Piyali Sadhukhan, Rather Protecting Dream, 2012. Fiberglass, fabrics, thread, pigment, cotton, felt, paper

For its 6th exhibition, Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo goes west to explore the Indian contemporary art scene. Art historian and Art critic Nanak Ganguly has selected four emerging Indian artists, all active in the Kolkata area (West Bengal, India), an area which he thinks has  contributed enormously to the creation of a contemporary visual world.

Sekhar Roy, Urban Landscape, 2012. Acrylic on canvas

Through eleven pieces, out of which eight were newly-commissioned, the show takes as its starting point the idea of presenting the Indian scene as an Indian based in India sees it unfolding. It also takes India during a moment of transit where space and time cross over to produce complex figures of difference and identity.

Snehasish Maity, Mask In Between, 2011. Oil on canvas

The artists’ works shown here reflect the diversity of a contemporary scene that plays as much with Western codes as with Indian traditional art. Sekhar Roy, Adip Dutta, Snehasish Maity and Piyali Sadhukhan are all deeply impacted by the cultural past of their country, ranging from medieval texts and icons to a colonial heritage. While Sekhar Roy’s Skyline encourages us to rediscover domestic indigenous space, Adip Dutta’s interest in archaeology forces us to reconstruct the gap between image and word, statement and understanding. Sadhukhan’s works discuss not only the subcontinent’s history, but also gender roles in this part of the world. Snehasish Maity’s focus on the urban experience encourages us to reconsider the universality of the human experience.

January 26th – May 6th 2013

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