A work titled Bed of Roses by Debesh Goswami

Last Novemeber, Bose Krishnamachari, one of the rising stars of the Indian contemporary art scene, exhibited his LaVA (laboratory of visual arts) project at Galerie 88. A few weeks later, we received frequent and frantic calls from a Paris gallery at our office.

The caller from Galerie Helene Lamarque in rue Vaneau was seeking the Kerala-born, Mumbai-based artist’s contact number. Trawling the Net, she had come upon an article on our website, and hence the call. The gallery wished to get in touch with him for an exhibition in the near future.

About a week ago, we received an envelope at our office from the same Paris-based gallery that enclosed an invitation to their forthcoming exhibition titled ‘India, Art contemporain indien’ (contemporary Indian art), from April 27 to June 30.

The artists are Anju Chaudhuri, Debesh Goswami, Anish Kapoor, Prabhakar Kolte, Riyas Komu, Bose Krishnamachari, Vivan Sundaram and John Tun Sein.

Paritosh Sen, who lived in Paris from 1949 to 1954, says at that time there was hardly any awareness about Indian contemporary art. But after he left, Musée Guimet, which showcases Oriental art, organised an exhibition of Nirad Mazumdar in 1955.

An exhibit at Galerie Helene Lamarque in Paris

“India occupies a prominent place in that museum, and Nirad Mazumdar’s Lakshinder and Behula was talked about by lovers of art for a long time,” says Sen. Although Raza, Souza and Akbar Padamsee lived in Paris and held an exhibition it did not attract the cognoscenti. But with a resurgent economy, there is a sea change in the art scene.

Raza, who has lived in Paris for 56 years, says his works are fetching the highest prices ever in France now, but it has been a “slow process”. Earlier, few galleries were interested in his work. Now Galerie Louis Carré & Cie in Paris will soon organise his show and he does not have a single painting left, although his London show is in the offing.

Debesh Goswami, who passed out from Rabindra Bharati University and works in Paris and who is among the artists to participate in the exhibition at Galerie Helene Lamarque, says some galleries have indeed opened in Paris where Indian contemporary art is displayed. Many of these have also closed down.

The 1965-born Goswami says in France, art using new media is usually categorised as “contemporary” art. In an earlier exhibition at the same gallery, his works were displayed along with other artists such as Hans Bellmer, Michel Journiac and Henri Matisse.

This gallery has exhibited the works of big names such as Jean Miotte, who already has his own museum in New York, José de Guimaraes, Portuguese artist who has worked extensively on urban public art projects in many countries. The gallery is organising his one-man show at the new Today art museum in Beijing.

Hélène Lamarque, who runs the eponymous gallery, said in an interview over the telephone from Paris that she had started the gallery in 1994. “There is so much on TV and magazines on India’s economy but nothing about its culture. Indian artists are socially involved yet emotional. Whereas Chinese artists are pessimistic. I wanted to specialise in Indian art. This is a good time to exhibit,” she adds.

The first Indian artist she exhibited was Anju Chaudhuri, who lives in Paris but returns to Calcutta every winter.

The first time Indian art of our times was exhibited in Paris was in 1986 at Center Pompidou. “Arpita Singh had caught my eye but not enough information was available then. Three-four years ago information started to seep in,” says Lamarque.