‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ hosts a very successful 4th Edition of the Luxury Art Auction

 The 4th Edition of the Luxury Art Auction, held in aid of Janaagraha, took place at ITC Windsor last evening. Needless to say, this event, which is one of the biggest highlights of ‘Art Bengaluru’ every year, was a success with art lovers and patrons, from across the country, coming to participate in it.
The evening commenced with Uzma Irfan – Co-founder of ‘Art Bengaluru’ & Executive Director – Prestige Group and Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan from Janaagraha addressing the audience. Renowned London-based auctioneer, Bob Hayton, who conducted the Auction for the first time this year, did a remarkable job over the evening amidst cheers from the audience and record sales of the artworks. There were 136 lots on auction this year. Padmashri Award-winning artist, Sri Thota Tharrani’s installation, created exclusively for ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ was among the final lots.
Ms. Uzma Irfan said, “Lately, Indian art has been gaining value globally. Investment in art is now giving steady competition to other more typical forms of financial investment options for potential investors. Experts believe that the Indian art market is on a growth trajectory as an increasing number of people are turning to art, either to collect or to invest in.”
“I want to thank each and every one who participated in the event to make it such a huge success. This is only the beginning and we aim to host many more such events to further promote Fine Arts in Bangalore in future.” she added.

About the Luxury Art Auction
Masters, contemporaries, emerging artists, even tribal art - were all a part of this auction, with prices ranging from a few thousand to many lakhs.  Although most works were sourced directly from the artists, a few were provided by collectors as well as participating galleries from ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’.

This year’s auction included the works of celebrated artists like Jamini Roy, Francis Newton Souza, Ram Kumar, Maqbool Fida Husain, Paritosh Sen, K.K. Hebbar, V.S. Gaitonde, K.S. Kulkarni, Rabin Mondal, Abani Sen, Jogen Chowdhury, T. Vaikuntam, Anupam Sud, Arpana Caur, Aditya Basak, Manu Parekh, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Suhas Roy, Shuvaprasanna, Akkitham Narayanan, S.G Vasudev, Sekhar Roy, Sunil Das, Kanchan Chander, Niren Sengupta, Gokuldas Sadanand Shenoy, Thota Tharrani and Rini Dhumal. Other renowned artists like Riyas Komu, Alok Bal, Sujata Bajaj, Shipra Bhattacharya, Hema Upadhyay, Nikhil Chaganlal, Sanatan Dinda, C.F. John, Arunanshu Chowdhury, Seema Kohli, Vasant Viraj Naik, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Subodh Kerkar and sculptor – Tapas Sarkar were also part of this auction. A few of the emerging artists participating in the auction were N. Ramachandran, Yati Jaiswal, Parvathi Nayar, Ritu Kamath, Avijit Dutta, Suchit Sahni, Vikash Kalra, print maker Moutushi Chakraborty Nee Banerjee and Tribal artist Sandhya Arvind.

Art Bengaluru 2013' starts with a bang

‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ started with a bang on Friday - 16 August 2013. The grand Inaugural Night commenced with showcasing an art installation by celebrated artist, Thota Tharrani. Padmashri awardee, Sri Tharrani had created this centre-piece exclusively for this event, to portray the theme of ‘Reflections’, and was present at the unveiling. Mr. Subroto Bagchi, Co-Founder of Mindtree and one of India’s best-known business authors, who was the Chief Guest for the event, unveiled Sri Tharrani’s creation, amidst great excitement and anticipation from the audience. This installation will be a part of the Art Auction this year. The evening also featured Body Art Dancers as yet another reinforcement of the theme. As in previous years, the cream of society was present to applaud this unique initiative.

Art Bengaluru needs no introduction. What was started in 2010 as an attempt to increase art awareness in the city has today grown into a much-awaited international art festival that has carved a niche for Bangalore on the global art map. The 4th Edition of Art Bengaluru presented by The Collection, UB City in association with Sublime Galleria and Art Chutney is taking place at The Collection, UB City and will be on till 23 August 2013. ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ has brought together the best art galleries from across India, with the works of over 100 international and national artists across 17 galleries being displayed on one common platform.

The participating galleries for ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ include ispaceart, The Purple Turtles, ART Alinda (Kolkata), Puttarangachar Art Gallery (Bangalore), The Artsalon.in (Delhi), Third Eye (Bangalore), Progressive Art Gallery (Delhi), Soul Art, Gallery Artequest (Mumbai), Ayya Art Gallery (Chennai), Deccan Art Gallery (Hyderabad), Gallery ‘ethnicartofindia.com’ (Baroda), Rangkunchala (Mumbai), Savi3 Studio (Hosur), WAYOFTHEMONK Productions, apart from Sublime Galleria and Art Chutney.

Ms. Uzma Irfan - Co-Founder, ‘Art Bengaluru’ and Founder, Sublime Galleria said, “We are overwhelmed by the immense response we have received for ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ and I want to thank each and everyone who has supported this event to make it such a phenomenal success.”

“This year’s theme for the festival is ‘Reflections’. The idea behind this is that all forms of art is a reflection of our being and portrays our emotions, be it joy, sorrow, turmoil, anger etc. ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ has all the usual trademarks that have made it the landmark event it is today – a grand Opening Night, artists and art galleries from across India under one roof, residential art conclaves and of course, the much-anticipated Luxury Art Auction as its culmination.” she added.

Highlights of the festival
Berserk
A major attraction in ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’ is the introduction of ‘Berserk’, an Art Conference to promote and encourage creative awareness among children. Sublime Galleria has organized this event which has shortlisted 60 children from 15 schools across Bangalore, who encourage art in its multiple forms. Berserk 2013 is a 3-day residential conference for children between the age group of 8-12 years. Categorized under the four key art verticals -Theatre, Dance, Music and Visual Art, Sublime has brought the best in the art industry to mentor and guide these children. Their expert mentors are Jagriti for Theatre, The Lourd Vijay Dance Studio for Dance, Taaqademy for Music and 3 Peel for Visual art. Selected children of different verticals will receive endorsements ranging from intensive training programs to working on productions under expert guidance. The endorsements are custom-designed by each of the vertical heads.

Luxury Art Auction
Art Bengaluru always starts with a bang and ends with an even bigger one! This is because the festival always culminates with the Luxury Art Auction, which has become one of the most-awaited events of the year for serious art collectors. The Art Auction will take place on 23 August 2013 at ITC Windsor. Raising the bar one notch higher and to give it a truly international feel, the auction this year will be hosted by renowned London-based auctioneer, Bob Hayton. The magnitude of the event can be gauged by the fact that there will be up to 100 lots on auction this year.

This year’s auction will include the works of celebrated artists like Jamini Roy, Francis Newton Souza, Ram Kumar, Maqbool Fida Husain, Paritosh Sen, K.K. Hebbar, V.S. Gaitonde, K.S. Kulkarni, Rabin Mondal, Abani Sen, Jogen Chowdhury, T. Vaikuntam, Anupam Sud, Arpana Caur, Aditya Basak, Manu Parekh, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Suhas Roy, Shuvaprasanna, Akkitham Narayanan, S.G Vasudev, Sekhar Roy, Sunil Das, Kanchan Chander, Niren Sengupta, Gokuldas Sadanand Shenoy, Thota Tharrani and Rini Dhumal. Other renowned artists like Riyas Komu, Alok Bal, Sujata Bajaj, Shipra Bhattacharya, Hema Upadhyay, Nikhil Chaganlal, Sanatan Dinda, C.F. John, Arunanshu Chowdhury, Seema Kohli, Vasant Viraj Naik, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Subodh Kerkar and sculptor – Tapas Sarkar are also part of this auction. Few of the emerging artists participating in the auction are N. Ramachandran, Yati Jaiswal, Parvathi Nayar, Ritu Kamath, Avijit Dutta, Suchit Sahni, Vikash Kalra, print maker Moutushi Chakraborty Nee Banerjee and Tribal artist Sandhya Arvind.

Needless to say, this is a charity event where a part of the proceeds of the auction will be shared with Janaagraha. Founded in 2001 by Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan, Janaagraha, a non-profit organisation, started as a movement to enable citizen participation in public governance. It has now
evolved into a robust institution for Citizenship and Democracy. It works with citizens and the government to improve the quality of life in Indian cities and towns.

Sponsors for ‘Art Bengaluru 2013’
o    Official Event Partner: Phase1
o    Official beverage partner for the Opening Night: Myra Vineyards
o    Official beverage partners for the Auction Night: Alpine Wineries & Aspri Spirits
o    Official hospitality partner for the Auction Night: ITC Windsor

About Art Bengaluru
Art Bengaluru is an exclusive event that is designed to showcase various types of art forms including ‘Wall Art’ (fine art, paintings, illustration, photographs) and ‘Stand-alone Art’ (sculpture, installations, product design).  Art Bengaluru was first launched in March 2010, and after three successful editions, the event this year promises to be bigger and more diverse since it has extended its purview to include different forms of art!

The venue for Art Bengaluru is the highly-acclaimed, The Collection, UB City which is conveniently located in the heart of cosmopolitan Bangalore.  Needless to say, the Tuscan architecture of UB City complements the art festival by creating an illusion of fluent expanse. Art displayed in this landmark area promises to enhance aesthetic awareness and create a sensory delight for the viewer.