Grand Show At New Delhi’s Sridharani Gallery

Devajyoti Ray, one of the most original visual artists of post-liberalization Indian art will be holding yey another solo show at New Delhi. The show will be organised by Sreedharani Gallery at their own premises in the month of October. But the question is how far is it justifiable to hold a show in these troubled times when the art market is facing acute recession?
On the one hand it is very bold move on the part of Devajyoti Ray as most other artists of India like Bose Krishnamachari, Justin Ponmany, Subodh Gupta are not holding shows these days. “Ray has an advantage over the other artists”, said Sudhanshu Paliwal of Galerie Art Eterne. “Ray is the only artist among the new generation of masters whose prices have not fallen and that is because Ray’s works are available in a very limited numbers with only a handful of galleries”.

Agreed. But the show is not being organised on the sheer optimism of possibility of commercial success. In fact inside news is that almost one third of the paintings to be exhibited will be pre-sold, ie these works will be those which were made by Ray over the past one year on order.
Sridharani Gallery is the oldest of New Delhi’s prestigious galleries. Part of its premises were rented to Rameshwar Broota, one of New Delhi’s best names of yesteryear. The ground floor was given to Ebrahim Alkazi, one of the finest art presenters of modern India. Yet a gallery of such reputation has in recent past not done well partly because of the recession, and partly because of the unhealthy practices that had engulfed the Indian Art market. Launch parties in almost all art shows had seen the free flow of liquor. The highly corrupt press in India was often paid to cover undeserving art shows. Sridharani Gallery had always avoided all these things. So big art houses avoided the gallery.
But now the gallery is being renovated and many of its previous rules will also be revamped. To get back to its feet, the gallery now requires some big names and some good shows. Devajyoti Ray’s show is likely to get the gallery that leverage that it had been craving for.