The story of ‘Arts India’

The Arts India Magazine had served for the past 7 years as India’s most important Art Magazine though it was often criticized for highligting the works of only a handful of artists. Sangita Jindal, the founder of this magazine was often accused of allowing the management to collect donations, sponsorships and advertisements in lieu of articles written on certain artists and art galleries.

All this has made the Magazine a part of a nexus of a handful of artists, galleries and collectors. Some of the major players in this nexus was Saffron Art Auction House, the Visual Arts Gallery, and galleries like Sakshi and Art Home.

Between 2000 and 2006, Visual Arts Gallery and its chairperson Alka Pandey supported New Delhi based artist Jorge Martin. Jorge Martin was given the Most Promising Artist award by Visual Arts inhouse foundation. Then Alka Pandey got some false sales done for the artist. She was supported in this matter by Rohit Gandhi of Palette Art Gallery. One can now see that the nexus had helped Alka Pandey and her artist Jorge Martin to get at least eight reviews written on Arts India Magazine during this period. This was something totaly unethical.

Abhay Sardesai, the editor of the Arts India Magazine has always been supportive of artists like Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta and Jitish Kallat. It has now been found that this three artists cornered 30% of all writeups in the Arts India Magazine till date.

The Arts India Magazine had been curiously silent on important Indian artists like Sushant Mandal whose works were aquired by the Guggenheim Museum, which was a very rare acheivement. The Arts India Magazine had been silent about Akumal Ramachander who had been honoured by the Polish Government specifically for immense contribution to art. Artist Devajyoti Ray’s painting was aquired two years back by Fine Arts Museum, Havana. This too was mostly ignored by the Arts India Magazine. These are all independent achievements by some of India’s best artists. But sans support from big houses, these artists have remained mostly unknown in India.

That Arts India magazine has been indulging in these nefarious activieties and promoting only some inhouse artists in the name of journalism is well known now. With the help of SaffronArt Auction house, the prices of these same set of artists was also increased artificially by many folds.  According to David McNamura, an independent art observer, “Most contemporary artists whose prices had been above five lakh rupees for a piece of work, the pre-recession price may not ever be reached again in the internatioanl market”  

The artists and galleries that were once a part of the coterie are now worst-hit in the recession and their credibility is in doldrums.

But Indian Art world still requires art magazines for the dissemination of information. However it is high time that these magazines are also guided by certain guidelines and are kept under the purview of PTI. For this the government should take initiative and so should PTI to cater news related to art matters to the press as well as these magazines.

It is necessary that buyers and investors in the field of art take only such news as acceptable which come from independent sources and not from magazine’s inhouse writers.