The video art received a bigger platform, as more number of established and emerging artists from India and around the world displayed their video art collection and projections at the dedicated video lounge at India Art Fair, 2012. According to the organisers, more than 69 artists displayed their video art works including Babu Eschwar Prasad, Nikhil Chopra, Felipe Ortega, Mal Collishaw among others. With prices slabs starting from `25 lakhs, the video art received a great applaud by art lovers and collectors.
Gallery Espace displayed artist Manjunath Kamath’s animated watercolour video “Common Things”. The video features more than 300 watercolours. There are around 15 videos and each frame displays a different watercolour, which subjects to our daily life. About video art he says, “Video art has evolved as a new medium of expression for new-age artists. It’s easy to understand and attracts spectators’ attention instantly. It’s a successful new form of art gaining momentum in India. My works is worth `25 lakhs and has received great responses, especially by the international art collectors.”
While artist Suchitra Gahlot’s “Discomfort”, a video installation showcased a series of short films documenting people using their ‘wrong’ hand to do everyday things, artist Puja Bahri’s four minute video art in stop motion “Maaya” created out of nearly 6,000 photographs depicts day to day happenings as well as sub conscious dreams interwoven with harsh realities of life. “Human faculty for dreaming and imagining and taking refuge in illusion that allows one to cull one’s own private world out of reality is brought to play in this video art,” she explains.
The highlight of this Indo-French journey was the multimedia art works by Laurent Pernot. He showcased three seminal works “Still Alive”, “Gravity” and “Le Quid” in Monobande, priced starting from 2,000 to 10,000 euros. “The response this year for video art has been tremendously great. I received huge appreciation for my work. I’m looking forward to more trips to India and planning to tie up galleries in other cities too,” says Laurent.
Artist Chetnaa Verma through her video artpiece ‘Spatial Exploration”, explore the journey of urban subjectivity in different time that has brought through technological advancement like google road maps, iPhones, iPads and computers. About the growing trend of video art in India she says, “The concept of video art has there since long and a lot of artists have been practicing it and more prominently in the West, and now in India. It is only recent, that I developed a keen interest in video art. I find it an important medium for not just for exploring but also expressing my ideas and thoughts.”