A new gallery has opened in Delhi. This time it is not in the well-known cultural areas like Central and South Delhi, but in Punjabi Bagh, in West Delhi. The venue of the gallery is the Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute of Fine Arts and crafts and it is named Varalakshmi gallery after its founder Varalakshmi Rao who started the institution in the area to educate the children of workers in the industrial units surrounding it.

Today, this venue is in a prosperous residential area and one that could well use the presence of a centre of art and culture like the Varalakshmi Galley to bring fresh creativity to its already successful productive history. It is interesting that, the gallery has opened with an exhibition entitled, ?Remembering Bhopal? to observe the 20th anniversary of the worst industrial disaster in history in which 6,000 people were killed and over five lakhs are suffering from many diseases that are killing them one by one.

Thirty five artists have contributed to the show which was opened by eminent Madhya Pradesh artist Beohar Ram Manohar Sinha, who has spent many years as a professor at Santiniketan and is now settled in Jabalpur. He is one of the first artists to paint on the subject and he missed being caught at Bhopal railway station when the gas escaped as he could not get a reservation on the train that day. His works on the Bhopal Gas tragedy were later exhibited in London.

Two works of that series are included in this exhibition, Tragedy I (Rs 30,000) and Tragedy II (Rs 50,000). Other notable works are a pastel by Arpana Caur of the ?Body I just a garment? series, priced at Rs 30,000; a canvas by Akmal Husain (Rs 35,000); a large painting by the veteran Rajasthan artist, PN Choyal, The Broken Sword, at Rs 1 lakh; a small canvas of Shail Choyal at Rs 40,000; a mother and child by Surjeet Choyal at Rs 50,000; a sensitive cruciform painting by Atul Sinha at Rs 20,000; VG Abhimanue?s ?Dream Boat? at Rs 15,000; V Ramesh?s ?Speed Limit? at Rs 15,000; V Remni?s ?Fire? at Rs 15,000; a drawing by Jogen Choudhury at Rs 20,000; Neeraj Bakshi?s ?Man and Beast? at Rs 18,000; Manoj Nayak?s ?Tussle? at Rs 15,000; a ?Still Life? by Iloosh Ahluwalia at Rs 40,000; Meena Deora?s ?Origin? at Rs 24,000; Joydeep Sengupta?s ?Breezing Through? at Rs 50,000; and a portrait by Rahul Arya at Rs 60,000.

Among the works that catch the poignancy of the situation is Indrevir?s ?Smoke? that evokes the ?Sunflowers? of Van Gogh, except that they are dead, with plumes of smoke emerging from a cigarette on the table by its side. The colouring and brushwork of this painting, not to speak of the treatment, make it a good buy at Rs 25,000. Another work by M Vijaymohan, the principal of the College of Art at Delhi, entitled ?Transparent Spirit? at Rs 30,000 is another good buy. The exhibition also a very delicate landscape by Kiran Murdia at Rs 18,000. Akash Choyal?s work expressing solidarity among people is another good work to invest in at Rs 20,000. Shruti Gupta Chandra?s ?Fettered /Unfettered? at Rs 30,000; Nira Davar?s ?Composition in Blue? at Rs 20,000 and Dipendra Roy Choudhury?s ?List? at Rs 20,000 are good buys.

For those looking for inexpensive art to invest in, the work of Deepak Tandon (Rs 10,000); Ritu Singh (Rs 8000 each); Krishna Ghosh (Rs 15000 each), Hem Jyotika Rs 10,000), Renu Wadhwa at Rs 9,000; Rajindra Prasad Gond (between Rs 8,000 and Rs 20,000) are recommended, as are the glass paintings of Renu Jain at Rs 8,200 each. So, there is something here for everyone, even works of Anita Ahuja that are made of industrial waste.

The opening of an art gallery in Punjabi Bagh is yet another sign of the buoyancy of our art market and its continued spiral upward. Indian contemporary art as long as it continues to be fueled by contemporary concerns like the Bhopal gas tragedy cannot but help in succeeding in expanding its market and improving its demand. The ?Remembering Bhopal? exhibition is yet another step in this direction. It is a welcome step towards setting up an art gallery and not merely a commercial enterprise.

Here we see a good climate of investment attracting not only those who wish to profit by it but also those who wish to promote creativity of a certain sort because it will be profitable for those who will take it up as a profitable career.