India, the Asian tiger, the icon of information technology, rises in the world of contemporary art. When discussing contemporary art, it is the art from China that is most acknowledged. While the Chinese dragon has found success in overwhelming prices, the Indian tiger is gaining rapid ground. In India, there is a merging of celebratory culture with spiritualism and growing materialism. Contemporary Indian art, too, has become a symbol of success and self-confidence both abroad and at home. Art increases value in terms of accumulation of wealth as well as in terms of image for both the resident and the non-resident Indian. The country has developed into an internationally significant economy, growing at about eight per cent annually. Contemporary Indian art is now a commodity, a creation for investment, rather than a symbol of religion or functional object. The growth of Indian art follows the trajectory of the early Modernists who celebrated line, form, colour and individual expression. Indian art now moves on to have a strong global presence in contemporary art, where the focus has shifted from the sacred, beautiful, political and social, to the more vibrant arena of visual culture. It is this tension between tradition and modernity that seduces art collectors across the globe to shift their gaze from a concentration on Chinese contemporary art to contemporary Indian art. Through expositions of their inner and external landscapes, and their use of materials both physical and mental, Indian artists produce art that is truly universal. They speak in a singular international voice and push the boundary of a cosmopolitan visual language. The art market is blossoming in India, fuelled by the interest generated by the high prices fetched by the country’s artists at international auction houses, for example Sotheby’s and Christies, where there has been an unexpected boom in contemporary Asian art. There is also a frenzied drive to collect works in anticipation of rising prices. Collectors become gallerists in cases where art collections have outgrown their homes and offices, and they find new ways to expand their interest. With this in mind, much thought and deliberation has gone into the selection of artists whose works are exhibited at the Swarovski’s Crystal World. Each of the artists are singular in their vocabulary and they speak of the dynamism and the challenges confronting the wonder that is India.



BOSE KRICHNAMACHARI
RIYAS KOMU

INDIA CONTEMPORARY
PART II
SWAROVSKI MUSEUM
FEBRUARY 1
— MARCH 31 2008