AstaGuru's latest auction that's set to go live on September 28 features artworks by 19 leading women contemporary artists. Titled Present Future, this auction will showcase an eclectic range of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations that represent the prevalent art trends and gives an insight into the future of contemporary art. It includes works by leading sculptors in the contemporary art scene including Karnataka-born artist L N Tallur's impressive stone sculpture titled 'Intolerance' from 2015. Other important works include an 'Untitled' 1996 ceramic sculpture from legendary artist Mrinalini Mukherjee. The auction also features extraordinary sculptures by Rana Begum, Dhananjay Singh, Ravinder Reddy, Valay Shende, Debanjan Roy, Prafull Singh, T V Santosh, Krishnaraj Chonat, Dhruva Mistry, and several other important contemporary artists.
It also includes remarkable creations by leading artists in the contemporary landscape such as Bharti Kher, Atul Dodiya, Thukral and Tagra, Anju Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Shahabuddin Ahmed, Jagannath Panda, Bose Krishnamachari, Riyas Komu, Senaka Senanayake, and others.
Here's a look at the top six contemporary women artists and their work:
Bharti Kher
Leading the auction is a large-scale signature style Bindi work by eminent artist Bharti Kher titled “An Eye, A Tooth (Diptych) lot no 86. The presented work executed in the year 2011 was also a part of the artist’s solo exhibition ‘Leave Your Smell,’ that took place at Galerie Perrotin, Paris. Referencing the third eye that women wear on their foreheads, the Bindi started to appear in Bharti Kher’s work during the mid-90s. The grand canvases that she creates in her signature style result from a meticulous and layered placing of the bindis on the surface. With an outstanding body of work including installations and sculptures, Bharti Kher has made an indelible mark on the contemporary art world.
Anju Dodiya
With 20 solo shows in India and abroad to her credit, Anju Dodiya has emerged to be a distinguished contemporary woman artist of India. She began her career with abstract paintings and then found her ultimate inspiration in an inspection of the self. Her autobiographical works are rendered on different textures including mattresses which have come to be the artist's leitmotif. Two of the artist's works will be presented in the upcoming auction. One of them, titled ‘Hauberk,’ Lot no 8 is a double-paneled work that was a part of her seminal 2007 solo exhibition ‘Throne Of Frost’ that took place at the Durbar Hall of the Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Baroda. The other Lot no 94, titled ‘Coronation II’ is acrylic on mattress creation executed in 2004.
Mrinalini Mukherjee
A legendary sculpture, Mrinalini Mukherjee was known for her experimentation with a range of unconventional mediums to create her works. With nature as her primary inspiration, the artist explored the space between figuration and abstraction in her sculptures. Mukherjee’s experiments with ceramic started in the mid-1990s and she created a substantial body of work in the medium before moving on to bronze sculptures in the early 2000s. Featuring in this auction is an untitled ceramic sculpture by Mrinalini Mukherjee, created, circa 1996, while she was at the European Ceramic Work Centre in the Netherlands will be presented during the auction.
Navjot Altaf
Navjot Altaf contextualizes the issues of various social and political concerns especially gender and sexuality with her own experiences to reflect the inequalities and violence in society. Navjot Altaf has worked with a variety of mediums that include painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, video, installation, mixed-media, and public art. Navjot draws inspiration from her interactions and experimentations with the tribal communities of Bastar, with whom she has been closely associated since her first trip to the region in 1996. One of Navjot Altaf’s works presented in this auction is an untitled work that was the result of this engagement.
Rekha Rodwittiya
Rekha Rodwittiya's idiosyncratic lifesize depiction of archetypal women against colourful neutral backgrounds are seen as icons of feminism. In the presented work, the artist depicts a larger-than-life delineated saintlike wide-eyed female figure. The 2004 acrylic and oil medium work is a part of her ‘Encrypted Soliloquies’ series. Inspired by her personal experiences and observed struggles of womanhood, artworks by artist Rekha Rodwittiya are highly sought after.
Vibha Galhotra
A conceptual artist who works with numerous mediums, Vibha Galhotra is a well-known name in the contemporary art world. Galhotra’s works often come as a response to her inquiry into environmental concerns and the effects of earth’s degradation on the beings that inhabit it. A large-scale work done with copper wire & bronze will be showcased.
September 28-29. Online