Shalini Ganendra Fine Art

Shalini Ganendra Fine Art (SGFA) started off as The Private Gallery, in Kuala Lumpur, back in 1998. The Gallery focused on making high-quality art more approachable and understandable by presenting it in a residential environment by emphasising “Living with Art” as a concept, belief and practice.

“I believe that good art is identified, enjoyed and appreciated intellectually, emotionally and finally appreciated financially,” said the owner, Datin Shalini Ganendra. Shalini was surrounded by art since young, as her family was very much interested in it. Hence, it became a living force in her environment. Coming from a corporate finance background, she practised international corporate finance with the New York and London offices of a Wall Street firm for a number of years, before her full-time participation in the fine arts.

Shalini’s specialty lies in Asian contemporary art with a particular focus on artists from emerging regions. She is experienced at advising arts organisations and individual collectors in building, maintaining and appraising museum quality collections. She works closely with clients to formulate thoughtful strategies for disposition of entire collections or single works of art. Her expertise extends to representing clients at auctions, in salesrooms and in private treaty sales.

“I was delighted to be able to transfer corporate creative skills and discipline into the art world. So, the corporate and legal training has served me well but most importantly an appreciation and respect for art has brought me much happiness,” she shared. The Gallery specialises in Asian contemporary art and design in variety of media, with particular focus on art and design from emerging regions. Malaysian artists are the main focus. However, drawing upon broad expertise in fine arts, SGFA also offers a full range of services such as valuation, auction representation and advisory.

SGFA is particularly committed to building an artistic community and international exchange. It supports artist led efforts to engage in, discuss, document and promote cross-cultural art discourse through a variety of programmes, including the innovative Vision Culture Lectures which started this year with UNESCO and Goethe Institute endorsements with the support of HSBC Malaysia.

“The gallery has a strong group of artists whom we actively represent through exhibitions, talks and workshops. We also introduce them to Fellowships and Award/ Research programmes to nurture experience, exposure and meaning. We aim to make our artists global and bring the world to Malaysia as well,” said Shalini, when asked about her vision.

SGFA has five to seven major local exhibitions annually and one in New York during Contemporary Art Week/Asia Week every year. The gallery works hard to raise the image of its artists to get them good and meaningful coverage.

“We are very particular about the quality of the works we present. Thus, the artists, collectors and audiences are conscious of the standards that need to be maintained and nurtured. Our New York exhibitions (5th year now) raise the profile of artists and definitely raise Malaysia’s art profile,” she claimed. The gallery is renowned for its work as it has had coverage by the International Herald Tribune, The Financial Times and other international publications.

“We encourage our artists to conservatively price their works. Thus, you get excellent value for high quality works,”

For enquiries, contact Shalini Ganendra Fine Art at 03-7958 2175. stag@tm.net.my