Kolkata artist Subir Hati, who works in the discipline of visual art, has won the Glenfiddich’s ‘Emerging Artist of the Year 2016’ Award, from among 610 Indian artists participating from across the country.
The Emerging Artist of the Year Award is a part of Glenfiddich’s 15-year-old Artists in Residence (AiR) programme, where winners from different countries get to spend three months at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland.
Hati, who draws much inspiration from folk as well as urban art, said, “Folk art has always been spontaneous. In a different perspective, design is the by-product of utility. My attempt was to seed the essence of art in design. I call it design art.”
Hati will be awarded INR 10 lac, an international allowance of INR120,000 per month and a work allowance of INR 500,000. Subir will also be awarded a solo show at Art District XIII at Lado Sarai in New Delhi.
He added, “I am very excited about being selected. Art goes beyond boundaries, and this is going to be an enriching experience for me. It’s my chance to meet new people, get inducted into a new culture and expose myself to the steep history attached with the Glenfiddich distillery in Scotland.”
Andy Fairgrieve, global coordinator of Glenfiddich’s AiR programme, “India can become a world-class center of excellence for creativity given the diversity and talent it houses. The Indian art market is growing. Globally, the art market is an underestimated economic factor.”
The thirteen-member jury for the Emerging Artist of the Year Award 2016, includes leading artists, gallery owners, art critics and art collectors. The jury members have gone through over 2500 works by 760 artists before finalizing the 5 finalists.
Fairgrieve continued, “It doesn’t set any parameters on what our artists can produce. Each year, a number of artists from around the world are selected to take up a residency at the distillery and invited to take inspiration from their surroundings to produce new work.”
