India Art Conclave 2023
Mumbai, February 28, 2023: The first India Art Conclave (IAC 2023) just concluded in Mumbai at the Bombay Art Society, Bandra West with a 5-day Exhibition of 240 paintings, 12 sculptures and 2 installations from 138 artists coming from 10 states of India from February 18th to 22nd 2023. The event also included 4 seminars and 1 live painting session.
The massive celebration of Indian Art was organized by Anthelion School of Art from Kolkata, an ISO 9001:2015 certified school of fine arts that teaches professional painting to people of all ages – 8 to 80 years old from every state of India and 9 other countries currently and organizes art based events across India. The event was co-curated by Dolna, the movement from Mumbai.
The Idea of India Art Conclave
As Dipayan Banerjee, the CEO of Anthelion School of Art puts it –
“We wanted to explore and look out for extra-ordinary talents from deep interiors of India and bring them to national level platforms to the major urban Indian art audiences in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad & Chennai. This was our first endeavor in the series. As we go through the upcoming versions of IAC in future, we would try and identify the best of Indian Artist and take them for global audience in international cities. In this effort, this first IAC was quite a success with massive participation and identifying of great talents.”
It was one of its kind art event that not only provided a platform for artists to showcase talent and art lovers to experience the wide variety of artworks, it also created a great opportunity to discuss the most relevant and critical issues that an Artist faces in his / her journey. It was an absolute enrichment platform for participating artists and guest.
What Happened @ India Art Conclave
Day 1: 18th February 2023
The event started on Saturday, 18th February 2023 with an opening ceremony followed by the seminar on – “Indian Art education in the context of global positioning”. The panelist included Prof. Raja Mohanty and Prof. G V Sreekumar from IDC, IIT Powai, Mahendra Damle, Principal Rachana Sansad, College of Fine Arts & Crafts, Geeta Castelino, Psychologist & Educationist and Dr. Jamila Q Varawala, Retd. Dean Ecole Intuit Lab.
As the topic states, the primary discussion was around the ‘art education system in India’ and the critical factors that shape the development of artists at various stages of their growth. The importance of educating and counselling the parents first for letting their children spread their wings in the world of art. The global art education vis-à-vis the Indian art education system.
Day 2: 19th February 2023
The second day of the conclave brought another fantastic seminar on “Impact of Indian Art in global art business”, with panelists Rajendra Patil, President Bombay Art Society, Sapna Kar, Co-founder Curators Art Project, Anil Sekhri, CA, Tax Consultant & Art Collector, Savitha Hira Gallerist, Gallery Pradarshak, and Angira Arya, Art Auctioneer.
As it stands, Indian Art does not make event 1% of the global art business in terms of revenue. The discussion of the second day was about art business, how an artist prepares oneself to market and establish the right value for one’s art, the pricing policies, the ways to approach galleries, which art to put in exhibition and which are practice work, difference between auction and exhibition and an artists’ journey in the process. A fascinating discussion it was.
Day 3: 20th February 2023
The third day was a live painting session with about 10 artists from different corners of India painting live at the Exhibition.
Day 4: 21sth February 2023
The fourth day was an interesting discussion session, named Art 3.0, that talked about Web3 and NFT in the world of fine arts, what are the two things and how they work and how they impact the Art Industry? In-depth insights were shared by Utpal Chakraborty, data scientist, AI researcher and Quantum scientist and author of newly launched “Metaverse & Web3” along with artist Hetal Shukla, a proponent of Art & NFT. The discussion was joined online by Nanda Khiara from UK, multi-disciplinary artist, writer, storyteller and NFT artist.
The Art 3.0 was organized in association with Fandora App which is the first web3 auction platform for artists. While Utpal Chakraborty gave a definition and philosophy behind the Blockchain, Crypto, NFT and Web3 technologies – what they are, why they were developed and how they work, Ms. Nanda Khiara from UK made a fantastic online presentation in detail about NFT and its impact on artworld. Hetal highlighted from his experience how it stands advantageous to artists.
Day 5: 22nd February 2023
The last and final day, Wednesday 22nd February witnessed an enchanting session and seminar on “Harmony of art forms – co-existence of Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Literature”, before the closing of the conclave. The panel consisted of Subodh Poddar, Advertising Professional, Visual Artist, Sculptor & Author, Alok Sharma, Co-founder of Indusverse, Creative Producer Warner Bros., Kunal Om, eminent flamenco performer, choreographer & conceptualizer, Alka Hingorani, art historian, associate professor, IDC School of Design, IIT Powai, and the young Chaitanya Haldankar model, anchor, event curator, actor & contemporary dancer.
Every artist shared their enchanting journey and where they came across crossroads that overlapped with other forms of art and how those learnings made them even better and stronger in their respective art fields.
The Experience
Eminent Artist’s Thoughts:
As described by senior artist, writer, sculptor and advertising professional Mr. Subodh Poddar – “This exhibition at the Bombay art society was not just an art exhibition. Anthelion School of Art from Kolkata and Dolna, the Movement from Mumbai together organized many art talks which were very relevant for the artists. Prominent speakers and their speeches were first of its kind. Happy to see the efforts that Anthelion School of Art is making to give their artists new platform. Hope it helps expand the awareness of Indian art in India and abroad.”
Panelist’s Thoughts:
In Chaitanya Haldankar’s words – “I thank Miss Basu & Mr. Banerjee for honoring me with the opportunity to discuss this topic with my esteemed fellow panelists. Art in my perspective is intrinsic to us, as humans. The Indian Art Conclave was an excellent effort to discuss the need and the existence of harmony as well as the disparity among the varied forms of art; mainly fine, performing, and literary arts.
Though interdependent at their very core, they seem to stand divided on grounds of commercialization. In doing so we as artists and as humans are restricting the possibility of creating an amalgamated art form that is craving discovery. It needs to be realized that art is more than aesthetics and is not only the solution to many problems but a major way to express.”
Participating Artists’ Thoughts:
One of the participating artist Mrs. Uma Krishnamoorthy summarizes the whole event as “The India Art Conclave showcased a wonderful variety of art from different parts of the country. Further, the panel discussions that took place throughout the exhibition were relevant, honest, and insightful.
The discussions touched upon a wide spectrum of topics from the quality of art education, the idealism of art for art’s sake to the practicalities and avenues for art monetization, the inadequacy of art infrastructure, the need to broaden the base and increase the number of art collectors / buyers in the country, art appreciation, the need for art documentation, the internet & online galleries, the role of platforms such as various Art Events vis a vis traditional galleries, NFT and Web 3 rights and how they could become game changers for artists, harmony and co-existence of different forms of art and so on.”
The actual goal of identifying talents from deep interiors of India and providing them an urban audience was very much successful. Ramesh Chandra Moharana from Puri, Odisha felt that – “It is very important for artists like us in the villages and deep interiors who are practicing a particular form and style for hundreds of years, generations after generation to come to events like this, not only to showcase our work and get the opening and price for it, but also to expand our thoughts and ideas by observing how are is flourishing in different forms and styles across the world. This will definitely give us new ideas and dimensions to think and conceptualize in our future work.”
Nalini Joshi from Mumbai views the event as – “A very engaging and forward-looking event with a lot of relevance in today’s world of Art. The topics chosen for seminars were well thought of where the participants got some very useful insights and networking platform.”
Shailaja Salian, artist & textile designer describes India Art Conclave – “The panel discussions by experts were in-depth on all days. Personally, it helped me understand the mindset I should have while selling my art on various platforms. And the various approaches I should strengthen, while guiding my students to dabble in art.”
“Co-curating for IAC2023 leverages our shared expertise, resulting in a stronger and more diverse curatorial vision and a more innovative and engaging experience for visitors.” Co-curator Mithu Basu (founder Dolna, the movement).
The Way Forward
Anthelion School of Art from Kolkata envisions to “spread the Indian artistic influence in the intellectual mindset of the world”. With this vision India Art Conclave is designed to roll into 6 major cities in India and 6 art centric cities in the world in the coming years.
