Jury of the Fine Arts Awards, 2017 — Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Blog

The Jury for the Fine Art Award 2017 was a diverse panel consisting of authorities from the various branches of the art world.

Gallerist Mortimer Chatterjee, Artist Shilpa Gupta, Editor Abhay Sardesai and Curator Luca Cerizza collectively brought their expertise together to identify the most deserving and gifted artists from a pool of exceptionally talented applications.

The Jury

Abhay Sardesai has been the Editor of ART India, considered the premier art magazine of India, since November 2002. Under his editorship, the magazine has developed a Culture Studies-oriented approach and has become more inter-disciplinary in its theme-based explorations. Sardesai teaches at various institutions like TISS, the Bhau Daji Lad Museum and The Drama School. He writes in English and translates from Marathi, Konkani and Gujarati.

An associate of the research collective PUKAR, he was the Director of the Writing Across the City project which explored the inter-relationships between literatures and literary cultures in the city of Mumbai. He has written widely on art and literature.

Luca Cerizza (Milan, 1969) is a curator and writer, currently based in Berlin and Mumbai.

An art historian, he graduated in History of Art Criticism (University of Milan), and attended the De Appel Curatorial Training Programme (1997-98). For ‘Seamless’ (1998), the graduation show, he invited artists such as Massimo Bartolini, Olafur Eliasson and Gerwald Rockenschaub.

His most recent curatorial projects include: ‘Tomas Saraceno: Cosmic Jive’ (Museo di Villa Croce, Genova; 2014), ‘Kazuko Miyamoto: Bodily Tactics’ (The Japan Foundation, Delhi, 2015). Together with Zasha Colah he curated ‘No, It Wasn’t the Locust Cloud’, a solo exhibition by Prabhakar Pachpute (NGMA, Mumbai; 2016) and will organize the next Pune Biennale (2017).

Cerizza has an extensive record as writer and art critic. His first book, Alighiero e Boetti, Mappa, has been published by Afterall (London, 2008) and Electa (Milan, 2009). He has been editor of Kaleidoscope magazine (2009-2013) and a regular contributor to Frieze (2006-2013). He currently writes a column for Art Agenda on the history of galleries. Between 2006 and 2010 he was Guest Professor of Curatorial Studies at NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan. Since January 2011 Cerizza runs an MFA course in Museology at the same academy.

Mortimer Chatterjee received his Master’s in the History of Indian Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. Having worked in the UK with an important collection of Indian photography as well as Christie’s auction house, Chatterjee moved to India to pursue his interest in Indian modern and contemporary art.

In 2003 he and his wife, Tara, began Chatterjee & Lal. Today based in Colaba, home to Mumbai’s art district, the gallery’s programme is focused both on the work of emerging artists and historical material. Over the last thirteen years, the gallery programme has formed an important node in the city’s maturing art scene. In addition to activities at the gallery, Chatterjee has been published widely in art publications and lectures frequently. He lives and works in Mumbai.

Shilpa Gupta lives and works in Mumbai. She has had solo shows at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Arnhem, Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OK Center for Contemporary Art in Linz and Arnolfini in Bristol, Lalit Kala in New Delhi, Galleria Continua in San Gimignano, Chemould in Mumbai, Gallerie Yvon Lambert in Paris and most recently at ‘My East is Your West’, organized by Gujral Foundation in Venice in 2015.

Gupta has participated in ‘Younger Than Jesus Triennale’ at New Museum, Berlin Biennale, Lyon Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, Liverpool Biennale, and biennales at Moscow, Auckland, Seoul, Havana and Sydney. Her work has been shown at Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Devi Art Foundation, Daimler Chrysler Contemporary, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mori Museum in Tokyo, among others.