Vadehra Art Gallery (VAG) has been a huge presence in the business of Indian art for the last 25 years. The Delhi-based gallery has worked with the greats of Indian art such as M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, Ram Kumar and others. The famous gallery has made an entry into Kerala with a retrospective of renowned Malayali artist A. Ramachandran showing now at Durbar Hall art gallery here.
The warm reception to the retrospective has been seen as an indication of the growing art culture in the State. “Kerala is a very literate State and the exhibition of Ramachandran’s works has seen a huge amount of enthusiasm,” said Arun Vadehra, director of VAG. “But people here get to see few such shows. That has to change,” said Mr. Vadehra, who was in the city in connection with the opening of artist Ramachandran’s show here.
The artist had noted that while Kerala’s filmmakers and writers made a mark for themselves in the Indian cultural scene, Malayali painters were not encouraged greatly in their home State. The exhibition at Durbar Hall is the first solo show in Kerala of the 79-year-old Padma Bhushan-winning artist, who left Kerala for Shantiniketan in his youth.
Top Indian art galleries have been reluctant to enter the State and present art work. “There is the absence of any promotion of art of entrepreneurship in Kerala,” said Mr. Vadehra, who turned to the art world from his successful construction business. “There should be more initiatives from within the State. But I guess the blame lies partly with people like us also. Ninety-five percent of art shows go to either Delhi or Mumbai. Other parts of the country like Kochi should also be looked into,” he said. He suggested that the State could also set up initiatives to encourage art galleries to make an entry into the State.
“If there are two dozen art schools in the State, there should be at least three dozen good galleries. Colleges of art should have permanent galleries, libraries and museums. There should be at least six major art shows a year in the State,” he said.
Despite the global recession and the recent bad patch in Indian art entrepreneurship, Vadehra Art Gallery has continued its strong support for art. The gallery also collaborated in 2006 with Grosvenor Gallery in London, which is now the Grosvenor Vadehra gallery. Mr. Vadehra feels that the strength of Indian art is its history. “Our heritage is 5,000 years old. We live with art. But India is far behind the global market,” he said.
