Delhi: Everything you need to see and experience at the India Art Fair

Source Architectural Digest by Uma Nair
India Art Fair is the leading platform to discover modern and contemporary art from South Asia and, is a portal to the region’s cultural landscape. The event takes place annually in Delhi and draws galleries, artists, private foundations, arts charities, artists’ collectives, and national institutions. Here’s a look at some of the top participating galleries and institutions this year.
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WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HELM SOUTH ASIA’S BIGGEST ART FAIR

Source Verve Magazine by Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena
Jagdip Jagpal – festival director of the India Art Fair – on the art that adorns her walls, advice for young aficionados and curating the fair for the third time. Art aficionados, diehard art patrons and art collectors have reason to rejoice – as the 12th edition of the India Art Fair is all set to unveil a spectrum of art from South Asia at the end of this week (January 30-February 2). Since 2018, the fair’s identity has been strengthened, as Jagdip Jagpal, the fair director, points out, ‘to become South Asia’s leading platform for discovering modern and contemporary art.”
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Mumbai Gallery Weekend and India Art Fair go on despite continuing protests

Source The Art Newspaper by Kabir Jhala
Mumbai Gallery Weekend (MGW) opened this month as protests spread across Indian cities, sparked by an attack by right-wing extremists connected to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the students and staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Mumbai was among the affected cities, but MGW’s organisers released a statement via social media saying the event would “continue as planned” and that it “stands with the protesters and students”. The organisers added that it is “imperative to protect artists’ rights to peacefully speak and protest […] given the current situation in the country”, referring to violent clashes between police and protesters during demonstrations that opposed several controversial citizenship laws recently introduced by the Hindu-nationalist BJP. Having taken part in the recent protests, Shireen Gandhy, the director of the Mumbai gallery Chemould Prescott Road, says that expressing dissent is important to her at a time “when free thought and citizenship are being challenged”.
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Performance artist, Atiku makes India Art Fair debut

Source The Guardian by Tajudeen Sowole
After taking his art to Europe, Africa and the Americas, performance artist, Jelili Atiku, is set to make his India debut tomorrow. Participating in the talks, performances, films and Artists in Residence section of India Art Fair, which holds from tomorrow, January 30, to February 2, 2020 in New Delhi, Atiku will be sharing his work on social, economic, environment and political commentary with the Indian audience for the first time. Atiku was one of the artists that represented Nigeria at the Venice Biennale of 2017, in Italy, among several of his international events in recent times. The India Art Fair is described as South Asia’s leading platform to discover art from the region and one of India’s largest commercial art events. The showcase includes, 75 exhibitors, spanning 20 different global cities with 14 in India.
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Asia Society Triennial to Feature over 40 Artists from 19 Countries

Source Asia Society
New York, January 29, 2020—Asia Society announced today that over 40 artists and collectives from 19 countries have been selected to participate in the inaugural Asia Society Triennial, a multi-venue festival of art, ideas, and innovation. Titled We Do Not Dream Alone, the exhibition opens to the public on June 5, 2020 at Asia Society Museum, as well as multiple locations throughout New York City. The exhibition is cocurated by Boon Hui Tan, Vice President of Global Artistic Programs and Director of Asia Society Museum, and Artistic Director of the Triennial, and Michelle Yun, Senior Curator of Asian Contemporary Art and Associate Director of the Triennial. The artists and collectives chosen for the Asia Society Triennial work across a variety of disciplines including painting, sculpture, photography, video, fiber art, and performance. They represent countries across Asia and the Asian diaspora, and bring together a spectacularly diverse range of works and viewpoints. Nearly half of the artists have been commissioned to create new work; many of these works are site-specific.
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Mud Walls to Museums: 93-YO’s Madhubani Paintings Stun All, Bags Padma Shri

Source The Better India by Gopi Karelia
Godawari Dutta faced the loss of a father when she was barely 10, was married off at an age when she should have been going to school, and later saw abandonment by the same husband who robbed her of her childhood. Yet, she never let her innate innocence and the will to fight die. She kept moving forward, using the skills of an ancient art she imbibed from her mother and reached the height of validation when she received the 2019 Padma Shri—India’s fourth-highest civilian award for her contributions in preserving the traditional art form of Madhubani and taking it to the world stage.
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Marcel Dzama is inspired by Bollywood in a new series of paintings

Source GQ India by Nidhi Gupta
Marcel Dzama does not like to kiss and tell. The renowned artist who hails from Winnipeg, Canada and lives and works out of New York City, has fans in high places. Brad Pitt, for one, has bought some of his artwork. Jim Carrey, Nicolas Cage and film director Gus Van Sant too invested early, right after a solo show at LA’s Richard Heller Gallery put Dzama on the map. While he’s unwilling to let on who his newest high-profile fan is – he apologises – it’s some consolation that he will be here, in person, painting a wall of the David Zwirner booth at India Art Fair, New Delhi next week.
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Of the picture worth a thousand words

Source The New Indian Express by Angela Paljor
If you have ever been to the Jaipur Literature festival, you will know that it is not just about literature. It is also about live art. We met with Bhajju Shyam, who is working on an artwork around the animal kingdom. Born in 1971 in the Gond village of Patangarh, Shyam left his studies after completing his tenth standard due to financial constraints, and travelled to Bhopal when he was just 16. “I came to Bhopal searching for work and worked as a watchman for three months and later worked along with electricians, laying down pipes. I met with my guru Jangarh Singh Shyam and started working as his apprentice. Getting work and food to eat was more than sufficient for me at that time, so I started working with guru-ji,” said Shyam, who today is a well-known Gond artist with his works exhibited all over the world.
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Artist Sudipta Das’s doll-like sculptures share the trauma of the displaced

Source Indian Express by Vandana Kalra
Even as her hometown Silchar burns with protests against CAA, artist Sudipta Das is revisiting memories of the displacement that she recalls from her childhood — when flooding of the Barak river during the rains meant that people left their homes only to come back later, when the water receded. “This year, when I saw flooding in Baroda, I was reminded of the time when the ground floor of the homes in Silchar would be submerged in water. We would be rescued by boats, stay in temporary spaces. In the exhibition I have depicted that impermanence,” says Das, introducing the works that comprise the exhibition “The Exodus of Eternal Wanderers”.
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New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata: Shows to See

Ocula Magazine by Kanika Anand
For India, 2020 began amidst nationwide protests against the ruling government for asserting seemingly Hindu-majoritarian laws and violently quelling dissent. The protests are linked to the controversial amendment to the Citizenship Act passed on 11 December 2019, permitting people facing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities in residence in India to apply for fast-track citizenship. The Act comes after the recent completion of a National Register of Citizens in the northeastern state of Assam in 2015, that rendered almost 2 million people illegal, resulting in the relocation of many to detention camps, with the deliberate absence of India's second most populous faith, Islam, in this list interpreted as contradictory to the secular fabric of the country and its founding constitution. In the run-up to the twelfth edition of the India Art Fair, from 30 January to 2 February 2020, the makings and markers of the subcontinent are once agair>n brought into focus, with a renewed understanding of the complexities and precarity of the contemporary moment.
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Àbadakone | Feu continuel | Continuous Fire

Source Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada
Àbadakone | Feu continuel | Continuous Fire, seconde exposition internationale de la série de présentations d’art contemporain indigène organisée par le Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, permet de découvrir des œuvres de plus de 70 artistes qui revendiquent leur appartenance à quelque 40 nations, ethnies et tribus de 16 pays, dont le Canada. Traitant des thèmes de la continuité, de l’activation et de l’interdépendance, Àbadakone explore la créativité, les préoccupations et la vitalité qui marquent l’art indigène de presque tous les continents. L’exposition est organisée par les conservateurs du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada Greg A. Hill, Christine Lalonde et Rachelle Dickenson, conseillés par les commissaires Candice Hopkins, Ariel Smith et Carla Taunton, ainsi que par une équipe d’experts du monde entier.
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Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel

Source E-Flux
Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel, an exhibition of contemporary international Indigenous art at the National Gallery of Canada, offers a unique opportunity to see works by more than 70 artists identifying with approximately 40 Indigenous Nations, ethnicities, and tribal affiliations from at least 16 countries including Australia, Canada, Guatemala, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. The exhibition features a selection of recent creations in a wide range of media, from beadwork to performance art, as well as commissioned installations in the Gallery’s public spaces. Through their work, the artists explore current global issues, challenge ideas about identity and history, and create relationships and communities across boundaries that inform, reform and transform our understanding of our place in the world.
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Madhvi Parekh Explores the Art of Self-Expression

Source Indian Art Fair
With no formal education in art, Madhvi Parekh’s work evolved from childhood memories, popular folk stories and legends of her village in Gujarat. Inspired by artists such as Paul Klee and Joan Miró, Parekh’s watercolours unfold like a story. “Art is within everyone, but the challenge lies in expressing oneself,” says Parekh. The artist believes that “painting is a way of expressing my innermost self’. Heavily influenced by nature and her interaction with it, Parekh’s work is largely about her village in Gujarat, which has “all four seasons.” Parekh tries to replicate the colours she sees around her – but believes that “nature has its own colours”, which “cannot be replicated in paint”. In this video, Madhvi Parekh guides us through her creative process – including how to deal with criticism.
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Delhi: Saffronart celebrates a late, legendary artist who was an inspiration for an entire abstract movement

Source Architectural Digest by Uma Nair
Swaminathan the thinker, critic, founding father who discovered the tribal richness of India’s indigenous arts also set up Bharat Bhavan, and was the forerunner and inspiration for an entire abstract movement. His words written many in the Lalit Kala Contemporary Journals in 1995, form the fulcrum of his philosophy and art. “There is something in the vast complex of our racial psyche, from the austere, crystalline poetry of our Vedic forbears to the awesome pantheon of gods and demons, from the abstract metaphysics of Hindu thought to the threatening totems of the folk ritual, that bears its head against the wall of the Pseudoscience that our so-called intelligentsia has inherited from Modern Western culture.” — J Swaminathan, ‘The New Promise’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, March 1995.
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Delhi: 5 things to look forward to at the India Art Fair 2020

Source Architectural Digest by Jasreen Mayal Khanna
India Art Fair (IAF) is the biggest exhibition of contemporary and modern South Asian Art in the country, and 2020 marks its 12th edition. Jagdip Jagpal took on her role as fair director in 2018, and since then has been instrumental is giving this exhibition a distinct identity. “Why should someone attend India Art Fair? We needed to make it clear that we are a one-stop shop for contemporary South Asian art with superior curation. The potential art market is very small and we need to grow that by growing an interest in art. The artists and their art is the core of everything we do.” Since the beginning of her tenure, Jagpal has ensured that that 70 per cent of stall space is reserved for Indian galleries showcasing South Asian art. Visitors typically include international curators to high net worth individuals to filmmakers, and the organisation makes a strong effort to include students and differently-abled people as well. India Art Fair 2020 has some exciting new artist programmes, cutting-edge genres of art, a cool lifestyle space as well as a highly-anticipated opening party. These are Jagpal’s favourite picks.
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Snow as seen by Sohrab Hura

Source British Journal of Photography by Hannah Abel-Hirsch
In spite of the volatile political situation, Kashmir’s landscape is spectacular: snow envelops its jagged mountain tops and, during the winter, extends beyond, carpeting its scenery in spotless white. Sohrab Hura was, by his own account, blinded by its beauty when, in 2015, he travelled to the touristic ski-resort of Gulmarg, a scenic hill station in the Indian section of the region, from his home in New Delhi. Hura, like the hordes of other tourists visiting Gulmarg, many hailing from India, had come to see the snow and, initially, he was overwhelmed by it and the kindness of the people who live there. But, returning home, he felt unsettled.
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Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India

Source MutalArt
Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India highlights work by contemporary artists from four major indigenous artistic traditions in India. The exhibition features paintings by significant indigenous artists including Jangarh Singh Shyam, Jivya Soma Mashe, Sita Devi, and Swarna Chitrakar, among others. Many Visions, Many Versions explores the breadth and variety of cultural traditions in India, revealing a dynamic aesthetic that remains deeply rooted in traditional culture, yet vitally responsive to issues of global concern.
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Can everybody be an artist? Sudarshan Shetty says, ‘Yes’

Source Outlook by Trisha Mukherjee
The art community has long been accused of being closed but curator Sudarshan Shetty decided to broaden the canvas and opened the doors for those on the margins -- of the art world and also society -- to bring them into the mainstream. Ask the contemporary Indian artist if everybody can be an artist and he says, "Yes". His claim is vindicated in his recent show, "Look Outside this House", where he curates 27 artworks created by people who might not be referred to as artists in the conventional sense and includes not just installations but also songs and even a magazine. Shetty’s artists are the likes of farmers, sex workers, Dalits, transgenders, women and people from similar communities, which have long existed on the margins. And their artworks are essentially innovations born out of their circumstances.
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The art of expression at Serendipity Arts Festival

Source The Telegraph
Imagine the Mandovi river in Panaji with Goa’s heritage structures spread on the riverside providing the perfect canvas for the culmination of creativity. The recently concluded fourth edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival painted a picture on this canvas with their eight-day multidisciplinary creative extravaganza with a programming so nuanced yet extensive that it had something for everyone. With 12 diverse venues housing over 95 projects ranging from art exhibitions and installations to live performances and workshops, the Serendipity calendar is always one to look out for. While multicultural art practices were in focus, projects pushing the boundaries of acceptance and politics could also be seen, making this multihyphenate in the truest sense. We tried to pack in as much as we could over two nights and here are our highlights.
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Akbar Padamsee: The Sanskrit scholar among the Progressives

Source The Hindu by Uma Nair
Striking a balance between modern art and Indian philosophy, Akbar Padamsee strived to bring the conscious and the unconscious on the same plane. Akbar Padamsee’s passing away invited an elegiac silence in the contemporary art world. India has lost the Sanskrit scholar among the Progressives. Padamsee, as an artist, led us into a space of refined aesthetic, balancing between the hieratic and the human. In the best of two centuries, Padamsee nourished himself as the fountainhead of regional and ancestral traditions to translate an epoch of modernism in his sensibility and language. Born in Mumbai on April 12, 1928, into a Khoja Muslim family with intellectual leanings, Padamsee joined Sir. J.J. School of Art in 1948, with considerable support from his family and the blessings of Aga Khan.
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Artist Jogen Chowdhury’s rare works, across mediums and periods are on show at Pundole’s, Mumbai

Source Architectural Digest India by Uma Nair
Pundole’s in Mumbai is offering a glimpse into the relationship between an artist, a collector and a gallery of repute. Masanari Fukuoka, a renowned Japanese collector, who has about 400 Jogen Chowdhury’s works in his collection—from drawings, paintings and pastels (1965-2005)—is ready to open up his prized possessions because here is a relationship that goes back more than 20 years.
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Akbar Padamsee, one of pioneers in Modern Indian painting, dies at 91

Source Hindustan Times
Born in 1928 in Mumbai, Padamsee passed away after prolonged illness on Monday evening. He was 91. A contemporary of the legendary Progressive masters, including FN Souza, VS Gaitonde, MF Husain, Padamsee worked with a variety of mediums including oil painting, photography, sculpture, prints and film. “His legacy spans more than the art he produced,” said art and cultural critic Ranjit Hoskote, who described Padamsee as his mentor. “He was a myriad-minded man. His pioneering spirit allowed him to experiment with a wide range of media,” Hoskote said. “He had a profound practical sense. He was engaged with how one makes one’s way through life, preoccupied with an artist’s relation to the museum, culture, reading, and discussion.”
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A cry from the art: In the backdrop of political turmoil, Indian art turns its gaze inwards to the country's diverse folk, subjugated and alternative narratives

Source Indulges by Anagha M
As the nation erupts and boils over with protests against the new Citizen Amendment Act by the government, a larger dialogue about labels, homelands and prejudices emerges and the nation yearns and introspects about identity. In this atmosphere, the recently concluded Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, through interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exchange brings forth and ponders the topics of identity, inclusivity and diversity in a congruent manner. Indulge spots trends and common threads that the festival had to offer /.../ Nancy concludes with a hope that in the coming year, artists will approach their practices with an expanded political consciousness. “In the current situation, where anybody who questions the government is considered anti-national, my show suggests that we reclaim the diverse histories ignored or repressed by the dogmas of art history on the one side, and by ultra-nationalism on the other. The idea is not to fetishise these lost histories. It is to make them relevant to the urgencies of our times,” she sums up.
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