Dali’s Elephant
Aicon Gallery, 8 Heddon Street, London
Until 4 September 2010

This group exhibition featuring Manjit Bawa, Sakti Burman, Jogen Chowdhury, K. Laxma Goud, Unver Shafi Khan, Suneel Mamadapur, Rekha Rodwittya, Prasanta Sahu and Avishek Sen traces the echoes of Surrealism in modern and contemporary art from the Indian subcontinent.

The Sacred Elements: Wind - Fereydoun Ave
Rossi & Rossi, 16 Clifford Street, London
Until 7 October 2010

The first solo exhibition at the gallery by noted Iranian artist Fereydoun Ave will present new paintings on canvas and paper that serve as meditations on the nature of wind. The artist, a pioneer of the Iranian contemporary art scene, has in recent years spent much of his time on an island in Greece where the wind is a constant companion. He is also a devoted practitioner of Qigong meditation during which the breath “becomes the wind,” a practice which, along with an intense study of weather patterns, informs the series. The works evoke the work of Cy Twombly, of whom Ave is a disciple, yet are rendered with a softer, more ephemeral touch. Throughout the compositions small chapters seem to open and turn back upon themselves as new pigments emerge and disappear. The effect is of a zephyr in motion, or perhaps best described as the Arabs described wind - as a metaphor for the soul itself.

Attractive - Repulsive

Oc-Eo Art at 3 Bedfordbury Gallery, Covent Garden, London

7 - 21 September 2010

An exhibition of fine art photography and sculpture that raises issues about women and their bodies that modern society - the new pornography generation - seems to be happy to set to one side.

Phan Tu explores and challenges the history of the female image and the ‘ideals’ still placed on women today. Her work presents the viewer with a series of haunting images that are in stark contrast to traditional passivity and feminine stereotypes and challenges our casual acceptance of, and blindness to, sexual exploitation and prejudice.

Hussein Chalayan
Lisson Gallery, 29 Bell Street, London
8 September – 2 October 2010

An new installation by Hussein Chalayan which explores music as a cultural form, creating a “disembodied experience” of a performance of a traditional Turkish folk composition by Sertab Erener, one of Turkey’s most successful female singers, accompanied by an Ottoman orchestra. The installation is made up of a nuanced combination of audio, film, sculpture and musical notation. Here Hussein examines the experience of music as layered, exploring both the sounds created by different instruments, and the diverse cultural influences on the composition, which include Persian poetry and Greek orthodox chanting.

Take 2: The British Landscape - Anwar Jalal Shemza
Green Cardamom, 5a Porchester Place, London
9 September – 22 October 2010

The exhibition explores Shemza’s practice through the lens of landscape painting. In the 1960s, landscape, as a genre, represented the cutting edge of an idea of ‘Englishness’ in painting. Art and artists in the 1960s were, as now, viewed and judged on the basis of ongoing discourses, and at that time nationalism and internationalism would have held strong sway. Shemza, as a Pakistani, though resident in England for many years until his death, would have been firmly categorized as a Pakistani artist, and as such denied the full scope of inquiry that his practice deserved in England. His use of place and site points to an ongoing theme of home, far from the English countryside in which he lived, and bound up in tradition and longing; a genre of painting that many of his English contemporaries were also working in but with far greater recognition. The curator Rachel Garfield argues that even though Shemza’s works do not fit into the traditional, pastoral, English model so typical of this genre, looking at his work through the formal device of landscape, offers new ways to engage with his practice.

On 30 September 2010, Whitechapel Gallery, London will host a panel discussion on the practice of Anwar Jalal Shemza and Rasheed Araeen. Panelists include Rachel Garfield, Hammad Nasar and Niru Ratnam.

Auction: Chinese treasures from Melplash Court

Duke’s Auctioneers, Dorchester, Dorset, UK

22 September 2010
 

Rossi & Rossi at Fine Art Asia 2010
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hall 5BC, 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong
2 – 6 October 2010

On view will be a wide ranging collection of extraordinary Buddhist paintings, sculptures and ritual objects from the Himalayas and China. Spanning a thousand years, each of the works displays masterful craftsmanship and embodies a deep spiritual significance. Among the highlights is an important 12th century thangka depicting the master scholar Taklung Thagpa Tashi Pal, founder of the renowned Taklung Monastery. Painted in vibrant reds, greens and pale blue and minutely detailed, the work has a particular importance as it was created in the master’s lifetime. The many sculptural items include a 7th century Buddha seated on a richly decorated throne, flanked by two elegantly carved Bodhisattva from the Kashmir region. The piece is in remarkable condition, complete with an unusual detachable halo. Also included in the exhibition is a 12th/13th century Nepalese sculpture representing a seated Vasudhara rendered in an elegant proportionally harmonious pose. This work was registered by Ulrich Von Schroeder in Indo Tibetan Bronzes.

Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds
Christie’s, London
5 October 2010

Oriental Rugs & Carpets
Christie’s, London
7 October 2010

Indian & Islamic Works of Art and Textiles
Christie’s, South Kensington
8 October 2010

Works by Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi
Stuart Shave/Modern Art, 23/25 Eastcastle Street, London
13 October – 13 November 2010

The first exhibition in this new space will be of works by Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi, Mohamedi is known for her singular body of precise drawings, composed of straight black lines ruled over grey, cell-like grids of graph paper, frequently articulated by intertwining planes and grids. Her output is often compared to Agnes Martin: in particular their shared interest in the tension arising from the meeting of a formal compositional structure with the natural fluctuations of mark that come from drawing with hand.

Dirty Jewels - Jaishri Abichandani
Rossi & Rossi, 16 Clifford Street, London
14 October - 25 November 2010

A solo exhibition of new and recent works by Jaishri Abichandani. On view will be works in a wildly diverse range of media including sculpture, photography, installations and mixed-media painting. Jaishri Abichandani examines the political ramifications of our individual and collective identities through the lens of her experiences as a South Asian-American artist. The works project overtly political messages played out through a deft selection of imagery that blends the contemporary and the traditional, often crossing opposing figures found in mass media to present novel interpretations of current events.

Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition:  Twelve Chinese Masterworks
Eskenazi Limited, 10 Clifford Street, London
4 – 30 November 2010

The gallery is celebrating its golden jubilee with an exhibition of twelve exceptional pieces which have been acquired over the past ten years and set aside especially for this event. Perhaps the most prized is a Yongzheng falangcai puce-enamelled porcelain pear-shaped vase. Superbly painted, the main subject is two dragons with scaly, serpentine bodies each chasing a flaming pearl. The earliest piece is a mid to late Western Zhou archaic bronze hu which bears an important inscription Duke of Rui respectfully made this ritual vessel for Lord Li and has appeared in a wide range of publications.  A wonderful Han period gold kneeling figure of a shaman (xian) proffering a shallow dish appears to be unique although four comparable examples exist in bronze: one in Paris, one in the Osaka Museum, and two in China. The Eskenazi figure is skilfully fashioned in gold indicating the status of its original owner. The figure is probably associated with shamanistic practices or wu, such as the search for immortality. This figure wears a caped feather tunic; such garments imbued the immortals with magical properties of light beyond the bounds of the human body.

Indian Miniatures from the James Ivory collection
Francesca Galloway, 31 Dover Street, London
4 November - 17 December 2010

The underlying theme of this collection is a fascination with India and an acute observation of Indian life, both secular and religious, combined with a delight in some of the peculiarities of human nature, as they were expressed on the Indian subcontinent and seen through a highly refined and, as we now realize- ‘cinematic’ eye.  James Ivory started collecting Indian miniatures in San Francisco in the 1950s, while studying film at the University of Southern California.

Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Christie’s, London
9 November 2010

Japanese Art and Design
Christie’s, South Kensington
10 November 2010  

Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

Sotheby's, London

10 November 2010
   

Fine Chinese Art
Bonhams, New Bond Street, London
11 November 2010

Chinese, Ceramics, Works of Art and Textiles
Christie’s, South Kensington
12 November 2010 

The Chester Sale: Asian Art
Bonhams, Chester
16 November 2010 

Asian Art
Woolley and Wallis, 51-61 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
17 November 2010