The good, the bad and the pricey of 2012-2013

In these three brief months, we’ve sought out some thought provoking artists, engaging designers and some ritzy art collectors. So pressing on with our relentless task of bringing you the best in art and design, what better way to celebrate the years end than by paying homage to these individuals with our very own Artesign awards. Our jury of industry authorities spent days deliberating potential winners for each category. But rather than simply naming the industry’s best, we tasked our jury with the slightly daunting exercise of choosing the good, the bad and the downright pricey.

The Jury: A huge thanks to our jury members for all their help, it was truly a pleasure working with you all. Knowing how busy you all are, it’s great that you took out the time for this, I’m sure this will spark a new wave of inspiration for 2014. (Clockwise from top)

Pramiti Madhavji, editor of Elle Décor
Bhavna Khahar, editor of Take and director
Gallery Latitude 28
Farah Siddiqui, art consultant
Deepika Sorabjee, writer 
Anurag Khanna, collector
Vishal K Dar, architect and artist
Feroze Gujral, collector and art philanthropist

Best group show Kochi Biennale
The Kochi Biennale is not a group show in the strict sense of the word, but it did take on the monumental task of bringing together 80 Indian and international artists.

Best individual show William Kentridge, Poems I Used to Know at Volte
The exhibition of the South African artist’s works was truly a comprehensive insight into his practice and sensibility.

Best debut solo show Sahej Rahal, Forerunner at Chaterjee and Lal
This was the verdict of Atul Dodiya, our unofficial eighth jury member. How could we disagree?

Gallery of the year Chemould Prescott Road Gallery
Not only did Chemould celebrate its 50th anniversary, it also took on one of this year’s most exciting curatorial projects — Aesthetic Bind — a series of five group shows that took place across the year.

Curator of the year Geeta Kapoor and Diana Campbell
This year Geeta Kapoor handpicked the foremost contemporary art and gave us a truly engaging experience at Chemould’s Aesthetic Bind, amongst her other triumphs. Our jury also compliments Diana Campbell for facilitating an exchange of art, taking Indian artists abroad and bringing international artists to India amidst her several curatorial ventures.

Artist of the year Dayanita Singh
With a solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, the first for an Indian artist, a spot in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and multiple group shows this year, Dayanita Singh, in our opinion, the artist of the year. 

Non-profit space Mumbai Art Room, Khoj International
Susan Hapgood and Pooja Sood have created spaces for experimental and critical contemporary art practices that challenge traditional notions of art. Through talks, exhibitions, workshops and even residencies at Khoj, these two organisations have without question taken art and design a step forward in 2013.

Best public artwork Shilpa Gupta at Carter Road
The artwork, funded by Creative India glistened by Carter Road, calling attention to the neighbourhoods cultural diversity with the line ‘I live under your sky too’ in English, Hindi and Urdu.

Artesign city of the year New Delhi
For having hosted this year’s Elle Décor Design Week as well as the India Art Fair.

Most innovative underground art initiative Cona
This not-for-profit artist run initiative creates a space for students, artists and designers to come together and facilitates discourse, thought and action.

Prettiest thing we hated Seneka Senanayake
Senanayake’s paintings are indisputably beautiful. This year even saw his paintings of flora and fauna on billboards. But do we want to take these back home? Our jury wasn’t too sure.

Ugliest thing we loved Cow dung works by Sheela Gowda
Gowda is famous for sculptures that trudge between poetically delicate and downright biodegradable. If we could, we would take this ‘pile of dung’ straight home.

Priciest thing we hated  Hermes sari collection…
Why buy an overpriced sari at Hermes when you can hunt down a vintage or antique Kanjivaram?

Best design Trend 3D Printing
This year we’ve seen 3D printing become more accessible. Used in art, design, architecture, engineering and medical science, we’re excited to see how this technology evolves.

Dumbest design trend India inspired graphics on objects
We’re sick of this! Can’t even talk about it!

Ridiculous public art commission Statues of Politicians
In a country where money is an issue, do we really need hundreds of rather unpleasant looking political statutes reminding us of where our taxes go? We really want our money back!

Artwork we would like to take home Bhupen Khakhar 
Bhupen’s style of work is difficult to come by in the art market and it’s rare to find a good work and not pay a hefty price, but if we do, we’re definitely taking it home.

Most provocative work Tejal Shah, Camp Radia tapes
Tejal Shah’s work at Documenta was nothing if not provocative, the artist addresses ideas of gluttony, homosexuality, excess and urban society in video works with the use of food, garbage and the body.

The artist collective Camp creates a screenplay based on a leaked phone conversation between various public figures, the politically charged work is acutely unsettling.

Most overused word to describe contemporary art  Cutting edge
There was a tie between interesting and cutting edge, but cutting edge made the cut!

Best Bargain Asim Waqif
Asim Waqif’s words made out of automotive waste are assuredly strong pieces with a great market value. This trash is what we call value for money.

Priciest work of the year VS Gaitonde
Rs23.7 crore at Christies’ inaugural auction, need we say more?

So our time in Mumbai ends here, starting next month we’ll be travelling across the subcontinent bringing you more features in art and design in action-packed 2014.