DESIGNS ON ART

The Sabyasachi Art Foundation has got off to a roaring start with the sell-out of all its paintings at the debut, and the only showcase by the foundation at Mumbai's Nilaya Anthology. A conversation with couturier Sabyasachi Mukherjee on the painter he launched and the art in his life

- PARAMITA GHOSH

The two worlds of Sabyasachi Mukherjee spread across two floors of the Nilaya Anthology in Mumbai are like twins separated at birth. Upstairs, standing close to a tablescape, is a toy tiger on a four-poster bed, freed, as it were, from the job of being on the brand logo. Downstairs in his gallery is an artist who has just let out his first roar. Atish Mukherjee of Kolkata, a former animator of children's literature and one of the 15 artists nurtured by The Sabyasachi Art Foundation, has sold out each of his 12 paintings during the debut, and the only showcase by the foundation on February 28. The event was also tied to the opening of Nilaya Anthology, a 1,00,000-sq-ft space, presented by Asian Paints, that aims to be a destination for curated premium and luxury home décor made by top-notch international and domestic artists and designers. What was different about the occasion was that Sabyasachi, though the focus of the event, was not at its centre.

"If you are buying furniture and linen for the home, you also need art," said Sabyasachi to explain why Nilaya Anthology made the perfect setting for the launch of his painter. "Nilaya is a great confluence of design. I wanted Atish to have the exposure in a space where he would get buyers from around the world. At Nilaya, his work is in its only art gallery and his art has been priced like art."