The Indian Art Scene and Me

             Here in India, if you are very rich or famous, you are a famous artist the day you decide to become one, don’t really have to be talented or skilled in the felid. It’s by default. I hate things default. Oh wait!!! I just happen realized that trend is almost everywhere and not just here in India, right??? Now comes the real interesting part of what goes inside the art scene down here. You might get shocked and I am not responsible for any heart attack...ahahaha...

 

          So some few months ago, me and roommate did submitted a few proposals to some government art galleries here for possible exhibition/s (oh!!! by the way my roomie is also an artist and he does very good portraits). As expected, on their website there are certain guidelines or condition that one has to fulfill to be able to exhibit in these galleries and we were pretty sure we met all their requirements. Well and good. Now after 7 months we haven’t even heard a word from them yet, not even an email. So, we decided to do a little follow back. Three months ago, we went to their office to realize that no one even had a clue whatsoever and told us to wait a few more months. So we wait, now it’s on the 7^th+ month. A few days ago, we went back to the office again and found out that the status had not change since the last time we went there; no one has a clue. Now after a few ask around, we came to realize that some people had applied some 6 years ago and hasn’t heard a word since.

             No, it’s not that there are too many applications out here for them to accommodate for another exhibition. The people who are exhibiting here are doing exhibits over and over again with a few months gap. The fact is, the only person who gets their applications approved are either already famous artist, in which case they just have to fill the same application for we filled and get the space for next month, or you are related to some political background who can make a few calls and get the paper signed. Wow!!! Now that’s encouraging.

          The really interesting thing going down here in the art scene is, like every other country, India also has government bodies specially dedicated to art and culture who is supposed to be promoting Indian art to the world at large and give platform to new and emerging artist. But the sad story is; it’s all run by the political biggies who don’t even own a single piece of art at home, leave alone understand art. Now you get the picture. It’s a shame because that’s what they do here exactly in the field of sports. Here movie stars are given the honor to run the torch in any major sporting events; it’s more glamorous you see…lol…

          Now where does that leave an artist like me? Private galleries or Art Fair’s or private shows.

             What goes inside the private galleries is even worst then what’s happening with the government galleries. With government gallery, if you are one lucky son of a b**ch, they don’t charge any renting fees or whatsoever, but with the private galleries, you have to pay for renting there galleries plus anywhere between 40-60% commissions from any sales. Honestly, I think it’s better to buy your own house then renting one of these private galleries for a month and rent out the house for your monthly income. Or what they usually do is, they have their own collections and that’s what they showcase and sells.

             Unlike the rest of the world, Art Fairs in India is a b**ch. We have almost none throughout the year. The only two I know is “The Indian Art Fair” (which is the biggest and only names get to showcase their works here) and “The United Art Fair”. The second one is even more interesting because of the fact that their motto was to showcase only emerging artist and totally run by artist, well that’s what they say on papers. Some 18 months ago I started following them after concluding their first fair which according to newspapers was successful in showcasing many emerging artist to the world. So, I was hoping that maybe these year, I will apply when they starts accepting applications and hope for the best. So one fine day it came out on newspaper about them starting accepting applications. I was excited and decided to pay a visit on their website. This was what happened; there was no application form anywhere. They only flash the advertisement on their homepage that they were accepting applications (just playing their game of abiding by the government order of “Right to Information”). I thought it was just a system glitch, so I check back the next day to realize that the application was close and all filled. I wrote a few emails and never got any reply, so I gave up. What was even more shocking was that, the people line up in their organizing committee are all f**king politicians.

          Yes the only option for now is, organize a few private exhibitions and hope for the best just like the last time we did. But sometimes it’s very hard to get a place big enough fit our purpose and at cheaper rates and it can be real tiresome. Last time we did, I didn’t get to sleep for over a week and after the show, I look like a death zombie (now zombie is already really bad, but here I was a death zombie, now that’s the worst me you can get). I am not going into the details.

          Sorry, it’s been a bit of a long story now, but as you can see I am a little bit pissed off these days. And during my recent art studies/research; I did realize that with an exception for “Rabindranath Tagore” (first Noble Prize winner from India in literature), the rest of the big names in the Indian art scene never became a name in India. They all went abroad and became names and then came back to India. Now that’s motivating enough and Damn!!! Osama, the 9/11 incident, now it’s almost impossible to get a VISA to go anywhere else in the world unless you are from Europe or US or UK…F**KED…

Last word: By the way, I did those sketches when I was in college. I did many of them and I also lost many of them. Math can be boring and I needed something to do to keep me awake in class. Just don’t ask me, why all nude??? Ahahaha…

10 Most Expensive Pablo Picasso Paintings

               For some time I have not been able to paint, blame it to my laziness or whatever, but of course, it’s more because of the hot weather here in New Delhi. It gets way hot in summer here and humid. You just can’t imagine doing anything. Temperature can go up to 45 C (116 F) and that’s when it becomes literally a microwave outside (and inside as well unless you can afford an AC) and I can’t afford an AC. It’s “burned cookie” weather, in short. Just buy some eggs and oil, you might also decide to fry some omelet on the road itself on your walk, I think…ahahaha…well, so I am doing a bit of art study and just wanted to update.

            1. Le Reve (1932)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 51 x 38 Inches

               Price: $155 million in 2013

 

               Marie-Therese, Picasso’s mistress, was the subject behind this very expensive painting. It captures his muse asleep on a chair, a scene that was repeated in another painting from the same series “La Lecture”. The portrait is said to have been completed over an afternoon in 1932 when Picasso was 50 years old; Marie Therese was 24. The painting is famous for its explicit content (a penis can be seen on the face) but even more famous because of an accident that occurred in 2006. In 1997, the painting became the sixth most expensive painting ever sold at Christie’s at a staggering $48.4 million. By 2006, the then owner of the painting Steve Wynn was planning to sell the painting for nearly thrice the price in 1997 - $139 million. Unfortunately, while Wynn was showing the work to his friend, put his elbow through the canvas, puncturing it in the left forearm of the painting and creating a six-inch tear. After a $90,000 repair, the work was re-valued at $85 million. Wynn proceeds to claim the $53 million difference, from his Lloyd’s of London insurers. When the insurers balked, Wynn sued them in 2007. In 2013, Steven A. Cohen of SAC Capital brought the painting from Wynn for $155 million. The price is estimated to be the highest ever paid for an artwork by a U.S. collector.

            2. Nude, Green leaves and Bust (1932)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 64 x 51 Inches.

               Price: 106.5 million in 2010

               Back in 1952, Los Angeles art collectors Sidney and Frances Brody brought the artwork for a bargain price of $17,000. Rumored to be painted in a day, the painting represents the rich phase of Picasso’s carrier. By this time, Picasso had become very skilled in his art and began using symbolism. The painting depicts Picasso’s famous mistress and muse Marie-Therese Walter, sprawls across the bottom half of the canvas, while her bust adorns a pedestal and the leaves are of philodendron or “Love Tree” that Picasso had in his room. A closer looks reveals Picasso’s lips emerging from behind the veil. The painting remained in the Brody collection until May 2010, when it fetch $106.5 million at a Christie's auction. The painting is widely rumored to be a part of Russian Oligarch Roman Abramovich's art collection.

            3. Garcon a la Pipe (1905)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 39.4 x 32 Inches

               Price: $104 million 2004

               A portrait of a Parisian working boy; holding a pipe in his and wearing a string of roses on his head like a crown. An artwork painted when Picasso was just 24. And as the colors suggest, the artwork belongs to Picasso’s "Rose Period". In 1905, the American ambassador to Britain, bought the painting for $30,000 and remained in his private collection until 2004. Betsey, Whitney’s wife, had set up the philanthropic Green Tree Foundation after her husband died in 1982. The foundation put up for auction with Sotheby’s in 2004. It was sold for $104 million against the Sotheby’s expert pre-auction estimate at $70 million.

            4. Dora Maar Au Chat (1941)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 50.5 x 37.5 Inches

               Price: $95.216 million in 2006 

               It depicts Dora Maar, the painter’s lover, seated on a chair with a small cat perched on her shoulder. It’s one of the many portraits Picasso did, of Dora Maar, over their nearly decade-long relationship. Picasso fell in love with the 29 year old Maar at the age of 55 and soon began living with her. In 196, Chicago based art collectors Leigh and Mary Block sold the painting to a private collection. After that the painting was never shown until the 21^st century. In 2006, the artwork was estimated at $50 million by Sotheby’s, but was sold at much higher price than the pre-auction estimates, $95.216 million. This artwork has a very interesting background because till now, the present owner of the painting still remains unknown to the general public, except for rumors that points to the Georgian mining magnate and the then Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina (Boris) Ivanishvili, who sold his Moscow bank, a week before the auction for $550 million.

            5. Famme Aux Bras Croises (1902)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 32 x 23 Inches

               Price: $55 million in 2000

               Also known as the “Woman with Crossed Arms”, this artwork belongs to Picasso’s "Blue Period". The subject behind these particular painting is not much know. Some rumored to be an inmate at the Saint-Lazare hospital-prison in Paris. One of the owners of this famous painting was Gertrude Stein, a writer and art collector who famously became the subject of Picasso’s painting in 1906. In 1936, it was sold to an American art collector, Chauncey McCormick and remained with the McCormick family until 2000, when it was sold via Christie’s to an anonymous buyer, following a tremendous bidding war for $55 million.

            6. Pierrette’s Wedding (1905)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 48 x 72 Inches

               Price: $51.3 million in 1989

               Also painted during his Blue period, the painting “Pierrette’s Wedding” shows Harlequin blowing kiss to the bribe. The presence of blurred images might have suggests that the painting was unfinished, but some art expert claims it’s a finish work. In 1907, art dealer and Picasso’s friend, Josef Stransky, acquired the painting. Later between, 1945 and 1962, it was passed into the hands of Paulo Picasso, the artist’s son. Thereafter, Swedish financer Frederick Roos purchased the painting and donated it to the French government. In November 1989, the painting went up on auction. Japanese real estate developer Tomonori Tsurumaki placed the winning bid of $51.3 million via telephone from Tokyo. At that time, this was a record price for a Picasso sold at an auction.

            7. Femme Assise Dans un Jardin (1938)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 51.5 x 38.4 Inches

               Price: $49.5 million in 1999

               One of the best examples of Picasso’s cubist style, “Femme Assise Dans un Jardin” depicts once again, Dora Maar, but this time in a garden setting. By this time, Picasso had started experiments on his famous Cubism. Supposed to be completed with a span of a day, this artwork remained in the private collection of cellist and composer Daniel Saidenberg for many years until it was sold in 1997 after Saidedberg’s death. But in 1999, it was sold for $49.5 million at a Sotheyby’s auction in New York.

            8. Yo, Piccaso (1901)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 28.9 x 23.8 Inches

               Price: $47.9 million in 1989

               This early painting by Picasso was a self-portrait from the “Blue Period”. In 1981, the panting fetched a six-figure amount, $5.8 million, at an auction by Sotheby’s, to a well-known art collector Wendell Cherry. Eight years later, Cherry took back the artwork to auction the auction block. Once again “Yo, Picasso” was up at Sotheby’s auction. Famous auctioneer, John L. Marion, concluded the bidding with the winning bid at $43.5 million, plus 10% Sotheby’s auction fee, totaling to $47.9 million. When the painting was sold in 1989, it became the second-most costliest painting at that time.

            9: La Lecture (1932)

               Medium: Oil on Penal

               Size: 25.8 x 20 Inches

               Price: $40.71 million in 2011

               “La Lecture”, once again it features Marie-Therese Walter. As can been seen from the artwork, the blonde Marie is captured nude asleep on a chair, a book rest on her nap. This painting was created the same year as “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”. In 1932, “La Lecture” went on a display at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. Interestingly, this painting also brought to an end to Picasso’s marriage with Olga Khokhlova when Olga realized that the model in the painting was not herself. The painting came up for auction after travelling through several prestigious art collections to Sotheby’s in 2011. An anonymous Russian client bought the painting over a telephone bid for $40.71 million, in the super-short bidding lasting only eight minutes.

            10. Au Lapin Agile (1904)

               Medium: Oil on Canvas

               Size: 39 x 39.5 Inches

               Price: $40.7 million in 1989

               There is an interesting story behind his particular painting. Apparently, Picasso painted “Au Lapin Agile” in return for free meals at the famous cabaret of the same name in Monmartre, Paris. Picasso presented the painting to Frede, the owner of the cabaret, who not knowing then the value of the artwork, sold it for mere $20, in 1912. In 1952, art collector Joan Whitney Payson acquired the painting. By then the value of the painting had ballooned from $20 to $60,000. The painting remained with the Payson family until 1989, when the art collector’s daughter Linda de Roulet consigned the painting to a Sotheby’s auction. It was sold to Annenburg Collection for $40.7 million, against the pre-auction estimates between $35-$40 million.

        Last Word: Damn!!! I just need $1 million for now, the rest can come later. lol :P 

Fantasy Revisited

          Fantasizing a fantasy, I think, was a better part of my childhood. I was good at it. Or least, that was the only one thing I could do when I was being left behind. I didn’t have a lot of friends as a kid. My elder brother and sisters were more of a friend to me than anyone else was. That was how we were being raised. Not that I am complaining about this friendship, actually I am proud of it, but when your only friends are trying to catch up with their teenage and you are too small to understand anything about it at all, gaps eventually nudge out. Now you know what this “left behind” I was talking about before. So during those days I had two options. One, pick up a book and read which I will not understand a thing unless every page has a picture in it. Or two, play my mind the way I want it. I pick the later.

 

Mermaid by @my_popart via twitter

          I remember those days when, just before going to sleep, I just have to close my eyes and travel to all this places no one has ever seen or heard, until I actually finally fall asleep. Or even better, climb the roof of our family washroom (because that was only place I could climb at that time) and feel the setting sun while I am lost somewhere in some of my own private galaxy. Goosebumps!!! I use to have a bunch of these (magical world) between which I switch from time to time, but not in order. Whatever comes first, was the trick. Then Disney decides to play “The Little Mermaid” series on the TV. Then, it was heaven. Now I will not even start with that 1984 movie “Splash”, because that will take us to some “not openly talk about” phase of this fantasizing fantasy. Or maybe someday I will, but not now. For now, let’s just stay clean. Ahahaha…

          “I have heard the call of it. I didn’t know what it was but I know it was calling me and I have to find it whatever it takes. So, I set out on my journey. I have traveled for days and I have travelled far. This is a place where no one has ever been before or from where no one has ever returned. It looks like an island but was much more small and scattered. The clouds are forming and thunderstorms are gathering, thick and dark. It’s getting dark and I know I was lost. I was scared. Then I realized I was not alone. I saw a figure of a woman lying on a rock just above the sea level. It was hardly moving. At that moment I didn’t realized she was injured and couldn’t move and needed my help. I was terrified instead, but I didn’t have an option. So, I call out for an answer but I go no reply except for a very small movement that I almost missed it. I had to row my canoe closer and face whatever it was.

         She was scared, I saw from her eyes. She wanted me away. I should have left her alone there but I couldn’t afford to do it. She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and she would have died if I left her alone. I feed her, she wouldn’t eat. I gave her water, she wouldn’t drink. I didn’t know what to do but I knew that was what I had to do. She was dying and I was crying. But one day, she decided to eat and start drinking from my hands. Very soon, she was well and we were swimming. She tells me of her story and about her people. She gives me breath underneath the water. She takes me to places that I had never seen before. She teaches me things that I would have never learn. We were deeply in love and we were happy. Soon I might turn into something like her (I thought) and we could live forever. But I was wrong. One day she tells me she had to go. I was sad and I cried. She comforted me but in vain. Then she tells me she will visit me as she could take a human form. That was our only option as I couldn’t take a form like her. Then she left”. She was a mermaid. For more details, please consult my childhood…ahahaha….

          Now if you change that plot into a ship shipwrecked and I was the one injured and the mermaid taking care of me. I have been there too. Think of it as a sequel from my imagination. Sounds like a Hollywood movie now, don’t you think so? (lol) except mine has less cinematography and visual effects. But trust me, it’s way more fun.

          Damn imagination!!! I was bad at it (lol)...

          Jokes apart, yes Mermaids were one of my favorite fantasies. Somehow I grew up with them but now it’s almost lost. Maybe partly because the world has proved that mermaid never existed. I started believing in that, until recently.

          Well, I will not talk much about these videos, a two documentary covered out by Animal Planet, (some of you might have seen it before) on mermaids because as much as it sounded real or fake to me, to some it will sounds as much as fake or real. So it’s a personal take. I found out that it’s more interesting to actually watch this video, if watch the second part first. Unfortunately, the only file I found of the second part of this documentary is not available for US viewers and so blogspot will accept it here. Anyway, the links of the Part I and Part II is given below and you can watch part by part if it allows you to. But here I am embedding the combined full episode. Enjoy watching :)

Video Part I

Video Part II

Last Word: Imagine a magical world and I will be there with you.