Word: indianness
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...Despite the tradition-steeped training, it was impossible for many of Asia's artists to ignore the tremendous social changes taking place outside their classrooms. Indian painter Maqbool Fida Husain, for example, marries myths with modernism in his oil canvases, one of which sold for $2 million in 2005. Fame, however, hasn't insulated the now 92-year-old from controversy. Right-wing Hindu political parties were incensed when Husain painted a series depicting Indian deities in the nude. Although criminal complaints against him were dropped in 2004 by the New Delhi High Court, attacks against the painter were rekindled...
...Husain's experience hasn't prevented younger Indian artists from venturing into similarly treacherous political terrain. In May, a visual-arts student at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda - regarded as one of India's top schools for art - was imprisoned for five days after his paintings of religious imagery were deemed hurtful to both Hindus and Christians. If convicted of "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion," the student could face several years in jail...
...Asia's artists aren't immune to the rampant consumerism they like to mock in their own works. As Indian and Chinese art have boomed, smaller markets like Vietnam have benefited from a spillover effect. "People say, 'Oh, Chinese art or Indian art is too expensive, so maybe we'll try looking in Vietnam,'" says Suzanne Lecht, the American director of the Art Vietnam Gallery in Hanoi. "Artists who could barely afford anything a few years ago can now drive luxury cars." But the rapid cash inflow has put commercial pressure on these artists to churn out foreigner-friendly images...
...reference the computer economy defining modern India. His digital gamble could very well pay off. "To have real staying power, contemporary art from India has to have universal appeal," says director of Mumbai's Bodhi Art Gallery Sharmistha Ray, who notes that most of the highest prices paid for Indian art at recent Christie's auctions in London and Hong Kong were from foreign buyers...
...international interest worries some guardians of Asian culture. True, a handful of newly rich Chinese businessmen have invested in contemporary art, while members of the Indian diaspora snap up artwork with local themes to decorate their overseas homes. Nevertheless, it is foreigners - particularly European, American, Japanese and Singaporean collectors - who are driving the modern Asian art boom. The result has been a massive flight of contemporary art from the region. Exacerbating the trend is a dearth of quality modern-art museums in India, China and Vietnam. In August, the central Chinese city of Dujiangyan announced it was lavishing some...