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GenNext (and not the more computsavy GeNext) is a self-explanatory title for an exhibition of paintings, sculptures, fine (manual) prints and installations by young artists with promises to hold the centre stage of art scene, on their own, in the days coming next to the present. It is a faith in the creative ability of the young that prompted the 2005 October-born Aakriti Art Gallery to celebrate its first anniversary with an exhibition of works by a selection of below-forty artists who, till then, had not got due exposure. The faith was not an abstract~ belief but resultant effect of sustained scouting for talent and hard-nosed judgement of intrinsic quality, potential and market worthiness. Encouraged by response from the cognoscente Aakriti decided to celebrate the completion of second year of existence and observe the third birthday with another similar exhibition, the GenNext II.
For a commercial art gallery talent scouting is neither only an ideological stance born of faith nor only a social service move to do good to struggling young artists, it is also a visionary survival strategy. As signature art is becoming rare and out-of-reach commodity both with the commercial galleries and potential collectors, more and more galleries and collectors, especially the newer entrants, have to look for available and affordable authentic work. Aakriti is doing just that. Aakriti by holding an exhibition of young artists of Bengal, curated by this scribe, apart from the first Gen Next, in the first year of its existence, and another show of fresh new arüsts curated by Jogen Chowdhury, recently, has proved, that its affair with the Next Generation, is no mere tokenism.
Aakriti, at the same time, has reasons to believe that there still are, and have been, important and significant artists who, have not got their due. Having come to believe this, Aakriti is taking steps to correct our collective failing. The first such corrective measure was holding of a large retrospective exhibition of the old and ailing but still highly imaginative painter, Kartick Chandra Pyne. The next was an immensely significant exhibition of that highly innovative and yet confidently playful work of the influential senior painter Parthapratim Deb, still awaiting recognition of his talents. Such will to establish the reputations of deserving seniors can also be seen as an extension of the mentality of talent scouting, The crowning endevour of Aakrltl along this line has been the holding of the restrospective exhibition of the works of that willfully forgotten pioneer of Modernism in India art, Gobardhan Ash, on the occasion of the, centenary of his birth. This, perhaps, has been the first case of centenary show of an artist, held by a privately managed commercial gallery. All the centenary exhibitions of artists, so far, have been publicly organized shows, held in public institutions. Aakriti, the privately managed commercial gallery, therefore, can legitimately claim to be recognized as a pioneer in the field of putting a premium on the social recognition of art and artists.
To an art activist with half-a-century long involvement, like this scribe, Aakriti's dealings in art, so far, makes one to expect more from it in the days following the next. One, therefore, wishes the gallery a long and fruitful future.
--Pranab Ranjan Roy
Kolkata
15 September 2007
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