“To me vintage textile is art, a comb from ancient India is
art, dance is art,” says Tina Ambani, Chairperson of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani
Hospital. Sounds true because that’s how an artist views any creation that’s
got a narrative to it, blended with liberated expression and the right mix of
detailing breathed into it. Tina Ambani has been long known to be a tasteful
and a very thoughtful art-collector. It is not just about her rich collection
of paintings that pretty much reflect the astute eye-for-detail she has. From
collections of F.N. Souza, Sudhir Patwardhan, Jayshree Burman, to Bikash
Bhattacharjee, she is an art-collector of sorts. She remarks, “Some people
think ‘oh, she’s just a rich housewife buying art’,” since consciously she
knows that the people who still want to see the former actress in her, are thwarted.
But then she adds, “The artist in me moved on to other arts." No wonder,
she had done a meticulous job encouraging not just the successful ones, but the
budding artists too. She has been drawn to a marriage of art, aesthetics and
historical authenticity which shows.
She asserts that she has become a collector “unconsciously”.
This was a result of her plunge with being the dowager of Harmony Art Show that
started off as a concoction of arts from senior and emerging artists. So as to
boost them, she would buy their works herself, thereby forming the groundwork
for what later on went onto become a remarkable collection. Being an artist herself,
she has had a close affinity to creativity. When she had started with the show,
she originally did it with the thought of promoting textiles. She had this
realization that Mumbai had a dearth of awareness for art even if the inception
of it happens in the city. She realized that having a lack of disposable
income, artists were struggling and being an artist herself, she wanted to give
them a platform. And that’s how Harmony art happened. All the art-works were
specially commissioned and she would feel bad that just four-five of them would
sell and the rest of them didn’t so, she would buy them herself. And that’s how
she started to build her collection. In those times, the paints were imported
just the way canvases and brushes. The idea behind this show was that all this
was done not to just give an exposure to the artists but to support him/her
completely.
Tina seems to be uniquely drawn to the convention of
miniature in India. She feels while they may be small in sizes, there’s much
more content in them. She feels that the miniatures are characterized by much
more detailing, story and history along with depth. She feels that it is
astounding how miniatures that in such a small space, they narrate so much. She
feels that the art of today has changed dimensions and definitions. According
to her the detailing and the precision like an Orijit Sen shows in his works is
absolutely stunning since he’s quite adept at taking something from a comic
strip to an art form in the miniature.
On her collaboration with the museums, she says that she’s
on the board of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Boston which has had a deep
association with India. She opines that the West have an exquisite way of
taking their art forward. She hopes to translate what she has learnt over there
in India. She says that she hopes to create a museum, but it will include
everything that can be seen as an art. She adds that she would like to create a
space where art is comprehensible and available.
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