(Annurag Sharma, Founder Director of United Art Fair, Declaring UAF in Baroda)
I still
remember, during the boom years, one artist friend living in Baroda telling me
about his and his family’s decision to move to Mumbai. He had already settled
there in Baroda with a studio and a home. Still he thought Baroda was not happening
enough. Yes, it was like that. During the hallucinatory boom years everyone
thought that things happened only in the metros. The feast was always on in
Mumbai and Delhi, nights were the nights of revelry, or people thought so. Wads
of cash came in folded designer shirts. Wife met husband at the transit lounges
of airports. Future children were stopped by the thin latex skins. Hotel rooms
became the cauldrons of sin. Baroda was not happening enough then. But today,
Baroda could be called a happening place. That’s why the United Art Fair team
decided to launch its road show in Baroda itself.
As an art
hub Baroda was always there in the world map of culture. But on 6th
May 2007, Baroda was noticed even by the hegemonic American news agencies.
Rightwing fundamentalists were prowling the streets and one of the artists was
victimized for his bold expressions. His name was Chandramohan and his takes on
the lives of Goddess Durga and Jesus Christ had offended the sentiments of the
religious fanatics. Baroda was in news for the wrong reasons. It was the
intervention of the hooligans in the Baroda’s fine arts faculty and their
vandalizing of works of art set the clock backwards for Baroda. On that black
day, the future of the fine arts faculty was more or less decided. It was not
going to capture its lost glory.
(Artists enjoying the talks)
In Baroda,
Summers are severe and long. Post Chandramohan Baroda was like a flat land of
hopelessness cursed to undergo an endless summer. Artists were feeling the heat
of it. They suffered it silently. And elsewhere the party was on. Hard Caur
asked, where is the party? Even if Daddy was angry, girls and boys wanted to
party. They asked where was the party tonight? DJs scratched and rolled discs.
Even the Pappus who could not dance proved that they are good dancers. Baroda
stood in silence and watched in pain. The artists wanted to migrate as the
gallerists were going elsewhere for talent hunting. It was not so a rosy
picture once the economic bubble busted accidently. For the cities it was like
a party stopped half way through. It was like a raid during an illegal rave
party. Songs were stopped halfway, a piece of choreography hung in the air like
a chopped limb and frozen in time.
Then Baroda
smiled. It was the time for the prodigal sons to come back. And those who had
taken the decision to move away regretted their decisions. Today they are all
happy in Baroda because Baroda is a city where artists live without
restrictions. Baroda is a place where artists could afford a life that is
suitable to an artist. One of the faculty members and an independent artist
living in Baroda says, “Somehow, artists are happy here now. Buyers and
collectors come, pick up the works and even if they pay not so big amounts the
artists could pull it off well.” Today in Baroda artists do not float on money
but they all feel that they could work from this city and prove their worth
even if the campus recruiting gallerists no longer come here on Mission
Harvest.
(JohnyML with Parag Sonagre and Sandeep Pisalkar)
United Art Fair
Founder Director Annurag Sharma showed green signal for Baroda because he was a
person who had touched the right nerve of Baroda during the boom years. He was
instrumental in transporting many a huge works by the contemporary artists
fabricated in the Baroda studios. “I could see a vast difference between the
artists who made it in the metros and the ones who lived in cities like Baroda.
There were many successful artists in Baroda. But most of the successful
artists got their works done in Baroda. There was a sense of tension there.”
Today, the tension seemed to be over. Unlike in other cities where galleries
sprout when business opportunities come up, it is one city where studios and
residencies do a wonderful job. A few entrepreneurs had started artists’
studios namely Space Studio, Priyashree Studios, Rukshan Krishna studios and so
on. Young artists are given a space here and in return they give a work to the
studio owner; a beautiful arrangement.
Those who
could afford an independent studio work from their own private studios. There
are different kinds of studios in Baroda. The successful ones as well as the
ones have good jobs and salaries work in highly polished studios. They keep the
hardship and struggles of the youngsters a few paces away and keep themselves
calm but busy in their air conditioned and sound controlled studios. If at all
they are disturbed, they are disturbed by music only. One difference that music
has got from an actual punch is that when it hits it does not hurt. So the
artists live in a heavenly atmosphere. On the other side, there are artists who
run their independent studios and these studios play the role of revolutionary
hubs. Discussions are rampant here. There are studios where artists help each
other. It is not so common a feature in art scene that an artist spreading out
the canvases of an artist who is absent in the studio while potential people
visit them.
(Bowni and Kakoli with other artists in the audience)
United Art
Fair team took the decision to visit Baroda because we thought that if anything
could come out unscathed from Baroda, it should be strong enough to survive the
test of the other cities. And we are proven right. In Baroda we had a quick
trip to the studios where we met enthusiastic youngsters spreading out works
for our perusal. They kept calling me just assure that the team did not miss
their studios. We saw the works and thought that these young and emerging
artists were doing a fantastic job. Many had already found their mentors. Many
are still waiting for that eventual miracle to happen in their lives. They
tirelessly show their works and they don’t switch on the fans as they fear that
the paper works spread out on the floor would fly away. We sweat our love for
these artists. I love them and my team loves them all.
On 11th
May 2012 the artists congregate at the ball room of the Surya Palace Hotel and
the 170 strong gathering has a lot of things to ask. It was our first
presentation and for us it was an absolutely unchartered path. We were not
hugely prepared with our presentations. Our presentation was all about how an
art fair worked and how we wanted to make a difference. There were innumerable
questions and we were ready to take them one by one and more than answering
them then and there efficiently (though we had done that) we were learning a lot
for the future. When I announced that the price of the booth was Rs.35000/- a
young friend got up and said that he had been taking money from his parents all
these six years in the academy and how he could further press them to squeeze
out another 35000 for a show? It was a very valid question. And we offered
solutions. UAF Founder Director Annurag Sharma categorically told the young
artists that he wanted all of them to be on board with or without money and it
was his mission to have them all.
(My parents have been supporting me...Now where shall I find this money? An agitated young artist)
Baroda was a
litmus test for us. Each question raised by the young artists sounded
absolutely relevant. Though they thought the money was quite big for them
(remember, no gallerist is hunting now for the talent in the flat ground of
Baroda), they really told us that it was not too high an amount when it came to
the benefits such an investment would bring for them. We suggested solutions in
terms of getting sponsorship or two or three artists sharing the cost. We even
suggested that we could make one to one deals so that there could be a decent
way of presenting works without letting one party become a loser. Many artists
wrote to me after we came back from Bardoa. They all want to be a part of the
United Art Fair and we welcome them all.
Thank you
Baroda and we are happy to have all the young artists from Baroda. I want to
specially thank the following names who facilitated us in different ways: Alok
Bal, Sajeev Visweswaran, Satyanandmohan, Jitendra Bowni, Kakoli Sen, Priyanka
Govil, Sachin and Shatrughnan Thakur. Thank you Sharmistha Kar, Sudipta Das,
Mukesha Ganji, Maripelly Pravin Goud, Nityanand Jha, Prantik Chatopadhyay, Neha
Takkar, Vandana Kothari, Harisha Chennangod, Deepjyoti Kalita, Pankaj Khalode,
Ramgopal Kumawat, Kamal Pandya, Ajay Lakhera, Rai David, Preeti Agarwal, Kurma
Nadham,Nikita Parikh, Tarun Gujjar, Jagannath Mohapatra, Anasuya Mohapatra,
Kanika Shah, Dimple Panchal, Akshay Tijare, Rachana Badrakiya, Vibin George,
Riya Chatterjee, Budhadev Mukherjee, Muktinath Mondal, Rahul Chauhan, Nirali
Lal, Ganesh Gohain, Santana Gohain, Nandini Das, Rahul Mukherjee and all those
young artists who came for the Baroda declaration.
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