India Art Fair 2024 featured some of India’s most important contemporary galleries alongside established international names also showcasing rare masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as examples, drawing from South Asia’s traditional arts heritage.
Top Indian galleries have shown masterpieces by Indian modernists including Jamini Roy (Chawla Art Gallery, Dhoomimal Gallery, DAG), G. R. Santosh (DAG), Ram Kumar(Sanchit Art) and Ganesh Haloi (Akar Prakar, Sanchit Art), in addition to works by Company School painters like Sewak Ram (DAG), lesser-known modernists such as B. Prabha, Radha Charan Bagchi (both DAG) and Rustom Siodia (Chatterjee & Lal), and senior contemporary artists such as Thota Vaikuntam and Manu Parekh (both Art Alive Gallery and Gallerie Nvya). Also on view are South Asian artists with a global presence including Gauri Gill (Vadehra Art Gallery), Rana Begum (Jhaveri Contemporary), Dayanita Singh (Nature Morte), Ayesha Sultana (Experimenter), Tayeba Begum Lipi (Shrine Empire) and Mithu Sen (Chemould Prescott Road), as well as emerging artists working across diverse mediums such as T. Venkanna (Gallery Maskara), Isha Pimpalkhare (Tao Art Gallery), Ketaki Sarpotdar (Latitude 28), Harsha Durugadda (Emami Art, The Arts Family) and Rajyashri Goody (GALLERYSKE). New artists at the fair include Jatinder Singh Durhailay (Anant Art) showing contemporary miniatures, J. Demsky (Method) bringing futuristic works, textile artist Akshata Mokashi (Galerie Splash), photographer Tenzing Dakpa (Indigo+Madder), printmaker Jayati Kaushik (Exhibit 320) and installation artist Jonathan Trayte (Akara Contemporary)
At the India Art Fair, 12 international galleries also showcased renowned South Asian artists in the diaspora and working from countries in the region beyond India, including Rina Banerjee (1×1 Art Gallery, Dubai), Waqas Khan(Aicon, New York), Amba Sayal-Bennet (Indigo+Madder, London), Affan Baghpati (Aicon Contemporary, New York), and Arjuna Gunarathne and Firi Rahman (Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo), alongside international powerhouses such as Olafur Eliasson (neugerriemschneider, Berlin), Anish Kapoor (Galleria Continua, San Gimignano & 7 locations) and Ozioma Onuzulike (Marc Straus, New York). The Platform section spotlights the rich artistic heritage of South Asia through the works of contemporary masters of traditional arts, with presentations spanning art forms from across the region by its six exhibitors: Delhi Crafts Council (DCC) (New Delhi), Gallery Ragini (New Delhi), Inherited Arts Forum (New Delhi), OJAS ART (New Delhi), Serenity Arts (New Delhi / Thimpu) and Shrujan- Living and Learning Design Centre (LLDC) (Bhuj). India Art Fair’s inaugural Design section showcases limited edition and handmade collectible designs by 7 pioneering studios that exemplify the thriving design scene in South Asia. The participants include Vikram Goyal (New Delhi), Ashiesh Shah (Mumbai), Gunjan Gupta (New Delhi), Rooshad Shroff (Mumbai), Studio Renn (Mumbai), de Gournay (London / Paris / New York / San Francisco / Los Angeles / Beirut / Shanghai), and Karishma Swali & Chanakya School of Craft (Mumbai). In addition to the Design section, the fair also welcomes celebrated design galleries Carpenters Workshop Gallery (London / Paris / New York / Los Angeles) and ÆQUŌ (Mumbai) in the main Galleries section, bringing highlights from their roster. The Studio continues to be the space at the fair for interactive, transformative, and cutting-edge digital art, including the Digital Residency Hub, hosting projects by Digital Artists in Residence, Dhruv Jani, MYLES x Ameya, and Sadhna Prasad, each bringing exciting interpretations to the Residency theme of ‘Forces of Nature’ in the form of interactive projects made using iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. Dhruv Jani presents an adventure-quest video game experience in which players excavate the subterranean layers of a mountain and reconsider their notions of what it means to be a ‘good steward of the planet’; MYLES x Ameya, a collaboration between music synthesist, Aaron Myles Pereira and graphic designer, Ameya Shinde, create a soundscape and visual world inspired by the diverse bird songs and textures from the Indian subcontinent; and illustrator and muralist Sadhna Prasad create a vibrant alternate world ruled by natural cycles and another ruled by current human excesses, to show two possible futures. Among other new media presentations in The Studio are exciting VR and AR dreamscapes by Indian creatives presented by TIFA Evolving Culture Foundation (Pune), a biofeedback immersive experience by Hansika Mangwani presented by Method (Mumbai), artist Janhavi Khemka’s stop motion animation and light projection installation presented by Emami Art (Kolkata) and mesmerizing digital and video works by Korean new media artist Lee Lee Nam presented by Korean Culture Centre India (New Delhi). The celebrated Institutions section of the fair includes booths and projects supported by 16 leading cultural foundations, collectives, and organizations as part of the fair’s commitment to supporting the thriving arts scene of the region and beyond. Among these is Antumbra, an immersive installation by artist Jitish Kallat drawing from Nelson Mandela’s long imprisonment to create a moving reflection on time interwoven with themes of confinement, hope, and resilience, jointly presented by the Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) (New Delhi) and JSW Foundation (Mumbai).
