Modern & contemporary art, established & young artists: 16th edition of India Art Fair has something for everyone

By twilight, determination were radical queuing astir artworks, waiting their crook to measurement into Asim Waqif’s mobile cement truck with metal-scrap fabrications, oregon entering the solid country wherever M Pravat’s I Don’t Watch you Watching This offers a multi-layered acquisition wherever viewers locomotion into an enclosure wrong a sculpture that uses shattered bricks collected from crossed Delhi. Encouraged to nutrient dependable inside, the recordings go portion of the audio.

Bhushan Bhombale’s Fragments of an Astronomer’s Mind. (Express photograph by Abhinav Saha)

If Mohd Itiyaz’s installation made from discarded metallic pipes has protagonists carrying buckets to bespeak inequitable h2o distribution, in Dichotomy of Delhi, the Capital’s thriving thoroughfare civilization is being celebrated done artists coating unrecorded wrong the operation that besides houses a chai stall.

With 120 exhibitors, the planetary names mightiness beryllium drafting curiosity, but it was creation from the portion that drew much crowds. The roster of artists usually represented astatine the just was present, but astatine immoderate booths, an effort has been made to showcase the lesser-seen.

If Chennai-based Ashvita’s has stalwarts of the Madras Art Movement specified as D P Roy Choudhury and KCS Paniker, astatine Chatterjee & Lal are watercolours by 1881-born Parsi creator Rustom Siodia. If Grosvenor has Nek Chand sculptures, Art Heritage has, among others, Haren Das woodcuts connected paper.

At Dhoomimal Gallery, manager Uday Jain has a representation by Raja Ravi Varma alongside canvases of modernists, but besides their smaller works connected insubstantial with little price-points, meant to entreaty to younger collectors.

Asim Waqif’s Make-Shift. (Express photograph by Abhinav Saha)

At Crayon Gallery, works of Thomas and William Daniell, who travelled crossed India successful the precocious 1700s, travel unneurotic with antique chromatic sculptures from astir the 11th century.

DAG is besides presenting a curated exhibition, “India Past and Present”, which features works by Western artists and Indian pre-modernists and modernists, including MV Dhurandhar’s coating of Krishna surrounded by gopis, and the past enactment of the precocious Gogi Saroj Pal, the ample sculpture Hathyogini Kali 1. “We person works spanning implicit 200 years of Indian art… charting its improvement from the 18th period to the present,” stated Ashish Anand, CEO and Managing Director of DAG.

The tributes being paid include KG Subramanyan’s commencement centenary twelvemonth being marked by Purushottam Trust for Printmaking done works of the artist-pedagogue and his students, and The Gujral Foundation commemorating Satish Gujral’s commencement centenary twelvemonth done the accumulation “Ear to the Ground” that features, among others, his architectural drawings and mixed-media assemblages.

Mohd. Intiyaz’s Dar-Badar 2.0. (Express photograph by Abhinav Saha)

For Nigeria-based Indian-origin Kavita Chellaram, laminitis of Ko-Artspace, participating astatine the IAF for the archetypal clip besides signifies further exploring the location turf. “Indian collectors are present showing expanding involvement successful creation from crossed the world, and we person brought a enactment of artists moving with antithetic mediums,” noted Joseph Gergel, manager of Ko.

With 13 planetary exhibitors, the highlights astatine the just see Huma Bhabha and Oscar Murillo astatine the David Zwirner booth, and Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei astatine Lisson Gallery. Galleria Continua is presenting an untitled Kapoor alabaster alongside works by Nikhil Chopra, curator of the 2025 variation of Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

While the just has booths celebrating indigenous creation from crossed India, it besides presents an accidental to presumption an assemblage of modern works, some caller and acclaimed.

So astatine Nature Morte, Subodh Gupta is reimagining a room arsenic a portal to the aboriginal successful his 2024 Mars Kitchen, and astatine Chemould Prescott Road, NS Harsha’s 2025 bronze Sprouting Philosopher emerges from his involvement successful ‘new proposals’ for ways of life.

At Shrine Empire, Baaraan Ijlal brings “to the fore what past forgot to see” in Safia and her Daughters. Amjadi and her Sons, returning to the people of women whose names were ne'er mentioned successful history.

Atul Dodiya returns with a metallic roller shutter work, Weeping Ancestors — featuring portraits of humanities figures specified arsenic Nana Fadnavis, Ram Mohan Roy and Tatya Tope — astatine the Vadehra Art Gallery. Rendered successful embroidery by Milaaya Art Gallery, Rekha Rodwittya’s Home is Wherever you Are at Sakshi Gallery brings unneurotic respective of her recognised motifs.

Within hours of opening, income had been recorded and reddish dots were disposable crossed booths. “The effect truthful acold has been phenomenal,” noted Loic Le Gaillard, co-founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery. By afternoon, helium had already made income worthy 600,000 dollars. “India is an important market, though we bash request to enactment with the logistics, taxation implications and proscription of works from location (gallery locations the satellite over),” added Gaillard.

While viewers could observe for themselves astatine the IAF, determination are guided walks for adults and children, based connected divers interests. Those funny successful trying their accomplishment astatine art, meanwhile, tin enroll for 1 of the respective workshops, from masking-making to crafting clay, designing a tote container to creating mythical animals based connected AI-generated images.

The just is connected astatine NSIC Exhibition Grounds successful Okhla till February 9.