Different strokes

The Ritz-Carlton in Bengaluru houses a vibrant portfolio of art from South Asian, South American and Indian artists

In a city that seesaws between celebrating antiques and post-modernist art, one knows it will be an unusual art collection when one almost trips over a glowering Pablo Picasso outside the entrance of the sprawling Ritz-Carlton in Bengaluru.

Looming behind Robert St Croix’s life-like bronze is a well-known graphite sculpture by Cuban master sculptor, Manuel Carbonell, called Couple in Love. A version of this is at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Florida.

Inside the hotel, the art is colourful. There’s a smaller version of the sinuous Couple in Love, but the focal point is an untitled painting by Sujata Bajaj in her signature reds, gold and oranges, as well as a large Bose Krishnamachari pop-art painting behind the concierge’s desk.

There’s another Krishnamachari around the corner above a chaise-lounge and artist and historian, Suresh Jayaram laughs, “Since Shah Rukh Khan was photographed in his study with a Krishnamachari, everyone wants one.” Stretching from the basement to the ceiling of the lobby in front of me is a Revati Sharma Singh painting — her artworks are all over the hotel.

On the second floor are abstract works by Satish Wavare, Russian painter Sergey Ivanov, Italian artist Shola Carletti and Pradeep Nerurkar’s calligraphy. My favourite is Will Rochfort’s The Mosquito’s, which shows an aerial view of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike swamped by the paparazzi.

Robert St Croix’s sculpture of Pablo Picasso

The third floor is exuberant in reds and oranges. These are the signature colours of the hotel, but the collection here complements it. There are Satish Gupta artworks in autumnal colours framing the lobby desk. Autumn Forest is a painting while Dream Upon Dream Falling has bronze leaves on a red and gold surface. Around the corner towards the tea lounge stretches a “scrap-ture” (sculptures created from scrap) by Arzan Khambatta. It is one of the most beautiful pieces in the collection. Amitabh Bachchan is known to collect Khambatta’s sculptures as well. Next to it is Alexandra Gestin’s fantastic red sumo wrestler called L’Observation.

The walls have landscapes by Subhash Awchat and Paresh Maity. On the other side of the wall is another painting by Maity of Bengali women. You follow the trail of Satish Gupta’s lotus installations and paintings till you come to a painting by South American abstract colourist Mario Velez.

Vinita Karim’s cheerful egg sculptures grace the fourth floor while the spa on the fifth floor is filled with South Asian artworks by Vietnamese-French artist Truc-Anh, Vietnamese artist Lim Khim Katy, Australian artist Patrick Hoban  as well as Indonesian Agus Y K Priyono’s detailed landscapes. There are more paintings by Carletti and Italian artist Parama Libralesso.  

To be fair to Bengaluru, I would have liked to see more local artists in the collection. But 38-year-old former tennis player and real estate tycoon, Nitesh Shetty, the chairman of Nitesh Estates that owns the property, has personally curated a collection that hints at the length and breadth of his travels instead. And it may pay to watch the artists on his list who haven’t yet made it big.