GoodHomes Art bloggers Meet.

Friday, November 09, 2012

End of October saw a really exciting event happening in this city. GoodHomes Magazine had just announced it 'GoodHomes for Art - a public initiative'. Which meant the magazine initiated and engaged in many events and conversations around art, met artists, met art bloggers, created experiments in partership with artists to observe how the common man reacted to art. I had the happy opportunity to be invited to the art bloggers meet and that's when i finally met Ronitaa Italia Dhanu, the very effervescent and articulate editor of GoodHomes the decor magazine. I say finally because I had earlier been invited to a GoodHomes blogger event in the city but couldn't make it because I was out of town & had also read about the Blogger Bonding event in Bangalore. I knew I will meet Chandan Dubey, who was the only person i knew there. 
We were an interesting mix of artists, art bloggers, art curators, gallery owners and art magazine editors. The discussion started with why when it came to art there seemed to be this whole mass and class divide and why art seemed to be perceived as something only a certain section of society engaged with, went on to how the whole art initiative by GoodHomes came to being, to how the way art was interpreted sometimes became more of a wall than a bridge between the viewer and art. The things I will be gladdest about was that if it were not for that afternoon I would not have met so many interesting people in one go and actually had an engaging conversation with them. I know for a fact that I will definitely meet most of the people who came there because all of them were so real and came from a place of genuinely loving art and all the work they did came from that honesty. Let me introduce you to the people.
It was interesting to hear that Ronitaa's initial disconnect with art and her journey towards understanding and engaging with it is what spawned the entire idea of GoodHomes for Art initiative.
I loved how the addition of the simple and happy pompoms made a simple table at a restaurant festive and set the stage for the art blogger meet. 
Dipti Bondre spoke of her journey which started as an artist, how she went onto designing products for 15 years and has now again come back full circle to creating art.  She was really excited about her new series which is creating art with light and how they are painted on the front and the back and looks like a different piece of work when back-lit. You must see it here. Superbly interesting. I'm dying to see it in person.
Vinita Mirchandani of Studio3. It has an art gallery collection that boasts of some of the most prestigious names and is constantly scouring the country for tomorrow’s genius.
Young and articulate and enthusiastic Jai Ranjit is a self taught artist who lives and works in Mumbai. Jai enjoys photography and writing, and is part of several art and photography groups in Mumbai. He is also part of some really interesting website projects of which I can't speak here as yet :) Suspense. there is some excitement brewing here. Will keep you posted. Meantime you can see some of his work on his blog here.
The electric Chanda Chaudhary is the brain behind the art magazine The Fuschia Tree, which has the most interesting content. She is also part of the elite and exclusive store Anemos. And you must read both this article and this to give you an idea of the unique space that it is.
Ornella D'souza worked with the magazine Outlook for 5 years and wrote the blog art umbrella before she decided her life must be more interesting than it was. She is now a freelance writer and is doing a course on art appreciation that's making ideas fly out of her head at a pace she is finding tough to keep up with. She is quite amazed by how different each day in her new life is. All this I know because I got chatting with her after the blogger meet up.

And because I have a thing for leaving you with a happy picture in the end...
I cannot end the post without mentioning Chandan Dubey from Girl About Home, who is such a dear friend and who sat across me at this meet. Her picture isn't here because she requested it not be added. She is a very private person. Chandan's background as a serious art photographer, art critic, her art collection and how much she lives it in each day of her life all made her a very important part of the afternoon.
This post for me signifies so many changes and journeys. This is the 1st event I took part in which was actually called a 'Blogger Meet' organised by a decor magazine, which means blogging is beginning to come of age. And personally it is such a different blog post than I normally ever do. This is full of and ONLY about people. Design and art people yes, but still, people.  That has to be a 1st on this blog :) Who knew :)
All pics (except the group pic & the pic of the table with the glasses) are taken by me. Please do not use it without permission.

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