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INDIA ART FAIR SAGA 1, pen & ink on paper, artist : Soumen Bhowmick 2013
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Hard to let go of those glasses of Absolut vodka, the martini...the scotch or that moheto. Dreams half broken like those glasses which felled on the floor at the lounge of the India Art Fair. Feels cheap sometime to be a drunk art lover...a title so enviously guarded by many. Those moments of drunken bliss and philosophies were so tempting to be repeated year after year.
Observations from the India Art Fair:
There are more people in the isles than in the booths.
The best place to meet collectors is in the loo.
More people look at the work label than the work itself.
More people are buying art with their cameras than with their wallets.
People love to collect cards and any other material that is free.
A diet of chocolate and chips is a healthy art fair diet.
Wednesday is the new Saturday.
People watching is a favorite pastime.
People spend 80% of their time visiting 20% of the booths.
People want to see edgy but buy safe.
People ask for exactly the size of work that you do not have.
Lots of famous artists make lots of bad art.
Bad art sells.
This gallerist is brain dead.
By : Soumen Bhowmick
Visual Artist & Writer
April, 2013
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INDIA ART FAIR SAGA 3, pen & ink on paper, artist : Soumen Bhowmick 2013
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The Fair, The Boozes, The Art and The Business
What Happened to India Art Fair?
I do not know at first, because I was struggling to have a VIP entrance to the fair since its inception at Pragati Maidan. I was not allowed by the door keepers they kept on saying that it is for the VIP. I guessed at that time might be there would really be a very interesting thing happening inside where no artists are allowed and only the VIPs. I waited for a while and try to see who these VIPs are. Gosh! I was astonished to see that they are only artists with a card in hand and they were escorted inside. I asked the gate keeper what was that, he said that it is a VIP entrance, I asked him again do you know that he is VIP? He said yes because he had that card...Oh! That is the case give me that card I also wanted to go inside I replied... he said no, because you are not VIP, how I replied, he said because you do not have a card... hmmm! That’s sounds interesting. Then I called my collector who was also there as a VIP and also a participant curator, he said you wait I will arrange it to you. And then suddenly from no where someone came and called my name in. I looked at the door keeper in delight... he just smiled and let me in...
What and where I am entering too I didn’t knew till I felt that these fairs are not for the artists they are only for having wine, dine and have party, I saw not a single work that had inspired me a bit, it looked like a haat of Kolkata bazaar or in fact any where in India. Every pickle, every vegetable was polished and put up with its entire price tags... hmmm! That’s interesting, now people do not have to ask for the prices anymore, I thought that there would be number of potential buyers but I ended up in the VIP lounge which was exclusively for someone who want to drink seriously.
Ha ha ha... I drowsed myself and went home...
And what about art... who cares? It is a good fun to go to the VIP entry and then drowse oneself with wine and come back home with empty mind...
The second and third art fair I didn’t got the passes so I went there spending 200 Rs. flat yet I ended up drowsed again because someone was there to give me VIP lounge entry and I was drunk again and went back to home with empty mind...
In fourth fair my dear friend had given me the VIP pass to get into the fair to view the works for the first time... as I went past the stalls I found only the master’s were looking great with their works but the contemporaries were all the same... looked like a solo show for the entire art fair... another experience I wanted to add then VIP lounge came again... and again I went empty mind to my home...
Fifth fair I was not willing to go... then suddenly I got a card... I got suspicious why? Why again? Yet I went there when I was getting interested in the art works... again the VIP lounge came and again I went empty mind to my home for all the three days... Ha ha ha
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| INDIA ART FAIR SAGA 2, pen & ink on paper, artist : Soumen Bhowmick 2013 |
What is serious about India Art Fair?
The seriousness about India Art Fair is the VIP lounge; the wine, the beer, the boozes and the boosts. Every artist try to get the VIP pass to get the first day entry so that they could meet important people who buy art, so that they could able to introduce their works to them. But instead much of the artists were in the VIP lounges laundering and talking rubbish, collecting information and puking.
And what about the works... they all vanished from the minds because of the simple fact that after five years of art fairs it is still a haat.
Galleries participate and they go but the owners of the Art Fair becoming scum of the corporate rules the artists... and pick a handful of them who sells... I am not against the selling and buying of art works, but my suggestions that if you remove the VIP lounge from the fairs do people will be interested in going there and visiting there. I guess participant artists would not like to go there. Anyway hope for the best as the boozes flow, minds will be kept empty...
By : Rahul Chaudhury
Visual Artist & Writer
April, 2013
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| INDIA ART FAIR, pen & ink on Fair Booklet, artist : Soumen Bhowmick 2012 |