Introductory Note
The India Art Fair, after a brief hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic, was back in action this year. Held in between 28th April and 1st May, there were 66 art galleries and 14 institutional participants at the fair this year. For the fair organizers, India Art Fair 2022 was an opportunity to mark the beginning of a new era when it comes to visual arts originating from India and South Asia. Apart from gallery showcases on modern and contemporary art from the masters and emerging artists from across the country, there was also a focus on digital art and NFTs at this year’s showcase.
For the April issue of the newsletter, we bring forth the experience of two emerging art galleries – Art Incept and Vida Heydari Contemporary – who exhibited at the fair for the first time. With a focus on highlighting the out-of-the-ordinary, we have an interview with the curator at Kalakriti Art Gallery and a feature on Gurjeet Singh’s ‘Ghar Ghar’. There’s also a curation of some of the interesting IAF Parallels that took place simultaneously with the fair event in Delhi this year. Read ahead to find out what India Art Fair 2022 was like.
Ankita Ghosh
Emerging voices at IAF
Exhibiting for the first time, Art Incept’s Gayatri Singh and VHC’s Vida Heydari offer their viewpoints on what the fair experience was like, along with snippets on their journey as gallerists and art-lovers.
Gayatri Singh – Art Incept
Gayatri Singh spoke to Art in India’s curator Shyamolie Madhavji about her experience at IAF this year.
Could you start by telling us a little about yourself? How did you enter the art industry and your relationship with art?
My relationship with art started 25 years ago ago - when my mother started a gallery. While I worked in consulting and education, this love and connection stayed. I bought my first piece of work when I was 22 years old. When I was living in London I even started an art gallery with an English interior designer friend which we ran part time till I moved back to India. What did bother me was that Indian art was relatively less known outside India.
What made you start Art Incept, your journey as the gallerist?
Back in India I continued to work in Education heading a US based content development company. However, art remained something that drew me. There is a time in your life where you make choices – art makes me happy. With mom the easy part was to walk into a ready art business, but I wanted something different. I felt the art market was limited to a few – few artists and few collectors. The same works were seen in every house and every art fair! Young artists were doing amazing work – they were playing with varied materials, their message was current and they were not scared to experiment! All they needed was a voice. Art Incept decided to be that voice.
How was your first time exhibiting at IAF? Your experience and learnings.
We are truly blessed with the kind of response we got at the Art Fair. Within 30 mins of the fair opening we sold our first artwork. That too to a seasoned collector who stumbled upon us. Seven of our eight artists showing were present at the booth. We were all overwhelmed by the response at the Fair. Almost all our artist works were booked, and we featured in the STIR World article of 10 artists' presentations that stood out!
While it came to the works presented by the artists we were bang on. We had the guidance and experience of Prima and Rahul in terms of exhibition design too. We could have improved in many areas around administration and booth management. Things we could do better next time.
What are the challenges you faced at IAF?
The biggest challenge we faced was our booths were given to us nearly a day late. We had very little time to set things up and it was miserably hot as the ACs were not working. Everyone’s productivity was at a little low. But we were ready on time!
Another challenge was being a new gallery we put at the end of Hall 2 – the location was not the best and perhaps the hottest area too in terms of temperature. There were perhaps many visitors that did not get to our spot.
Being part of the India Art Fair itself is tough for a gallery like ours who support really young emerging artists as we can never recover costs. But that is something we do with our eyes wide open. It was well worth it. The recognition and appreciation our artists got from the community has greatly inspired and motivated them!
A little about the artists you represent, how do you choose artists. Do you encourage emerging artists as well?
Our mission is to recognize and empower artists, while developing a comprehensive ecosystem for new generation art collectors and patrons.
Art Incept works with young artists and was born from the need to empower early-career artists, while widening the net to include more followers to love the arts. Our highly experienced curatorial and advisory team handpick artists through studio visits, our annual grant, using carefully drafted guidelines around concept, skill, expression, subject, and medium. We are mentors first, and that sets us apart. We work with artists as they progress their art practice giving them the essential tools for development.
Upcoming exhibitions/ events at Art Incept- things to watch out for?
We have a large show of emerging artists – WWWW – coming up at the end of July at Bikaner House, curated by Prima Kurien and Rahul Kumar. We have a number of solo shows coming up too – Santanu Dey and Viswanath Kuttum, an Architectural show and a show curated by Gigi Scaria. Happy to provide further details of these shows.
Vida Heydari – VHC
Vida Heydari spoke with our curator Shyamolie Madhavji, sharing her experience of exhibiting at IAF for the first time.
Could you start by telling us a little about yourself? How you entered the art industry and your relationship with art?
I am a curator and gallerist with over 14 years of diverse experience in the global art world, and I have worked with accomplished Indian, Iranian and Chinese contemporary artists. I have also consulted for various private and public collections.
What made you start VHC, your journey as the gallerist?
VHC was founded to bring together diverse forms of art from different regions. Established in 2020, VHC is Pune’s newest contemporary art gallery. VHC celebrates art by partnering with artists, promoting their work and connecting them to art lovers.
How was your first time exhibiting at IAF? Your experience and learnings.
It was a fantastic experience at IAF 2022. The response to our booth was far beyond our expectations and it was great to interact in person with artists, collectors and gallerists after all the virtual connects in the last two years. We also got insights into how taste in art differs from city to city in India and of course between Indian and Iran.
What are the challenges you faced at IAF?
Given the schedule of IAF due to covid, the weather turned out to be a big challenge. With India going through a heat wave, it made working through installations and the sessions quite a task.
A little about the artists you represent, how do you choose artists. Do you encourage emerging artists as well?
A lot of time and research goes into finding the right artists. I also like to interact with the artists in person to understand our rapport, since representing artists is a long term commitment and other than appreciating the art there should also be a shared vision. I am always looking out for emerging talent, and invest in them.
Upcoming exhibitions/ events at VHC - things to watch out for?
Our next exhibition will be a group exhibition of very talented Pune based artists. Am working with young curators to design impactful exhibits. We will also have several solo shows of Iranian and Indian artists. M. Pravat will also have a solo show later this year.
Out-of-the-ordinary
Bringing forth an interview with Kalakriti Art Gallery’s curator Ruchi Sharma, and a feature on Gurjeet Singh’s ‘Ghar’, this section highlights the diverse collections present at IAF this year.
Ruchi Sharma – Kalakriti Art Gallery
On the conversation I had with Ruchi Sharma, she discussed the exhibition ‘Aikyam’, Kalakriti’s journey over the years and artist Vinod Daroz’s inspiration behind the ceramics he worked with for the show.
Could you share a little bit about Kalakriti’s journey through the years and its vision as a contemporary art space?
Kalakriti was founded in 2002, it is part of the Kalakriti Foundation. The art gallery is Hyderabad’s biggest contemporary and modern art gallery and it works with a series of national and international artists. Apart from this, the galleries hosts a number of cross residencies each year, along with a focus on conducting regular exhibitions, talks, and residencies.
Could you elaborate on how the solo exhibition came together? What does Aikyam signify?
As part of our display at the India Art Fair, the gallery showcased ceramic works of the artist, Vinod Daroz, who is a Baroda-based ceramicist and brings to the show a series of ceramics that are bounded together by the theme of one-ness or ‘Aikyam’. The show can be interpreted on many different levels. Taking from a Sanskrit word, Aikyam captures the essence of everything coming together as one. Originating from the same place, everything dissolves into nothing in the end. Be it the human life cycle – with births and deaths, or fertility as a concept, each of the pieces in the collection represent something different and yet they come together as one.
What symbolism is attached to the pieces in the solo show?
The ceramic pieces originate from mud before they are shaped into the pieces you see at the show. One glitch and everything turns back to nothingness in a moment. We, as humans, have the ability to create, and improvise, but can’t control how things will be in the future. This is central to the exhibition ‘Aikyam’.
However, we like to leave the show open to interpretation from the audiences. There are a variety of meanings that one might associate with the pieces in the exhibition. So viewers are free to make their own meanings from the pieces they witness.
What was the experience like for you at the fair this year?
For us, it was all about making new contacts, finding new and interesting voices and interacting with a variety of different people who might have creative ideas we can take forward in the future. Being at a physical event after Covid-19 meant a great deal in bringing in more exposure for our artists and also furthering our relations with art-lovers and art-buyers at the fair.
Gurjeet Singh’s ‘Ghar Ghar’
Artist-in-residence at the India Art Fair 2022, Gurjeet Singh presented a live performance titled ‘Ghar Ghar’ at the India Art Fair Grounds. Focused on telling stories through his soft-sculptures, the artist subverts genres of what playtime means for children by taking audiences through a performance of a young boy playing a make-believe wedding with another boy. Using the soft sculptures made by Singh himself, the setting transforms the space into a wedding mandap created for the performance.
Improvising with his art practice, Singh takes inspiration from the stories of people around him as well as the materials he chooses to work with. Introduced to stitching and embroidery at an early age at home, the artist is interested in bringing out voices of the marginalized through his soft sculptures.
IAF Parallels & other exhibitions on view
Method Kala Ghoda’s Muse: a unique collection of works – ‘Muse’ was Method Kala Ghoda’s way of showcasing artworks featuring women through the lens of women. The exhibition came together with an open call for art by women representing women, and with submissions from across the country, of which a selection are on view in this show. The main agenda of the show was to examine the bias that exists in the art world towards male artists and female muses. Keeping with the theme of a show focusing on ‘women painting women’, Muse sought to find a new way forward in art, and brought forth the works of a range of talented women from across the country.
The Gondwana Art Project: in an effort to promote art originating from Gondwana, the Craft and Community Development Foundation (CCDF) presented a preview of their exhibition ‘Living Indian Traditions,‘ which featured some of the finest contemporary Gond, Bhil, Warli, and Sohrai paintings as well as a special display of a life-sized wildlife sculpture painted in exquisite Gond art. This exhibition was a part of the Gondwana Art Project.
Manjit Bawa: Kala Bagh
Part of the IAF Parallels, Manjit Bawa’s Kala Bagh at Vadehra Art Gallery is a collection of the artist’s works in charcoal sketches. The artist, who enjoyed spontaneously drawing his compositions without any definition of their utility within the scheme of painting, considered drawing an integral process in his practice. Replete with imagery of folk theatre, of mythic beings cut off from the circulation of existential modernistic concerns, the artist plays with form and colour in his works. This special collection of drawings is currently on view at Vadehra Art Gallery. This show is open for viewers till the 18th of June.
Currently on view: A centennial exhibition on Sayed Haider Raza, ‘Traversing Space: Here and Beyond’. Curated by Roobina Karode, KNMA presents this stunning show at the Bikaner House in Delhi. Part of the collection at KNMA, these artworks represent the artist’s journey from an academically trained painter to becoming the father of modernism in the country. Mainly showcasing works by the artist from before he became famous, they paint a portrait of the early-career Raza, who was focused on representing villages and cities in his artscapes. This show is open to viewers till the 30th of June 2022.
That’s all for this issue. If there are any suggestions or feedback you’d like to send our way, please feel free to get in touch with us at artinindiaco@gmail.com!