here & now

While Indian art has ridden the wave of the yo-yoing art market to its benefit, there are still just a handful of artists who have received recognition and who are shown repeatedly nationally and internationally. A group show opening tomorrow night at Gallery Nature Morte Berlin provides a snapshot of young artists who represent the second coming in contemporary art in India. The exhibition What Rules? is the Berlin edition of a successful exhibition series First Showing, a platform for fresh talent curated by New Delhi-based Deeksha Nath at the New Delhi gallery Seven Art Ltd.

Featured in the show is Malik Sajad, a graphic novelist who examines the impact of India and Pakistan’s violent struggle over Kashmir on the lives of Kashmiris. Sajad’s political satire work has appeared in English and Urdu newspapers, and he has been called India’s own Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis).

The show also features the work of painter Sonia Mehra Chawla, installationist Suchitra Gahlot, photographer Rohini Devasher, architect and artist Asim Waqif, and politically-motivated multi-media artist Akshay Raj Singh Rathore. Chennai-based artists Kumaresan Selvaraj, Aneesh Kalode Rajan and Saravanan Parasuraman are also represented, as are expat Indians Khalil Chishtee and Pritika Chowdhry, who though based in New York still reflect on the politics of their home region.

This diverse group represents a new crop of rising artists who will challenge the established Indian art scene in the years to come.

- By Linda Green

Opening: 15 January, 6pm-9pm
Exhibition: 15 January – 12 February 2011
Nature Morte, Zimmerstrasse 90-91 (3rd Floor), Berlin
www.naturemorte.com

PS…
We warned you a few weeks ago about the impending death of the Estonian kroon. Those who forgot to exchange their now-obsolete Estonian currency will have one last opportunity to spend it at an event tonight in Berlin. The Eastern European culture magazine B EAST is hosting a party to launch their latest issue at West Germany in Kreuzberg, and true to their geographic roots they will be accepting Estonian kroon at the door as well as Euros. Entrance is 4€ or 60 Estonian kroon.