Mumbai on my mind: six Indian star creatives on the city they love

Source Art Basel by Deepthi Sasidharan
In the 16th century, intrepid Portuguese cartographers marked seven islands on the western coast of India as the Ilhas de Bom Baim. In 1668, traders of the East India Company started leasing these islands from King Charles I of England and called the territory Bombay. A series of frenetic land reclamation projects ensued under British colonial rule, and the fishing islands slowly coalesced into a city. Meanwhile, booming mercantile wealth drew thousands of diverse people to this new port to build their lives. A coastal metropolis was born: Mumbai.
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‘The Way Home’: Subodh Gupta’s homecoming at Bihar Museum

Source The Telegraph by Ina Puri
The artist has delighted visitors from his beloved state. They are astounded by the kinetic sculptures he has brought to the museum, his architectural installations including his famous Ambassador car and his shiny Bullet motorbikes (so commonly seen on Patna streets and alleys) that even have milk pails slung as if the doodhwala is about to set off on his morning rounds to make deliveries. So strongly do the works resonate with the milieu that the thali containing ‘dough’ neatly covered with a red-and-white checked ‘cloth’ created from fibre glass becomes an object of great curiosity with visitors. They try to touch the dough to see if it is really the atta they make rotis with, causing consternation and amusement with the security guard.
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When art gets intimate

Source The New Indian Express by Jitha Karthikeyan
By the 1970s, the Women’s Liberation Movement led to a sexual revolution where the male gaze in art was challenged and women artists altered the narrative of erotic art by using their own nude bodies to express desire. In contemporary times too, artists do not shy away from eroticism. Indian artist T Venkanna’s graphic depictions of sexuality and eroticism have many takers. Art has always been a means to express the varied emotions that make up human existence and lustfulness has always been a defining one. Moral watchdogs may find it worthy of boycotts and bans, but it is worthwhile to remember that art history proves that vulgarity lies in the mind of the beholder.
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Inside India’s contemporary art scene

Source Wallpaper by Aashta D
To perceive depth, a shadow must be cast. To cast a shadow, light must be obstructed. And to obstruct light, an object must resist – holding onto opacity, refusing to dissolve under a glare. The white cube, designed to absorb as little resistance as possible, perpetuates a lie: a deceptive tabula rasa. Its sterile walls strip art of context, pretending neutrality while enforcing erasure. This was apparent at the recent India Art Fair 2025 at the NSIC grounds in New Delhi, which offered an array of these white cubes, where 120 exhibitors transformed their enclosed grids into storefronts-disguised-as-galleries.
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Arpita Singh’s work gets its first solo retrospective in London’s Serpetine

Source Architectural Digest India by Anwesh Banerjee
“We first encountered Singh’s work during the research for the 2008/2009 exhibition Indian Highway,” says Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director at the Serpentine. “It is an honour to present London’s first solo institutional exhibition on her prolific body of work which spans more than half a century”. This landmark exhibition seeks to build on the Serpentine’s legacy of spotlighting trailblazing artists yet to receive global recognition for their work. Through this exhibition, Singh joins an illustrious club that include the likes of Faith Ringgold, Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, and Barbara Chase-Riboud.
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The Largest India Art Fair Yet Reflects Growing Enthusiasm for Indian Artists

Source Artsy by Arun Kakar
If the health of a country’s art market can be judged by the size of its largest art fair, then the 2025 edition of India Art Fair (IAF) makes for a buoyant barometer. This year’s fair, the 16th iteration, is the largest yet, hosting a record 120 exhibiting galleries and institutions (compared to 108 last year) at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in Okhla, New Delhi. As VIP day unfolded on a balmy Thursday afternoon, excitement was tangible among a crowd of varied ages and demographics that continued to flow well past the fair’s 11 a.m. opening. The buzzing atmosphere was due in no small part to the upward trajectory of the Indian art market in recent years—one of the most consistent green shoots we’ve witnessed during a period of uncertainty. Indian artists experienced the strongest surge in demand among nationalities on Artsy last year, and much of this spike can be attributed to the country’s growing domestic and diasporic collector bases, buffeted by the rising international profile for its leading artists. At this year’s IAF, there is a sense that this momentum is not only being maintained but expanded, too.
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This Year’s India Art Fair Proves Local Collectors Show No Sign of Slowing Down

Source ArtNews by Anindo Sen
For its 16th edition, the India Art Fair in New Delhi clamped down on the number of invites it extended for its ultra-VIP preview, from 11 am to 3 pm on Thursday. This attempt to avoid the overwhelming rush witnessed at last year’s edition was forgotten just minutes after the clock struck 3, the tent becoming overcrowded. The buzz all day seem optimistic, a sign of India’s maturation of a leading art market hub. The day’s clear blue sky, in a city that tends to be smoggy, seemed especially a good omen for commerce.
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A New Equation For War, Death And Democracy

Source Outlook India by Ajay Gudavarthy
Democracy was invented in history to tame power, force and violence. It was a way of questioning the natural superiority of individuals or collectives based on race, faith, gender, or ethnicity. It was said: ‘democracy denatures power’. Above all, democracy was imagined as an antonym of violence. This optimism was true even at the end of the 20th century after Fascism stood defeated. But at the turn of the 21st century, not only are democracies seemingly dying but they are also erupting into mass violence and death. Much of the violence is happening not against, but in the name of democracies. Today’s mass violence is a way of actualising the ‘general will’ of the majority. The principle of majority has collapsed into majoritarianism, and democracies that came about to tame power look domesticated and helpless. Death and democracy have a new equivalence that has escaped conventional political explanations. Today, there is a renewed need to explain the political through the lens of death.
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Arpita Singh: Remembering at Serpentine North

Source Martin Cid by Lisbeth Thalberg
The exhibition at Serpentine North features a range of Singh’s works, from large-scale oil paintings to intimate watercolours and ink drawings. These pieces reflect her exploration of themes such as gender, motherhood, feminine sensuality, and vulnerability, alongside metaphorical representations of violence and political unrest in India and beyond. Singh’s art resists singular interpretation, inviting viewers to engage with her work on multiple levels. “Remembering” builds upon Serpentine’s legacy of showcasing pioneering artists who have yet to receive due recognition in London. This exhibition follows in the footsteps of successful presentations featuring artists like Faith Ringgold, Luchita Hurtado, and James Barnor. To complement the exhibition, Serpentine will publish a comprehensive catalogue, featuring contributions from key authors, thinkers, and creatives who will illuminate Singh’s significant role in the contemporary art landscape.
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Bengal Biennale Nov 29, 2024 - January 5, 2025

Source Bengal Biennale
In Bengali, ‘Anka’ signifies both the act of drawing and the drawing itself. It is when thought becomes visible, and the hand traces the contours of imagination. ‘Banka,’ on the other hand, speaks of something aslant, indirect. It suggests a deviation, a path that meanders rather than rushes straight ahead. The phrase ‘Anka-Banka’ conjures the image of a winding river or a serpentine path, forever shifting. It is an apt metaphor for life and art, where the journey is often more significant than the destination, where meaning is found in the curves and bends rather than in a straight line. This edition of the Biennale embraces this very spirit with a contemporary outlook. It embodies the idea of always finding a way, of moving forward through twists and turns and celebrating the vitality that emerges from such movement. Here, in this gathering of artists and their works and installations, we witness the spirit of ‘Anka-Banka,’ the relentless pursuit of expression marked in the journey.
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Art across arenas

Source The Telegraph by Srimoyee Bagchi
Art biennales, beginning 130 years ago in Venice in 1895, are, today, global cultural showcases, bringing together contemporary artists to display innovative works and foster artistic dialogue and creativity. The first edition of the Bengal Biennale: Anka Banka — Through Cross-Currents, which is unfolding across at least 27 venues spread out through Calcutta and Santiniketan, is no different. The overwhelming message of the Bengal Biennale is perhaps this: art should be accessible to everyone, not limited to galleries. It needs to be seen and experienced in everyday life. Take, for instance, Paresh Maity’s giant jackfruit installation, which sat squat outside Victoria Memorial Hall and bewildered unsuspecting visitors (one of whom marvelled about whether it might have been the favourite fruit of Queen Victoria). Inside the hall, Robert Clive proudly guarded a nakshi kantha of tales from the Ramayana, while visitors tried to decipher the chiaroscuro of Jorasanko’s interiors as seen in Gaganendranath Tagore’s cubist works, displayed alongside the most magnificent watercolours of the Arabian Nights by Abanindranath Tagore.
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