Kala Ghoda acquires new splash of colour

MUMBAI: Come Monday and the 'cultural node' of Kala Ghoda will get one more art gallery. The foyer of the Army and Navy Building, owned by the Tatas, has been turned into a 'Walk In Gallery'by the Kala Ghoda Association (KGA). It will open with a group show featuring the works of Mumbaibased artists Papri Bose, Jehangir Jani, Arzan Khambatta, Suryakant Lokhande, Brinda Chudasama Miller, Jaideep Mehrotra, Anjana Mehra, Vilas Shinde, Jinsook Shinde and Gurcharan Singh.The foyer has been freshly spruced up by conservation architect Vikas Dilawari, who had been commissioned by the Tatas to restore the facade and public spaces in the neoclassical building to celebrate 50 years of independence. The idea of turning the large foyer into an art gallery, by all accounts,emerged while the caterpillar of the old ground floor was being transformed into a butterfly of a contemporary store named Westside. The gallery won't charge artists any rent,said Jyoti Poddar of the KGA.Eventually it may charge a nominal fee—something like Rs 500 a day for established artists and Rs 250 a day for upandcoming ones.The money will be used by the association to upgrade the area. "The idea is to encourage young talent and to support the Kala Ghoda Association,which has done an excellent job of upgrading and revitalising the neighbourhood," said Farrokh Subedar of Tata Sons. The exhibitions will be or ganised by Radhika Sabavala of Margmagazine (the of fices of which are housed here) and her colleagues in the KGA.Another lollipopin themaking is the 'amphitheatre' on the Rampart Row pavement.It should be ready by October this year, according to KGA members. KGA members say their desire is to see the area evolve into a place like New York's SoHo district or Museum Mile,London's St James' Square or Chelsea, Paris' Latin Quarter—"a vibrant vicinity where people draw intellectual succour from the various cultural and educational institutions,art galleries and crafts centres,bookstores and music shops in the area",explained veteran gallery owner Kekoo Gandhy. Kala Ghoda boasts such institutions as the Bombay Natural History Society,the Prince of Wales Museum,the National Gallery of Modern Art,the Institute of Science, the David Sassoon Library,Elphinstone College,Bombay University,the Artists'Centre, Max Mueller Bhavan and the K.R.Cama Institute. It also has galleries like Jehangir and Chemould,popular eateries like Samovar and Chetna and music shops like Rhythm House. "I'm glad it is being polished and shown offas a jewel of an art district that belongs not just to the city of Mumbai,but to the whole country," Mr Gandhy added.