensure longevity or do you have
to keep discovering new markets?
M.D: You have to keep doing the latter.
Look at the old collectors, they’re all
selling. The new ones are of course
looking at aesthetic value as well as
how the artist is fairing. But galleries
who have sold in the past saying that
“this is a very good investment, buy
it,” are the ones who are suffering now.
You cannot look at art as investment
alone. And of course, even in cases
where the works whose values have
gone up or artists who have done well
commercially, the person has to look
at the art first. Of course we see the
artist’s work for a long time before we
bring him/her to the gallery, since we
are responsible to the collector. But at
the end of the day if the work clicks,
buy it. During the boom years too, the
people who came in were youngsters
who’d ask me about certain artists
they had read about in papers whose
values had tripled. So they’d ask me
to recommend an artist whose work
will triple in 3 months. I’d tell them
to go to the stock exchange, you’ve
come to the wrong place. Look at
Paresh Maity’s prices over the last 15
years, how they’ve changed. If you find
something you love it is invaluable in
any case. These are works people are
not going to sell because they liked it
when they bought it and they love it
even today.
I also feel responsible journalism is
very important because a common
person reads the printed news and
goes by it. I have friends calling up
and asking me how I am ‘surviving.’
And I tell them this is what I want to
continue doing. No phase lasts forever.
S.S: Do you still see a lot of galleries
nurturing artists the way you did?
M.D: Unlike an auction house which
is responsible only to the collector
and to their own money, a gallery’s
role is to look after the buyer and
especially the artist. Galleries have
the worst reputation you know, that
they are “blood – sucking” leeches
of the artist but that’s where the
artist gets his/her support. You have
to do it, that is the job of a gallery.
Younger artists need to be supported
otherwise how else will they get the
necessary experience? If you don’t
support artists then you may as well
be a dealer and sell from home. In fact
dealers are the ones who made all the
money. It’s the galleries which have
been struggling. How many shows do
you see galleries putting up in a year?
The number of shows has dropped.
At a recent exhibition we made
no catalogue, we didn’t have an
opening ceremony but simply had
the show and promoted it every day
on Facebook. People came and some
even bought. The people who matter,
for whom art is important, they’re not
coming to eat your food. It’s not going
to be those days of opulent openings,
so the chaai – samosa is back. This is
a collection that is needed very badly.
Instead of doing big catalogues and
posh events we know that we can
support at least five artists with the
same amount of money. Artists are
not going to stop making works, all
of them will keep working whether
works sell or not. How many artists are
doing well today? They’re just biding
time. And in way this phase is good
academically and otherwise because
it has set artists thinking about their
works.
S.S: So what do you look at achieving
in the next 15 years?
M.D: I would love to nurture again
young artists. Every time we sell a big
work, we try and hold 2 exhibitions
from it. So it has to go back to art. You
can’t stop supporting the artist. This
gallery is not taking on any new artist
The thing is even if the market is not doing well
The thing is even if the market is not doing well
The thing is even if the market is not doing well
you have to keep working at whatever it is you
you have to keep working at whatever it is you
you have to keep working at whatever it is you
are doing. The quick buck that people wanted to
are doing. The quick buck that people wanted to
are doing. The quick buck that people wanted to
make in art is over. People have made tonnes of
make in art is over. People have made tonnes of
make in art is over. People have made tonnes of
money, the ones who came in at the right time
money, the ones who came in at the right time
money, the ones who came in at the right time
and went out at the right time. But I can safely
and went out at the right time. But I can safely
and went out at the right time. But I can safely
say that the people who are here are here to stay.
say that the people who are here are here to stay.
say that the people who are here are here to
right now; we’re supporting those
who are already with us. And this is
an important relationship. Then again,
how many have written contracts with
the galleries? You can’t really stop
an artist from going anywhere. And
they will not go. I had Narendra Pal
Singh asking me why I was pushing
him to go and show his works in
other galleries as well. He refused so
obviously I will try my level best to
support them. Trupti Patel – She’s not
showing anywhere else. So I have to
make sure I’m doing their exhibitions
every 2 years or something. And yes of
course there is the secondary market
where the works come for resale. Over
the years you make contacts with
collectors, somebody who wants to
sell.
S.S: Lastly, what has been your driving
force all these years?
M.D: I feel it is very important to keep
doing what you are doing, whatever it
is.
S.S: Thank you so much for taking the
time out to speak with us Manu!
M.D: Thank you Stephanie and The
Wall.
The people who
The people who
The people who
matter, for whom
matter, for whom
matter, for whom
art is important,
art is important,
art is important,
they’re not coming
they’re not coming
they’re not coming
to eat your food.
to eat your food.
to eat your food.
It’s not going to be
It’s not going to be
It’s not going to be
those days of opulent
those days of opulent
those days of opulent
openings, so the chaai
openings, so the chaai
openings, so the chaai
– samosa is back. This
– samosa is back. This
– samosa is back. This
is a collection that is
is a collection that is
is a collection that is
needed very badly.
needed very badly.
needed very badly.
Instead of doing big
Instead of doing big
Instead of doing big
catalogues and posh
catalogues and posh
catalogues and posh
events we know that
events we know that
events we know that
we can support at
we can support at
we can support at
least five artists with
least five artists with
least five artists with
the same amount of
the same amount of
the same amount of
money.