I fully agree with Soter, Dom and Charudatta. What is taking place in Goa in the art arena does indeed parallel other aspects of society where our tiny, once-secluded state is under pressure from what we could here call "globalization", or, I prefer, "corporatization."
It is indeed becoming about all about money, as well as the (in my opinion, addled) perception of glamour and prestige attached. And like fungus materializes overnight on stale bread, we have become infested by a plague of instant art entrepreneurs, all frantically self-conscious about the fact they actually know nothing. This is precisely why I cited Souza and Gaitonde's history in my review. These great masters struggled their whole lives, and the corporate art flunkies only turned in their favour posthumously. Right now, even the "legitimate" art market tramples on Souza's grave every day, as it encourages the trafficking of a huge number of crude fakes of his work (especially in India). My point is that the art market is an idiot, conventional wisdom is almost always wrong when it comes to artistic worth, and we Goans should especially have learned these lessons by now. I would like to reassert here that the paintings I cited for commendation in ToI ( lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2012-March/219833.html) are absolutely first-rate, as good as any on display at any gallery in India at the moment. They are better, more vital, and in fact more important than at least 70% of what's up for sale at the next Saffronart auction (saffronart.com/auctions/PreCatalog.aspx?eid=3481) no matter how much corporatist shills don't like to hear it. In fact, I have constantly written that we Goans must ignore market-led consumer anxieties, and the empty babble of pop-up cognoscenti. You can read a bit more about how my logic has evolved in this very personal essay for 3QD (which foreshadows the one from Seminar) http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/10/modernism-again.html VM --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------