Indian Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar, in front of Subodh Gupta's work "Take Off Your Shoes and Wash Your Hands", an inventive display made up of stainless steel kitchen utensils. Photo: Ananth Krishnan

The biggest ever display of Indian art opens in Beijing.

For all the buzz that Chinese and Indian contemporary art is generating in Western auction houses, the two countries remain ignorant about the thriving art scenes on either side of the Himalayas. How many people in India — even in art circles — have heard of any modern Chinese artist? Even a major figure like Zhang Xiaogang, whose triptych sold for a record US$ 10 million last year, is unknown in India.

Chinese awareness of Indian art is no better. A brave attempt to bridge this gap was made last week with the biggest ever display of Indian art organised in China. The “Indian Highway” exhibition of contemporary art, which has already travelled across Europe, opened its doors in Beijing last Sunday, showing over 200 works by 30 well-known artists in the expansive halls of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), a converted factory building in Beijing’s 798 art district.

The exhibition, which runs till the end of August, includes works by M.F. Husain, Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Sarnath Banerjee, Jitish Kallat and others. Sudarshan Shetty and acclaimed photographer Dayanita Singh travelled to Beijing for the grand opening, which brought together Chinese artists and gallery owners. The displays featured daring works, including an alarming video installation that highlighted the horrors of Partition and rights abuses in the North-east, which surprised Chinese visitors, considering that the event was also “officially” supported by the Indian Embassy. “Art can be provocative, and we should see it as freedom of expression,” Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar said at the opening. The message was not lost on the Chinese audience.