From dealing with the legacy of India’s best fashionable artist Raja Ravi Varma by way of the Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Basis, to selling the art work of Bollywood actor Salman Khan by way of Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Basis, gallery g is not only a industrial house that trades in artwork. It capabilities because the umbrella working aggressively to protect and promote India’s inventive legacy by way of its many initiatives
Gitanjali Maini’s programmes at gallery g have extensively promoted artwork and artists at numerous ranges — be it individually or at Biennales — and it’s a dedication that Sandeep Maini shares. Within the early 2000s, Gitanjali might see the artwork trade in India starting to alter dramatically. Liberalisation had set the stage, an entire new group of artists, collectors and different stakeholders had been getting into the trade and wanted a facilitator to attach all of them, whether or not established or new.
She established gallery g in 2003 on Lavelle Street, on the coronary heart of Bengaluru, showcasing the work of established masters like S.H. Raza, Yusuf Arakkal and (then) youthful artists like Bose Krishnamachari, heritage artwork by Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, Jogesh Chandra Seal and their contemporaries. She additionally curated the perfect among the many upcoming artists in Bengaluru and from across the nation in affiliation with peer galleries in Kolkata and Mumbai.
So as to convey readability and transparency to the shopping for and promoting course of, the gallery g service suite was prolonged to incorporate an funding consultancy known as Artwork of Funding (AIP) in tandem with amenities for valuation and authentication.
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The latter a part of the 2000s noticed the expansion in enterprise and the gallery gained traction abroad, particularly among the many Indian diaspora in the US. It appeared like the correct time to take a present outdoors. Therefore in 2008, Gitanjali deliberate a well-curated mixture of works by the masters like Raza and Husain in addition to AIP artists like Mohammed Osman. The present travelled to San Francisco and Houston the place it was well-received. The reception in each cities was very encouraging and Gitanjali was able to construct on these outcomes.
Whereas a lot was taking place in and round gallery g, so much was happening on the earth outdoors too. The Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB), India’s first and solely visible artwork biennale, had its inaugural version in December 2012. With the form of artwork it had, it was acclaimed as one of many world’s most profitable artwork biennales.
Gitanjali was very impressed with what she noticed: Founder-organiser Bose Krishnamachari was a painter whose work was represented at gallery g. Lower than two years later, the second version was underway and Gitanjali got here on board as a Patron Ambassador and helped increase funds, coordinate visiting delegations and unfold the phrase. Her affiliation with the KMB grew and continued through the years with Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Basis remaining ‘Platinum Patron’ of the biennale.
Gitanjali Maini, Managing Director, gallery g says: “For me, artwork has by no means been about proudly owning or amassing work and artefacts. There’s a deep want inside me to protect the ecosystem round artwork — to assist artists, cultural and historic preservation. In a rustic as culturally wealthy as ours, there may be an excessive amount of to be accomplished and too few people who find themselves keen to tackle the duty of the job. By means of the work we do at gallery g and the Foundations I hope to do my half.”
THE VARMA LEGACY
RAJA RAVI VARMA HERITAGE FOUNDATION
A number of potential organisational fashions exist internationally that may very well be tailored to protect the work of an artist who’s as universally considered Raja Ravi Varma. It had been Gitanjali’s dream to create and promote simply this kind of organisation to protect inventive heritage.
The Varma household had lengthy thought-about establishing a basis, however on account of causes of propriety and transparency and an absence of proper folks they may depend on, had waited to take action. In 2015, it aligned brilliantly: the substantial curiosity within the artwork world and most of the people about Raja Ravi Varma wanted to be addressed and the household felt Gitanjali was the particular person to go a basis to protect his legacy.
Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Basis was arrange with Gitanjali as CEO and Managing Trustee and Rukmini Varma, the artist’s nice, nice granddaughter because the Chairperson. Since then the Basis has grown by leaps and bounds changing into one of the crucial recognised establishments that researches, paperwork, restores and registers works created by Ravi Varma and his up to date artists. The Basis has additionally labored diligently to construct the model worth of an artist like Ravi Varma by creating instructional modules, conducting lectures and workshops and having the artist’s work reinterpreted in new methods by authors, students and historians.
“Managing the legacy of an artist as essential as Raja Ravi Varma is just not simple. With the recognition of the artist and the truth that his work is a nationwide treasure and therefore non exportable, it is rather essential to have one establishment that may authenticate, doc and restore his works in a scientific method. There wasn’t a single repository of data on the artist and his work and that’s what I’m attempting to construct by way of this basis,” explains Gitanjali Maini.
The Basis has additionally accomplished collaborative work with a few of the world’s premier institutes and organisations like Louvre Abu Dhabi, The State Museum of the Historical past of Faith, Saint Petersburg, Nationwide Gallery of Trendy Artwork, Bengaluru, Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village, Manipal, Authorities Museum, Chennai and Google Arts & Tradition, amongst others.
Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Basis is a privately funded establishment that’s patronised solely by Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Basis.
PROMOTING ART, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Having been established alongside gallery g to assist its non-commercial actions and to hold out and construct on the Maini Group’s numerous artwork and tradition initiatives, Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Basis (SGMF) has embraced a a lot wider scope in recent times.
Sandeep Kumar Maini, Co-Founding father of Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Basis says: “SGMF’s journey has been one in all evolution and entrepreneurship. What began out as a industrial gallery is as we speak an establishment, a platform for numerous types of artwork and artists. We discovered that the ‘Artist’s Initiative Programme’ was gaining momentum and we wished to leverage that momentum to construct one thing by way of which we might give again to the group. That’s how SGMF was born.”
The Basis reaches out in a phased method to determine and join with stakeholders throughout numerous inventive and cultural endeavors and initiates interactions and interventions by way of occasions, programmes, sponsorship and mentorship. It additionally gives assist to these within the discipline of artwork historical past, analysis and examine. Many well-known artists and different artistic professionals are supported by the Basis.
Acclaimed writer and historian Manu S. Pillai is among the recipients of an SGMF analysis grant. He says: “As a recipient of the SGMF grant that enabled me to additional my analysis and produce three books of historical past, I’ve had the privilege of understanding Gitanjali Maini for a number of years now. Her dedication to supporting the humanities, literature and analysis on numerous features of Indian tradition is matched solely by her vitality in figuring out candidates worthy of such patronage, and in pushing them to perform their initiatives, each with beneficiant funding in addition to affected person motivation. I can say with out exaggeration that it’s uncommon to seek out patrons like Sandeep and Gitanjali Maini, whose assist for artists, writers, performers, craftsmen and others comes purely from a want to contribute to, and protect India’s cultural heritage, whereas constructing one thing of which we are able to all be proud.”
Bollywood actor and artist Salman Khan has been projected by the Basis on its Google Arts & Tradition platform. The Basis debuted Salman Khan’s artwork at gallery g in 2021 and adopted it up with one other present the place he displayed a collection of works in 2022 in affiliation together with his administration firm.
For extra data, go to:
www.galleryg.com
www.rrvhfoundation.com
www.sgmf.co.in
