BHARATI PAWASKAR
The purpose of life is washing the dust of daily life off our souls,’ said Pablo Picasso and following this principally, artists in Goa have been contributing their best to art. In a bid to showcase their art, nine of them will be gathering under a newly founded umbrella - Zonelle for a ten-day show, brought together by co-curators Ryan Semelhago and Priyanshi Saxena, both of who wish to allow the art lovers to get soaked in glory of the Goan art.
Targeted at inviting the uninitiated, those on the fence, and unabashed art lovers into the sphere of art, this exhibition aims to create a wider, more accessible, and an active platform for everyone to come interact with, and consume the arts. We also encourage collecting art, opening up the opaque ‘art buying’ process, and creating the middle class collector.
The 10-day show that will be inaugurated by noted artist Prabhakar Kolte offers works of nine seminal contemporary and modern Goan artists whose practices define Goan art history. Among them are Vamona Navelcar, Viraj Naik, Antonio Costa, Shilpa Nasnolkar, Suhas Shilker, Norman Tagore, Mohan Naik, Francis D’Souza and Manjunath Naik. The twin shows will run simultaneously at Rebello Building and Audiophile Goa.
Founded by Semelhago, Zonelle is a platform for artists in Goa to promote their work and also have an interface with global audiences in Goa. “The word Zonelle is derived from the Konkani world ‘zanel’ which means window, thus offering a peek into the window of the rich art culture Goa has to offer,” says Semelhago, an art collector and patron who himself has, in his personal collection, 1000 plus artworks of Goan as well as other artists. “We aim to offer a space to the Goan artists to exhibit their artworks and get the best of appreciators,” maintains Semelhago who has conceptualised the show.
An art advisor, curator and writer Priyanshi Saxena who has founded IAM, a movement to sustainably expand the grid of the Indian art market, shares, “Our primary aim is to introduce the art to a wider audience, percolated into the fabric of the contemporary India society, thus create a new audience as well as new collector and patron base and germinate the middle class collector.”
She further adds, “We also wish to create deeper inroads into the artistic practices in this country, a sustainable platform in tier B cities for contemporary art “ creation and markets, to be able to increase exposure, and capitalize on the exposure to create sustainable artistic communities outside the metropolitan cities.”
IAM in collaboration with Semelhago Concepts presents Zonelle as a first edition of subsequent exhibitions to be shown in tier two cities such as Ahmedabad, Pune etc.
Aiming to work on reverse migration of artists here by building a robust art market in these cities, coupled with a sustainable conversations and institutional space for artistic ideas to germinate. Semelhago wants to make Zonelle an annual affair - participatory and more inclusive with even common people regularly visiting their shows.
Endorsing this renowned abstract artist from Goa Suhas Shilker, deliberates, “A trained chef and entrepreneur Semelhago is always on a lookout for new challenge and adventure. He provokes himself and others, to push boundaries of excellence and archive the unimaginable. A thespian, poet and writer, he is also a passionate patron and collector of art. Above all, a friend and compassionate man, who can handle a neurotic artists like myself and a sophisticated business man with the same ease and charm.”
On the other hand Saxena who is keenly restructuring and reviving the Indian Art Market from ground up with her project IAM, has worked with contemporary and modern South Asian art galleries, working on institutional acquisitions, and international art fairs, and on art foundation, curating exhibitions in Delhi, and among others, worked on a collectoral project at the 56th Venice Biennale.
A café and store at the Rebello building will keep the visitors engaged as much as the conversations about unpacking the art world over the weekends. The Gallery Game (Dec 15), Young Artist Presentations (Dec 16), The Creatures called Collectors (Dec 22), The Wielding structure of the Art Market (Dec 23).
“The first phase of the IAM exhibitions commences IAM: Goa (December 2018), and will continue with IAM: Pune (February 2019) and IAM: Ahmedabad (March 2019). The second phase will commence in August 2019, adding new cities, and coming back annually to the cities we have started work with,” concludes Saxena.
