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Bridging the gap between Indian contemporary art and Chennai

December 18, 2024

(Left) Rabina Mondal’s untitled work, (right) A self portrait by Tito Stanley SJ
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

The gallery at Alliance Francaise of Madras is practically unrecognisable today; the white cube has been transformed with deep red and black walls and a faux flooring to mimic art collector and entrepreneur Jaiveer Johal’s home. It is after all, perhaps only a quarter of Jaiveer’s priced personal art collection that hangs on these walls today.

In a well-curated show by Anish Gawande titled Unititled!, the Chennai art collector displays a piece of himself in a series of unconventional portraits that he has collected.

Untitled! is a cross section of fine Indian contemporary art that begs to be seen.

Rekha Rodwittiya’s South African Pancha Tantra
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Portraiture is not in its most conventional garb here. Be it FN Souza’s Volvox Head, a dismembered face in soothing blues or Dhruva Mistry’s Here You Are, a reclining figure reflecting organised chaos, the collection questions convention. “We wanted to start with familiarity and extend the conversation into the unfamiliar. The show has not been designed for the art aficionado. The portrait is something very familiar to people, so we thought, why not start with that?” says Jaiveer.

Here, you can sit on a 200 kilogram concrete bench made by artist Atul Dodiya in remembrance of pioneer Indian contemporary artist Bhupen Khakar, and gaze upon another one of the latter’s almost transparent and fluid, yet colourful work from across the wall. Or you can peer closely at a miniature painting that depicts the protagonist holding hands with those around him, exploring the history of touch, a rarity in the genre. Or Rekha Rodwittiya’s imposing 2018 canvas that encapsulates transient worlds, so reminiscent of contemporary times and influences.

F N Souza’s Volvox Head
| Photo Credit:
Dinesh kumar G

The display also marks the debut show of Chennai-based Avtar Foundation for the Arts founded by Jaiveer which attempts to bring fine Indian contemporary art to Chennai, and take contemporary art from here to other parts of the country.

“We have a great history and living tradition of cinema, music and theatre, particularly in Tamil Nadu, but there is a gap when it comes to visual arts. If you want to look at great modern and contemporary art, you would either have to know a collector or leave the city,” says Jaiveer. It is from this sheer need for conversation that the foundation was born. For Madras, from Madras: this is the motto.

Building a culture around good quality art and having conversations around it is the first step, says Jaiveer. “The reason why I chose my collection, apart from that element of narcissism (laughs), is simply because it was easiest in terms of logistics. The point was to get people interested about starting the conversation,” says Jaiveer. And so it did. The show has seen over 1,000 people walk in over its one week-run that ends today. The plan is to host shows once in a year, and eventually show borrowed pieces as well.

“This is a personal collection that’s meant to be put in a home. Once you take such pieces and put them in a white cube space, they can lose meaning. We wanted to create a sense of intimacy because the objects are intimate,” says Jaiveer of the decision to transform the space. Mumbai-based interior stylist Samir Wadekar was brought on board as an exhibition designer for the project.

Jaiveer says that he collects aesthetically, he collects what moves him. “It’s a process based on what emotion the work evokes, after which, a lot of research on the artist and their values and practice is involved because it’s serious money!”

Speaking from across a Bhupen Kakkar canvas of a man smelling a flower, a favourite at this moment in time, he says, “To my left is [RM] Palaniappan’s piece from the Berlin series [inspired by his visit to Germany and the Reichstag at Berlin], which has equally spoken to me. It’s very hard to pick your babies.”

Avtar Foundation’s next major show is an invited project for the Chennai Photo Biennale that brings Manisha Gera Baswani’s Artist Through The Lens series that documents many Indian contemporary artists in their workspace that opens on January 17 at Raw Mango.

Untitled! is on view till December 19 at Espace 24 gallery at Alliance Francaise of Madrasfrom 10am to 5pm.