A special summer issue of Modern Painters, which will be published in installments on ARTINFO this month, surveys the world’s best galleries, across six continents and 36 countries. Throughout the issue you’ll hear from 50 of the most influential gallery owners and directors, discussing their achievements and envies, the artists they have their eye on, and the regional trends affecting this increasingly international market. Below you’ll find Q&As with several gallerists based in Mumbai, Tokyo, and Singapore. To see other installments from the special issue, click here.
CHEMOULD PRESCOTT ROAD | MUMBAI, INDIA
ARTISTS: Ajul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta, Shakuntala Kulkarni, Mithu Sen
ESTABLISHED: 1963
CONTACT:gallerychemould.com art@gallerychemould.com; +91 22 2200 0211
SHIREEN GANDHY, DIRECTOR/PARTNER
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
Having been brought up in the art world and among artists, I suppose there was a proclivity in this direction. I was the youngest among four, so I would tag along with my mother, having been born a year after she began to run the gallery.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
I enjoy the stage when artists are ideating. I am drawn to artists who have a vision that is expressed through process, and I like taking risks in choosing an artist at that moment. I also choose artists based on the fact that there remains a certain homogeneity in my program; however different they might be from the others, one artist must have the ability to play off the other.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
We celebrated 50 years of the gallery with five exhibitions under the overarching title “Aesthetic Bind,” curated by Geeta Kapur. “Floating World,” the last one, would probably have been the largest of the exhibitions held last year.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
“As If – III: Country of the Sea,” by CAMP, at the Bhau Daji Lad Museum.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
I live with watercolors by Bhupen Khakhar, Anju Dodiya, and Arpita Singh in my bedroom—I am attached to all three and would never let them leave my personal space.
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GALLERY KOYANAGI| TOKYO, JAPAN
ARTISTS: Michaël Borremans, Sophie
Calle, Marlene
Dumas, Christian
Marclay, Hiroshi
Sugimoto
ESTABLISHED: 1995
CONTACT: gallerykoyanagi.com mail@gallerykoyanagi.com; +81 3 3561 1896
ATSUKO KOYANAGI, OWNER
How have you generally
discovered new artists?
By chance.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
“Rothko/Sugimoto: Dark Paintings and Seascapes” at
Pace London.
Name the last great book you read, art-related or otherwise.
Diane Arbus Revelations, by Doon Arbus.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
An Agnes Martin.
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FOST GALLERY | SINGAPORE
ARTISTS: Adeel uz Zafar, Chun Kaifeng, Bovey Lee, Phi Phi Oanh, Grace Tan
ESTABLISHED: 2006
CONTACT:
fostgallery.com, info@fostgallery.com, +65 6694 3080
STEPHANIE FONG, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
How did you get your start as a gallerist?
Sheer naïveté.
How have you generally discovered new artists? Are there any new discoveries for the gallery whom you’re especially excited about?
I “discover” new artists through observa- tion over a period of time before I decide to work with them. We recently featured solo exhibitions by young Singaporean artists Izziyana Suhaimi, Ashley Yeo, Luke Heng, and Khairullah Rahim as part of the “FOURSIGHT” series. I think each of them has great talent and potential.
What was your biggest show of the past year?
“The History of Java,” by Jimmy Ong.
What’s one show you loved in the past year at a gallery other than your own?
“Tabled,” by Malaysian photographer Yee I-Lann at Silverlens Galleries.
What trend do you see happening in your region right now?
Southeast Asia is a complex region and there are many tangents. I like that there is no one trend.
What might you be doing if you weren’t a gallerist?
I might have been an architect.
If cost were no object, what work of art would you have in your bedroom?
Any piece of Ru ware from the Northern Song Dynasty.
