ART WORLD

Art World Gallery, formerly called Sarala Art Centre, is the oldest in South India. Established in 1965, by Soli and Moti Dharuwala, it is the fifth oldest art gallery in India. Initially functioning from various places in the city (including a garage in Hotel Connemara!), the gallery is now housed off Cenotaph Road. Maturing into a full-fledged gallery in 1997, Art World is powered today by the dynamism of Bishwajit Banerjee and Sarala Banerjee.

The gallery has had the privilege of exhibiting the works of some of the doyens of contemporary art including Professor Dheraj Chowdhary and Amithab Sen Gupta. Sarala Banerjee, Director, Art World, says "We generally choose artists who are technically good. We always see to it that we do not compromise on quality and this pleases our customers".

Besides holding ten-day exhibition, the gallery also frequently arranges for Art camps, where art lovers are given an opportunity to interact directly with the artists. Since 1997, the gallery has conducted four camps, one each at New Delhi and Calcutta and two at Chennai. At the gallery, about eight to nine exhibitions are held in a year, with around 45 paintings exhibited in one show. The gallery also educates its clients on the art scenario in the country, good investments and the likely trends.

What makes this gallery unique is that it gives an opportunity to artists to exhibit their works at international shows. Many of the artists have had a large number foreigners know their works through exhibitions held at Hong Kong, Tokyo, Malaysia and Sydney. Some of the best venues possible are chosen for these shows. For instance, Art Museum, Tokyo, Power Gallery, Hong Kong, National Museum and University Museum in Malaysia.

Sarala says, "We insist on international shows, because Indian artists, next to the Chinese, have high levels of creativity. Exhibits at shopping malls and Indian galleries attract only Indians. A good art gallery must always look into all feasible ways of attracting foreigners. It will be mutually beneficial for both - artists and the gallery".

Address: Art world, #12, Ganeshpuram 3rd Street, Off Cenotaph Road,
Chennai 600 018.
Phone: 433 8691.

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