Bridging the gap between Indian contemporary art and Chennai

Chennai's Avtar Foundation for the Arts brings Indian contemporary art to and from Chennai

The gallery at Alliance Francaise of Madras is practically unrecognisable today; the white cube has been transformed with deep red and black walls and a faux flooring to mimic art collector and entrepreneur Jaiveer Johal’s home. It is after all, perhaps only a quarter of Jaiveer’s priced personal art collection that hangs on these walls today. 

In a well-curated show by Anish Gawande titled Unititled!, the Chennai art collector displays a piece of himself in a series of unconventional portraits that he has collected.

Untitled! is a cross section of fine Indian contemporary art that begs to be seen.

Portraiture is not in its most conventional garb here. Be it FN Souza’s Volvox Head, a dismembered face in soothing blues or Dhruva Mistry’s Here You Are, a reclining figure reflecting organised chaos, the collection questions convention. “We wanted to start with familiarity and extend the conversation into the unfamiliar. The show has not been designed for the art aficionado. The portrait is something very familiar to people, so we thought, why not start with that?” says Jaiveer. 

Here, you can sit on a 200 kilogram concrete bench made by artist Atul Dodiya in remembrance of pioneer Indian contemporary artist Bhupen Khakar, and gaze upon another one of the latter’s almost transparent and fluid, yet colourful work from across the wall. Or you can peer closely at a miniature painting that depicts the protagonist holding hands with those around him, exploring the history of touch, a rarity in the genre. Or Rekha Rodwittiya’s imposing 2018 canvas that encapsulates transient worlds, so reminiscent of contemporary times and influences.  

The display also marks the debut show of Chennai-based Avtar Foundation for the Arts founded by Jaiveer which attempts to bring fine Indian contemporary art to Chennai, and take contemporary art from here to other parts of the country. 

“We have a great history and living tradition of cinema, music and theatre, particularly in Tamil Nadu, but there is a gap when it comes to visual arts. If you want to look at great modern and contemporary art, you would either have to know a collector or leave the city,” says Jaiveer. It is from this sheer need for conversation that the foundation was born. For Madras, from Madras: this is the motto.