When Art Blends WITH OTHER FORMS

Dr Sanjeev Kishor Gautam's inventive approach will unleash fresh life in contemporary art scene. Subhra Mazumdar in conversation with the new Director General of National Gallery of Modern Art.

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In the spruced up and cool interiors of the office of the Director General of National Gallery of Modern Art, the mind is magically enveloped into an open and welcoming space, amicably kitted out with comfortable and underplayed seating arrangements.

Offset with succinct touches of natural greenery, the space exudes an aura of a genuine welcome. Coming face-to-face with the occupant of this august space, one is doubly charmed by his introductory message, “I am deeply humbled and honoured to take the helm as director general of the National Gallery of Modern Art. Under my stewardship, the museum shall resolutely adhere to its imperatives of knowledge dissemination on Indian modern art and contemporaneous art practice while sustaining an inclusive and equitable space for the community stakeholders.”

Dr Sanjeev Kishor Gautum, a slight, vibrant persona, complete with shoulder length hair, pierced ear lobes, clear-cut and fast paced delivery, opens up to visitors within the first five minutes of the meeting. His prolific charter of implementations and future projects to be undertaken, under the leadership of the country's national storehouse of art, runs across a gamut of choices, including a 'polymathic' layout of exhibitions, artist engagements, a nationalist oriented, broad-based series of activities and the public's inclusivity in these enterprises. Even more impressive, is the DG's pioneering move towards creating a combined effort of togetherness among the three branches of the National Gallery of Modern Art, spread across Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi.