Justin Marx, a framer at a local Austin art gallery with a background in Anthropology began to get interested in Indian contemporary art through his wife, then a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin in Asian Cultures and Languages. Justin quit his job and made his first trip to the subcontinent in 2001 to begin his involvement with contemporary art and artists. He attended numerous exhibitions, visiting galleries and art colleges as well as artist villages, camps,and studios. After several months of research, it became obvious that there were some very talented artists who were not getting any international exposure, and Justin has been working for the past six years to change that.
Working with very little capital challenged Justin to really look at the situation of Indian art in the world and think about how he could best benefit these artists. Many of the artists, especially from South India, had been passed over in favor of artists working in the large cities of Delhi and Mumbai. Kala Fine Art has an especially rich collection of art from the under-represented southernmost states of Tamilnadu and Kerala.
At first, artists were reluctant to give their work, but were impressed by Justin’s youth, enthusiasm, and professionalism. But news in India travels fast: once a few senior artists agreed to cooperate, numerous others began to express interest. Justin held his first show at the Austin Yoga School in November of 2001, and it met with great success and interest from both the South Asian community in Austin and other attendees.
Since then Justin has curated exhibits of Indian art at the University of Texas, Gallery Lombardi, Gallery Wow!Wow!, the Temple Cultural Activities Center, the Dell Jewish Community Campus.
Justin represents many lifelong artists who witnessed India’s Independence and Partition in 1947 as well as some of the best artists from the younger generation. What is really exciting, though, is that Indian art is just now moving into the limelight. The past five years have seen the opening of many new galleries around the world from Munich to Delhi to New York. Through Kala Fine Art, Austin has a chance to participate in and bear witness to the new global appreciation for Indian contemporary art.