India wows Beijing Biennale with special art panorama

New Delhi: The India pavilion at the fifth Beijing Biennale - a sprawling art showcase - in the Chinese capital is drawing young crowd who are eager to know about the contemporary art movements in India, an official of the Lalit Kala Akademi that has set it up, said.

K.R. Subanna, acting chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, said: "Apart from attracting record crowd, the India pavilion is also a popular draw among the youth for its innovative and topical video art". "An installation of a stylised butterfly is the favourite shot of the mobile-using Chinese visitors. Several of the participating artists and officials of the Lalit Kala Akademi were approached by reputed television channels and mediapersons for personal interviews, giving the Indian exhibits the publicity and appreciation," Subanna said. India was invited by the Chinese Artists` Association to feature on the list of 84 nations on the biennale with 1,200 art works. The Indian panorama at the Beijing Biennale represents the diversity of mediums and emerging concepts in new Indian art with works by leading contemporary artists Atul Dodiya, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, K.K. Muhammed, N.N. Rimzon, Poosapati Parameshwar Raju, K.S Radhakrishnan, Riyas Kommu, Seema Kohli and Suman Gupta. The exhibits are multi-discipline like acrylic on canvas, graphics, videos, sculptures and installations, Lalit Kala Akademi secretary Sudhakar Sharma said. "India`s participation at Beijing was the outcome of the dialogue between the Lalit Kala Akademi and China Artists Association, with the proposal for holding reciprocal art events among the two nations," Sharma said Friday. In response to the Indian exhibition in Beijing, China will bring a similar a strong contingent of contemporary art to the forthcoming India Triennale, Sharma said. "Thus, the Indian special exhibition in Beijing is a step towards a serious art initiative of a very high order, with far reaching outcomes," he added. Sharma said that besides the intrinsic Indian character, the works at the Beijing Biennale use "universality as their core element so that visitors can understand Indian contemporary art in the representative offerings". The biennale, which opened Sept 28, will end Oct. IANS