Indian Galleries at Art Basel
Uma Prakash
Due to the prohibitive cost of attending International art fairs, very few Indian
galleries participate in art fairs, although, the numbers are increasing every year.
However, Art Basel’s thriving market and opportunity for networking, along with
the new co-directors of Art Basel, Marc Spiegler and Annette Schönholzer’s trip
to India, enticed four galleries to participate at Art Basel this year. The Indian
galleries that participated were Kolkata based Experimenter Gallery, Mumbai based
Chemould Prescott Road, Delhi and Berlin based Nature Morte, and Bangalore based
GALLERYSKE. To cover their expenses, most of the galleries chose to represent
established artists instead of newcomers. That is why works by well known names
like Jitish Kallat, Dayanita Singh, Sudarshan Shetty, L. N. Tallur and Shilipa Gupta
were seen at the fair. 
Photographer Dayanita Singh, artists L. N. Tallur and Shakuntala Kulkarni’s
works were most visible as they appeared in the galleries as well as in Art Unlimited.
Nature Morte Gallery combined their forces with Mumbai based Chemould Prescott
Road to show L. N. Tallur at Art Unlimited, while London based Frith Street Gallery
exhibited Singh, and Chemould Prescott Road offered the works of Shakuntala
Kulkarni.
Mona Rai, Dayanita Singh amd L. N. Tallur were shown by the Berlin and New
Delhi based Nature Morte Gallery. They displayed eight prints from Dayanita Singh’s
“Third Sex Portfolio”. Singh’s preoccupation with eunuchs began in 1989, when
she first met Mona Ahmed who eventually became the subject of her book “Myself
Mona Ahmed.” The fact that Dayanita is one of the two artists in the Venice Biennale
(German Pavilion) this year speaks volumes for her work.
