Much Ado about Nothing :
Art Bangaluru 2013
Franck Barthelemy

I know art is subjective and I am no one to judge what is good and
what is bad. I know some buyers (note the word) acquire artworks
because they are interested to match the colour of their sofas with
a painting or two. I know unknown artists need to sell as well as
the known and established ones. I know that in a depressed market,
everyone who buys art and hence supports the artists, is more than
welcome and should buy more. But, I also know that what we all like
about art is a certain sense of creativity, aesthetic, originality, novelty
and uniqueness. And that is what I am looking for when I visit an art fair.
Unfortunately, I could hardly find any of this on that particular
night at Art Bangaluru. I found pale copies of masters’ works
representing bulls, horses and portraits. I found dramatic splashes of
colours. I found dozens of repeats of the same subjects. I found the
same commercial artists in many booths. I found very uninteresting
and minor works of known artists probably displayed on the booths
in order to excite the visitors’ curiosity with catching names. While
progressing to the mall’s corridor, I felt a bit depressed and was
thinking that whoever curated the show did not do a great job and did
not help the art community to shine. It is a real pity because I believe
this space and the city have so much potential to be revealed!