India Art Fair 2023: Debashish Paul ’s sculptural dresses reflect his inner worlds

Source Mint by Avantika Bhuyan
There is a sense of the spiritual in Debashish Paul’s performance. As he walks around the NSIC Grounds, Okhla—venue of the 2023 edition of the India Art Fair—in a sculptural dress, wearing a headgear of matkas, it feels like he is exploring his queer identity with every movement and folding of the fluid textile forms. He attributes this spiritual element to a childhood spent in Phulia village, located within West Bengal’s Nadia district. “Nadia is where Chaitanya Maha prabhu spread his message of bhakti and prem. While growing up, I both watched and participated in kirtans, jatra and putul naach, a performing style with dolls,” says Paul, who is now based in Varanasi—he moved to the city for his masters degree in sculpture at the Banaras Hindu University in 2019.
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Gallery Espace celebrates 35 years with multiple exhibitions

Source The Sunday Guardian by Noor Anand Chawla
In the 35 years since its inception, Gallery Espace in Delhi has become a veritable institution in the arts space through its promotion of Indian contemporary art. Hence, the celebrations for achieving this milestone are bound to be grand, with four different exhibitions being organised over the winter season. Founded by Renu Modi in 1989, the focus of this gallery has always been on promoting emerging and well-established artists in the contemporary sphere. Over the years, they have organised many exhibitions of note. In the 1990s, there was Drawing ’94, Sculpture ’95, Miniprint ’96, and ‘The Self and The World’ (1997), which brought together 16 Indian women artists from Amrita Sher-Gil to Anjolie Ela Menon. In later years, the gallery began promoting fresh talent and experimental art practices with exhibitions like ‘Kitsch Kitsch Hota Hai’ (2001), an exposition of pop and kitsch in contemporary art; ‘Leela’ (2003), which grew out of a residency featuring Bhupen Khakar, Amit Ambalal, Atul and Anju Dodiya in Haridwar; ‘Lo Real Maravilloso’ (2009), an overview of magic realism in art, and two editions of ‘Video Wednesday’ (2008-09 and 2011-12), dedicated to video art.
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Artist Nikhil Chopra and his team HH Art Spaces will curate Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025

Source Indian Express by Vandana Kalra
The sixth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), which is to be held from December 2025 to March 2026, will be curated by artist Nikhil Chopra and his team HH Art Spaces. The announcement was made by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on November 20. “KMB 2025 is poised to be one of the most memorable editions of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Let us join together to celebrate this spectacular event that fosters the spirit of art, community and dialogue,” said Vijayan. Welcoming Chopra, KMB president Bose Krishnamachari said, “Known for his evocative and immersive work, Nikhil’s collaboration with the KBF will undoubtedly bring in a fresh and dynamic perspective to the biennale, delivering an experience, and promises to resonate deeply with the visitors, both from Kerala and around the world.”
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Serpentine announce 2025 exhibition highlights

Source FAD Magazine by Mark Westall
Serpentine has announced hightlights from their 2025 exhibition program. Solo exhibitions of Arpita Singh, Giuseppe Penone and Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley will be presented in the galleries. Next year will also mark a quarter century since Serpentine’s ambitious annual Pavilion commission began with Dame Zaha Hadid’s inaugural structure in Hyde Park in 2000. “We are honoured to kickstart 2025 with London’s first institutional exhibition by Arpita Singh, who for more than half a century has produced a prolific body of work as one of India’s most singular painters and whom we first encountered during the research for the 2007 exhibition at Serpentine South titled Indian Highway. Through a practice that blends Bengali folk art with modernist explorations of identity, Singh vividly portrays scenes of life and imagination, stories, and symbols, uniting the personal and the universal. This landmark exhibition builds on Serpentine’s legacy of spotlighting trailblazing artists yet to receive global recognition for their work, like Luchita Hurtado, Faith Ringgold, Hervé Télémaque, James Barnor, Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, and Barbara Chase-Riboud.” Bettina Korek, CEO, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director
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‘Ulcerous wounds, skin and bones’: How Chittaprosad’s searing sketches chronicled the Bengal famine

Source ScrollIn by Avishek Ray
Weaponised against this censorial attitude, Chittaprosad’s famine drawings must be credited to have practically invented a language appropriate for speaking of an otherwise “unspeakable event” that is, the famine and the resultant experiences of refugeehood, which were, according to many scholarly accounts, contrived by the British imperial policies. Among other things, such traumatic experiences challenge the discursive limits of representation. Both the colonial administration and the bourgeoisie art world maintained certain reservations about their depiction. Thinking in these terms, the famine drawings function as an important vector between experiences of refugeehood, institutional censorship, the grammar of representation and the ethics of spectatorship. It is necessary for me to add that, in delineating Chittaprosad’s famine drawings as iconoclastic, I am speaking principally as a scholar of mobility; and I must insist that readers note the subtitle of Chittaprosad’s Hungry Bengal: “a Tour through Midnapur District” [italics mine]. Of significance here is to consider how, in this context, Chittaprosad himself embodied the “travelling artist” – a figure that stands in contrast to the imagery of the salon painter – working from outside of the studio set-up and making his sketches and journal entries always on the move.
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Subodh Gupta’s artistic homecoming with a solo show at the Bihar Museum

Source LifeStyle Asia by Akshita Nahar Jain
Subodh Gupta, one of India’s most internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, returns to his roots with ‘The Way Home’, a major solo exhibition opening at the Bihar Museum in Patna this November. In an exclusive interview with Lifestyle Asia, Gupta reflects on the significance of returning to Bihar, his birth state, and how his work has evolved in conversation with his personal experiences and India’s broader cultural shifts. Subodh Gupta’s works are particularly resonant in the context of the Bihar Museum — a place where traditional heritage and contemporary culture converge. Designed under the tutelage of architect, Kenzo Tange, the Bihar Museum offers a setting that is both deeply rooted in the the region’s history and forward-looking in its embrace of contemporary art. Inaugurated in 2015, it houses a vast collection of ancient artefacts, particularly from the Maurya and Gupta periods, as well as more recent Buddhist relics. These historical works, alongside folk and modern art exhibitions, set the stage for a dynamic conversation between the ancient and the contemporary, the sacred and the everyday. This dialogue is central to Subodh Gupta’s practice, making the Bihar Museum the perfect venue for his exhibition.
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The rebel painter who ushered in a new era of Indian art

Souce BBC by Janhavee Moole
Some artists become legends in their lifetime yet remain a mystery years after their death. Indian painter Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde, born 100 years ago on 2 November 1924, was one such master. Considered one of South Asia's greatest abstract painters, Gaitonde was part of a rebellious generation of artists who laid the foundation for a new era of Indian art in the mid-20th Century. He was deeply inspired by the techniques used by Western painters but his work remained rooted in Asian philosophy, infusing light and texture in ways that, admirers say, evokes a profound sense of calmness. His paintings were meant to be "meditations on the light and universe", says Yamini Mehta, who worked as the international head of South Asian Art at Sotheby’s. "The play of light and shadows and texture makes these paintings dynamic." In a career that spanned decades, Gaitonde never pursued fame or fortune. But his works continue to grab attention at auctions, years after his death in 2001. In 2022, an untitled oil painting by him fetched 420m rupees (nearly $5m; £3.9m), setting a new record for Indian art at that time. The bluish shades of the work reminded viewers of large expanses of the sea or sky. Gaitonde lived as a recluse for most of his life. He was deeply impacted by Japanese Zen philosophy and this meditative mindset was often reflected in his paintings. “Everything starts from silence. The silence of the canvas. The silence of the painting knife. The painter starts by absorbing all these silences… Your entire being is working together with the brush, the painting knife, the canvas to absorb that silence and create,” he told journalist Pritish Nandy in a rare interview in 1991.
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Meet the artists: The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975 - 1988 - Barbican London

We spoke with six of the artists during their visit to the Barbican for the exhibition opening. Featuring Anita Dube, Sudhir Patwardhan, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Sheela Gowda, Sunil Gupta and Nalini Malani.

Art Exhibition In Delhi: Celebrating 100 Years Of Four Icons Of Modern Indian Art

Source Times Now by Ishita Roy
In a dazzling tribute to four pioneers of modern Indian art—F.N. Souza, K.G. Subramanyan, V.S. Gaitonde, and Ram Kumar—an extraordinary retrospective titled 'Creating the Century: Four Iconic Artists' was inaugurated on October 29, 2024, at the Triveni Kala Sangam. Curated by renowned art historian Yashodhara Dalmia, the exhibition marks the centenary of these artistic legends, whose distinct yet interconnected journeys helped define India's artistic identity in the 20th century. "A happy coincident", is what the Raza Foundation's managing trustee Ashok Vajpeyi calls the exhibition honouring the four pioneers of modern Indian art, all born in 1924. Curated by art historian Yashodhara Dalmia, 'Creating the Century: Four Iconic Artists' marks the centenary of FN Souza, KG Subramanyan, VS Gaitonde, and Ram Kumar.
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Debashish Paul presents narratives of queer repression and resurgent hope at Emami Art

Source Stir World by Manu Sharma
Emami Art, a space for contemporary art in Kolkata, India, is currently presenting A Thousand Years of Dreaming, a solo exhibition by Debashish Paul, an Indian artist from Nadia district in West Bengal. The show is on view from September 6 - October 26, 2024, and is curated by Mario D’Souza, director (programs) at Kochi Biennale and co-artistic director and curator, HH Art Spaces. The exhibition centres around the short film Hazaro Saalon ka Sapna (2024), which translates to the exhibition’s title, and includes various costumes, mixed media works and sculptures that appear in or are inspired by the work. A Thousand Years of Dreaming is Paul’s first solo show at the gallery and offers a jarring and surreal look at the repression and hope that typify the romantic and sexual lives of queer Indian men. STIR visited the show at Emami Art, where it caught up with Paul for an interview that sheds light on his articulation of queerness, and how he positions his work vis à vis the queer art being created in the West.
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Durga Puja pandals | When Kolkata rivals the Venice Biennale

Source The Hindu by Sharan Apparao
Every year, during Durga Puja, nearly three crore people visit Kolkata’s pandals — up for just five days. But now, the evolving nature of public art during this season is catching the attention of the art cognoscenti, rivalling any of the big art shows around the world. Over the last decade, more and more contemporary artists have been involved in conceptualising, designing, and orchestrating massive installations that have gone far beyond conventional pujo pandals. An explosion of creativity post-COVID has only boosted this vernacular vocabulary. As a novice pandal-hopper, I was recently part of a small preview group, which included art aficionados Lekha Poddar (of Devi Art Foundation), Saloni Doshi (founder, Space 118), artists Sakshi Gupta and Suhasini Kejriwal, and a few diplomats — invited by my artist friend Sayntan Maitra. Over three evenings, we visited intricately-crafted pavilions, met the artists, artisans and technicians behind the installations, and even caught a show by itinerant puppeteers in the intimacy of a private courtyard.
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A century on, Begum Rokeya’s feminist science fiction is still inspiring Indian artists

Source Scroll In by Kamayani Sharma
n a 2021 article for The Caravan, Devangana Kalita, a member of the women’s collective Pinjra Tod jailed in relation to the 2020 Delhi riots under a draconian law, shared her drawing featuring women swimming among fish with their fists raised sto the sun in a gesture of political resistance. The work was inspired by the illustrations of artist Durgabai Vyam, in the Pradhan Gond style, for a story called Sultana’s Dream: “We had a reading session of the story in our barrack one night,” writes Kalita in a letter published in the article. “It felt special, warm and familiar…” What was this old tale that inspired and heartened Kalita, an activist who is part of a movement seeking to liberate women from patriarchal fetters like curfews, confinement and surveillance in the name of safety and security? How does it appear to have become reactivated in contemporary Indian visual culture? And what does this reactivation tell us about the times we live in, seemingly distant from the historical moment of the story’s origin?
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"I am a child of the Indian Ocean" - Shiraz Bayjoo on his practice and politics

Source Stir World by Chintan Girish Modi
Shiraz Bayjoo, an artist who was born in the Mauritian capital Port Louis and has called London home for over two decades, unpacks histories of colonialism with a rare tenderness that seeks accountability without being overwhelmed by rage. With his training as a student at the University of Arts Institute, Cardiff, and as a young artist-in-residence working with charities for the homeless, he developed a visual language and a research-based practice championing the marginalised. Whether he is grinding pigments for paintings or rummaging through colonial records in dusty archives, there is a strong awareness of the movements and interconnectedness of people, flora and fauna, languages and seasons. He is keen to speak of the violence of the past in a manner that helps us understand, not sensationalise, and walk together in the direction of healing.
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The Imaginary Institution of India Art 1975–1998 The Barbican London

Source The Barbican
Featuring artwork by over 30 Indian artists, this major exhibition is bookended by two transformative events in India’s history: Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 and the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. The fraught period between these years was marked by social upheaval, economic collapse, and rapid urbanisation. Within this turbulence, ordinary life continued, and artists made work that distilled historically significant episodes as well as intimate moments and shared experiences. Across a range of media, the vivid, urgent works on show – about friendship, love, desire, family, religion, violence, caste, community, protest – are deeply personal documents from a period of tremendous change. This is the first institutional exhibition to cover these definitive years, with many works never before seen in the UK.
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Three iconic female Indian artists, born pre-independence, tell us how they broke into a male-dominated art landscape

Source Vogue India by Gautami Reddy
The four women—now venerated artists in their seventies and eighties—started their careers together in the 1970s during a period of intense change in India. Indira Gandhi had just declared a national emergency; a sharp spike in population had been reported; inflation was at a record high and student protests were breaking out all over the country. Despite this turmoil, or perhaps because of it, a new wave of feminist film, theatre and music emerged. Galvanised by this revolutionary spirit, Malani, Sheikh, Parekh and Singh spent the next decade breaking into India’s male-dominated art landscape. They commemorated their efforts with a series of all-women travelling exhibitions titled Through The Looking Glass in 1989.
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India Art Fair expands into Mumbai

Source Artforum
The India Art Fair, held annually since 2008 in New Delhi, has announced the launch next year of a novel iteration taking place in Mumbai. Focusing on art and design from South Asia, the new India Art Fair Contemporary will host between fifty and seventy Indian and international exhibitors at the city’s Jio World Garden from November 13 to November 16. The fair will additionally promote cross-disciplinary collaborations between art and design and will point up Mumbai’s history as a global port by featuring work from South Asia, Africa, and South America. The fair, like its New Delhi predecessor, is owned and operated by Angus Montgomery Arts (AMA), which runs regional art fairs including Hong Kong’s Art Central, Shanghai’s Photofairs, Taipei Dangdai, Sydney Contemporary, Singapore’s Art SG, and Yokohama’s Tokyo Gendai.

We don’t know Sosa Joseph’s girls

Source Stir World by Maanav Jalan
A naked woman lays prostrate across the diagonal of a large canvas by Kerala-born artist Sosa Joseph. The work, Śarada (2023-24), painted with Joseph’s characteristic fluidity and a more sensual palette is among the 14 on view across two floors at David Zwirner gallery in London, in her first European solo exhibition Pennungal: Lives of women and girls. In a talk at the gallery, Joseph explains that the title of the show, Pennungal, is a “not so respectful, dismissive way of addressing women in Malayalam,” her mother tongue, and a word that depending on the tone can connote something like, "oh women, useless creatures”.
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A pioneer of performance art in India reflects on her decades-long journey

Source Scroll In by Kamayani Sharma
Today, every major Indian art event, be it a biennial or a fair, features performance artworks in its programme. But despite the form’s contemporary boom, its history in India is still inchoate. As art historian Rakhee Balaram says in a 2022 essay, “The genesis of performance art in India, including the histories of the 1980s, has yet to be written…” One person who is all too familiar with this history is Ratnabali Kant, a pioneer of performance art and, as art historian Partha Mitter points out, the first Indian artist to synthesise performance and installation.
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100 years after his birth, Francis Newton Souza’s art is seeing the resurgence it deserves

Source Christie's
Francis Newton Souza’s story is marked by rebellion and determination. Souza, who was born in Goa, India in 1924, was expelled from school twice as a youth before ultimately deciding to become an artist. Opting to join the company of other radical artists and revolutionaries, he joined India’s Communist party in 1947 and co-founded the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG). However, Souza quickly grew frustrated with the lack of patronage and aesthetic identity in India. Looking for acceptance, he left his native country in 1949 bound for London. For nearly two decades, Souza would remain in the English capital. It was during those years that, through challenge and hardship, the artist would define his career and cement his legacy as one of India’s most celebrated modern painters. In honour of the artist’s centenary, Christie’s is proud to present Francis Newton Souza: The London Years, Masterworks from the Collection of Navin Kumar, on view in our New York gallery from 13–18 September. Chronicling his time in London, the exhibition features 26 artworks from the groundbreaking years Souza spent in Europe.
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Artist Jyoti Bhatt wins Balkrishna Doshi: Guru Ratna Award 2024

Source Stir World
The sophomore honoree of the Balkrishna Doshi: Guru Ratna Award is Professor Jyoti Bhatt, accorded the prestigious award in recognition of his exceptional contributions to visual arts and fine arts education. "It is with great reverence and admiration that we recognise Shri Jyoti Bhatt for his untiring commitment to furthering arts education, his quest for meaning and empathic self-awareness as an artist," Vastu Shilpa Foundation announces. Bhatt, a Padma Shri awardee, is a distinguished artist and revered educator who has had a transformative impact on the art world through his innovative practice and philosophical approach to art education.
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Godawari Dutta: The Model Woman Of Mithila Painting

Source Outlook by Arvind das
Godawari Dutta (1930-2024), the renowned Mithila artist, was among the galaxy of fine artists that Mithila has produced in the past sixty years. With her death, an important chapter of this traditional art form comes to a close, but her legacy lives on. Dutta was born in Bahadurpur village in Darbhanga district. Her mother Subhadra Devi, herself a well-known artist, was her guru. She told me: “My mother’s paintings, and those of Padma Shri awardee Jagdamba Devi of Jitwarpur, had a ‘folk touch’ in them. With the advent of modern education, there has been a change in both the subject matter and style.” She said: “No wedding ceremony can be completed in Mithila without painting.” In the 1960s, Madhubani paintings transitioned from wall paintings to paper, making them easier to buy and sell. Thanks to pioneer artists such as Jagdamba Devi, Sita Devi, Ganga Devi, Mahasundari Devi, Godawari Dutta and Baua Devi, very soon, it caught the attention of art connoisseurs across the world.
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These typography artists are introducing vernacular fonts to their creations

Source Hapers Bazaar India by Barry Rodgers
India’s linguistic landscape is a testament to its rich cultural heritage, boasting a myriad of languages, each adorned with a unique script that reflects centuries of tradition and evolution. From the flowing curves of Devanagari to the intricate loops of Tamil, these scripts not only convey language but also embody a visual narrative deeply rooted in history and culture. The diversity of Indian scripts serves as a wellspring of inspiration for artists and designers, offering a canvas where tradition meets innovation in a harmonious blend of aesthetics. India has been witnessing a revival of typography artists who are bringing an alternate perspective to Indian scripts, and melding linguistic influences to birth unique and distinct types.
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Amar Gallery celebrating surrealist Dora Maar

Source Meer by Patricia Gomes
Amar Singh is a British-Indian art gallery owner, art dealer, film producer, female rights advocate, LGBQT+ ally, and philanthropist. Amar is an activist who has been instrumental in fighting against LGBQT+ conversion therapy in India, and he has campaigned for the legislation of same-sex relationships in India. Amar’s art inspirations include Helen Frankenthaler, Dora Maar, Jean Cocteau, Lynne Mapp Drexler, Grace Harrigan, Perle Fine, Judith Godwin, Lawrence Calcagno, Alice Baber, Howard Tangye—most of these trailblazing artists he has shown at his first London gallery in Islington.
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Gulam Mohammed Sheikh talks to Bazaar India about figurative art, his evolution as an artist, his influences, and more.

Source Haper's Bazzar India by by Jishnu Bandyopadhyay
For more than six decades, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh has been a weaver of worlds. Not on a loom, but on canvas, and with words as fine as threads. He is a painter, a poet, and a writer who sees time not as a linear path, but as a shimmering fabric where past, present, and future intertwine. Bazaar India sits down with the 87-year-old for a conversation at his exhibition at Mumbai’s Chemould Prescott Road, titled Kaarawaan and Other Works, organised in association with Delhi-based Vadehra Art Gallery.
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The 7 best museums in Mumbai

Source Conde nast Traveller by Prachi Joshi
The bustling megapolis of Mumbai may be known as the financial capital of the country, but it’s also a treasure trove of history, culture, and art. Its museums not only preserve the rich legacy of the region but also provide a vibrant platform for artistic expression. From ancient history to contemporary art to the wondrous world of cinema, there’s something for every kind of museum geek. An added bonus is the remarkable architecture of these museums, many of which are housed in historical buildings. For the discerning culture vulture, here are the 7 best museums in Mumbai.
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20 art galleries in Mumbai that should be on your radar

Source Architectural Digest by Neerja Deodhar
As birthplace and backdrop, Mumbai and its vast sea have witnessed a number of art movements and talents that went on to shape the national conversation. An artistic legacy that began in the 1940s with the Progressive Artists’ Group—featuring MF Husain and FN Souza—continues to thrive, nearly a century on: While initiatives like Art & Wonderment have introduced curious outsiders to the city’s art scene, 2023 saw the debut edition of a homegrown fair for seasoned patrons and collectors. Art galleries in Mumbai have played a key part in this journey. Consider the Jehangir Art Gallery, established in 1952, where the first camaraderies and controversies brewed—across exhibition halls and the iconic Samovar cafe. The last decade has seen the rise of young, experimental spaces and efforts to take the city’s art scene to the suburbs, far beyond its traditional precincts. Here’s a definitive list of 20 art galleries in Mumbai that deserve a place on your map.
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From one enfant terrible to another: Decoding the mystery of FN Souza’s sketch of a Russian composer

Source Scroll In by Luis Dias
Stravinsky, especially after the scandalous 1913 Paris premiere of his revolutionary ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) was labelled the “enfant terrible” of classical music of his time. The famous auction house Christie’s called Souza the “enfant terrible” of Modern Indian art. The enduring formative impression of Roman Catholicism in Souza’s Goan childhood on his art is well-documented. Yashodhara Dalmia, in the chapter A Passion for the Human Figure: Francis Newton Souza of the above-mentioned book The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, quotes him extensively on the subject. Although Stravinsky drifted away in his adult years from the Russian Orthodox Church he had been born into, his homesickness while in Europe drew him back to the faith, “a portable piece of Russia”. An especially moving ceremony at the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in 1926 while on a concert tour made him formally rejoin the Church. A slew of sacred compositions followed, most famously his Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra (1930, rev 1948) and Canticum Sacrum for tenor, baritone, chorus and orchestra (1955). Souza and Stravinsky also had inspirational subject matter (in addition to Christianity, of course) that overlapped. Oedipus Rex, based on Sophocles’ tragedy, was a Stravinsky opera-oratorio (1927). The inspiration for Souza’s 1961 depiction of the tragic king was (as he himself explained) his own irrational feeling of guilt that his father died soon after his birth, and the disturbing revelation of surreptitiously watching his mother bathe through a hole he bored in the door. Imagine what Freud (Sigmund, not Lucian) would have made of that! It certainly puts his obsession with the female anatomy in perspective.
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Soaring graph of Nasreen Mohamedi, abstractionist par excellence

Souce BizzBuzz News by Archana Khare-Ghose
With some superlative auction results for Indian modern and contemporary art in the first four months of this year, the art market is looking good, healthier than before, and poised for even greater innings once the next bout of auction fever strikes in September-October. There have been several great takeaways from the auctions of Indian modern and contemporary art held by AstaGuru, Christie’s, Pundole’s, Saffronart, and Sotheby’s between March and April this year. That has given opportunities to art lovers like me to discover newer talking points and analyse how works of the great masters are progressing over their previous record prices at auctions. In this column this week, I would like to share what I have learnt about the seminal abstractionist Nasreen Mohamedi, whose works are climbing the ladder of popularity at auctions, which is feeding into curiosity about her and her art in what can be called a long overdue attention that she deserved in her lifetime. The biggest hook for this write-up on Mohamedi is the fact that at the recently concluded Pundole’s Fine Art Sale on April 25 in Mumbai, her Untitled work sold for Rs 11 crore, setting the world auction record for the artist. Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990), a towering figure among art practitioners, first came into popular limelight when in 2015-2016, two important museums of the world, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Met Breuer in New York, hosted her solo exhibition, titled ‘Nasreen Mohamedi: Waiting is a Part of Intense Living’.
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The Ultimate Venice Biennale Collateral Events 2024

Source Artlyst by Lee Sharrock
The Rooted Nomad, presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, celebrates the iconic contemporary Indian artist whose itinerant spirit embraced all nuances of life. M.F. Husain (1915– 2011) was a peripatetic spirit who channelled his many experiences and journeys into an artistic practice investigating questions of mobility, migration, crossing borders and beyond fixed boundaries. The Rooted Nomad exhibition in Venice resonates with the Stranieri Uvunque theme of the 60th Biennale Arte, for Husain’s art was centred around notions on the ‘yatra’ or journey both as a crux to civilisational ethos and artistic calling as well as a metaphor for transformation. Husain first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1954. He was one of the first artists from India to present his works in Venice.
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Matthew Krishanu in the Studio

Source Ocula by Annabel Downes
Two young boys cling onto the limbs of a spindly banyan tree. A woman dressed in a sari sits on a sofa below a painting of Christ. A congregation of church-goers face a Christian priest in the Church of Bangladesh. Many of these moments were experienced during London-based painter Matthew Krishanu's upbringing in South Asia, and then re-experienced through his quiet and economical brush. At Camden Art Centre, Krishanu's solo exhibition, The Bough Breaks (26 April–23 June 2024), follows a string of remarkable painting shows at the London institution by artists such as Martin Wong, Mohammed Sami, and Allison Katz. Ahead of the exhibition, Ocula Advisory visited Krishanu's East London studio to discuss his latest paintings and drawings, the Joan Mitchell tree paintings pinned to his studio wall, and how he measures his own paintings' success.
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India at Venice: no pavilion but more presence than ever before

Source The Art Newspaper by Kabir Jhala
India, the world's most populous country, once again does not have a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the 60th edition of which opens to the public on Saturday (20 April-24 November). The country's national participation has been scarce and inconsistent: just two India pavilions have been staged in the Biennale’s 125-year history, one in 2011 and the second in 2019. Nonetheless, this year at Venice, the presence of Indian art and the industry behind it has never been greater. Adriano Pedrosa’s international exhibition, Foreigners Everywhere, includes 12 Indian artists—an all-time record, and quadruple the amount of the previous Biennale. Featured in the Global South-focused show are the contemporary artist Monika Correa and the Bangalore-based women-led collective Aravani Art Project, as well as major 20th-century figures including Amrita Sher-Gil, S.H. Raza, Bhupen Khakar and Jamini Roy. Artists belonging to the Indian diaspora—the world’s largest—will also participate in a handful of national pavilions and official collateral events. One of the three artists representing Finland this year is the Patna-born Vidha Saumya, who is showing cross-stitched digital photographs. And Eva Koťátková’s Czech and Slovak pavilion about a dead giraffe is made in collaboration with Himali Singh Soin, who is based between New Delhi and London.
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‘We Are No Longer Caged’: Indian Trans Artists Reflect on Landmark Court Ruling in Venice

Source ArtNet News by Vivienne Chow
To Karnika Bai, Shanthi Muniswamy, and Joythi H., the opening of their eye-catching, monumental mural Diaspore (2024) at the Arsenale was more than just a celebration of their Venice debut. It was also an event to mark the 10th anniversary of India’s recognition of transgender individuals, a defining moment that allowed these trans artists and their community to start to feel a little less foreign in their own country. “If this edition’s theme, ‘Foreigners Everywhere,’ means being in different cultures and territories where you do not belong, this applies to us too” Bai, one of the lead artists from the Bangalore-based art collective Aravani Art Project, said in an interview during early hours of Tuesday’s pre-opening of the main exhibition of the 60th Venice Biennale curated by Adriano Pedrosa. “We did not feel belong[ing] to the bodies that we were born into. People in our own country see us coming from another country, another culture. We are foreigners.”
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A major moment for the growing Indian art market

Source Artsy by Hilary Joo
Taking place at the beginning of February, India Art Fair was an all-around success. The fair scaled up its number of exhibitors to more than 100, and galleries reported strong sales from a combination of Indian and international collectors, especially those from Southeast Asia. The momentum of the Indian art market is increasingly drawing international attention. “The Indian economy is growing rapidly along with our population. There is an acute appreciation for visual aesthetics and a tremendous growth in disposable income as the country becomes more self-sustaining,” said Prateek Raja, the director of tastemaking Kolkata gallery Experimenter. “The large educated middle class, who’s interested in culture and art, is growing as well. Ten years ago, most people bought artworks only to decorate, but now people buy artworks to get something meaningful and to capture the moment.”
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9 art shows to check out right now in Mumbai

Source Condé Nast Traveller by Prachi Joshi
Mumbai’s art galleries and museums are buzzing with a slew of fresh and ongoing exhibitions, whether it’s a global street art icon’s first solo in India or a retrospective of a venerable Indian painter. Here’s our selection of shows you shouldn’t miss.
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BARBICAN ANNOUNCES FIRST MAJOR SURVEY OF PIONEERING INDIAN ART 1975-1998

Source FAD Magazine by Mark Westall
In the autumn of 2024, the Barbican will present The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998, the world’s first major exhibition of Indian art to explore and chart a period of significant cultural and political change in the country. Organised in partnership with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, this significant group show will feature over 25 artists and nearly 150 works from across a range of media, including many that will be shown in the UK for the first time. Participating artists include Jyoti Bhatt, Rameshwar Broota, Sheba Chhachhi, Sheela Gowda, Rummana Hussain, Bhupen Khakhar, Nalini Malani, Meera Mukherjee, Madhvi Parekh, Navjot, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, Himmat Shah, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Nilima Sheikh, Arpita Singh, Vivan Sundaram, J. Swaminathan, Jangarh Singh Shyam, Savi Sawarkar, N.N. Rimzon and more.The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998 will be accompanied by an integral film programme in Barbican Cinemas which will respond to the themes of the exhibition. This collaboration with Barbican Cinema reinforces the Centre’s commitment to cross-disciplinary programming.
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The Pilgrimage of Tarshito

Source The New Indian Express by Alexander Sebastian
For Italian artist Tarshito, art is largely, if not entirely, a spiritual affair. At the inauguration of his ongoing exhibition at the National Crafts Museum in Delhi titled ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, the 72-year-old says his artistic practice is inspired by “the magical part of life. It comes from the energy of the sky”. The eponymous concept of all of humanity being one big family has also been the guiding force for his creativity over the years. With works done in collaboration with around 25 traditional artists from across the country, in various styles of art ­— from Gond and Warli to the mural art of Kerala— blended with Tarshito’s own imagination, the exhibition is a celebration of the power of art in bringing together varied cultures and communities.
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Raza reigns supreme, Souza sets record at New York auctions

Source Bizz Buzz
The last of the big auctions of Indian art in the first season of this year are now over and have left us with some whopping records. At the three sales of modern and contemporary South Asian art held by Sotheby’s (two) and Christie’s (one) in New York this past week, most of the canvases sold for way above their pre-auction estimates, setting records for some artists and pushing the envelope for quite a few others.
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Rooshad Shroff’s signature furniture line is now canvas to T Venkanna’s provocative art

Source Architectural Digest by Arshia Dhar
“We wanted to take something that people have seen before in terms of shape and form,” Shroff says, explaining why a pre-existing collection of furniture was chosen for the project, to which the artist responded with his unique idiom. Shroff adds, “For example, with the coffee table, we wanted Venkanna to do something with the act of drinking and the pleasure one seeks from it, which he then depicted in the ways he does, where the subject matter—if one is not familiar with his work— might even be considered vulgar." Conceptually, the imagery in the series reiterates the significance of the body as a motif and as a symbol of social commentary, exploring the boundaries of mores, by often performing for an external gaze. The artwork, therefore, challenges notions not only of belonging, control and access, but also of censorship, shame and privacy.
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Sheher, Prakriti, Devi Ishara Art Foundation

Source Ocula
Recently awarded the 10th Prix Pictet for global photography and sustainability, New Delhi-based artist and photographer Gauri Gill presents her first curatorial project, titled after the Hindustani terms for city, nature, and deity at the Ishara Art Foundation. The exhibition follows Gill's documentation of India's rural and urban spaces since 2003. 'Rememory' imagines cities as spaces shaped by 'multiple life-worlds': a concrete rod sinks into marshland in one image; in another, a gate opens onto an incomplete road.
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6 Standout Works at the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale

Source Artsy by Reena Devi
Often, art events in Saudi Arabia show a predilection for the bright and shiny. The second edition of Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, the nation’s major biennale, however, was no such show. Launched with expansive international ambitions, the exhibition showed a geographically diverse range of artists from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and led by artistic director Ute Meta Bauer, the second edition of the biennial opened on February 20th and runs through May 24th.
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Nikhil Chopra’s 'Line of Fire' at Chatterjee & Lal layers contemporary anxieties

Source Stir World by Manu Sharma
Chopra also enthralled audiences in his live performance at 47-A, donning a metallic costume and drawing landscapes on the gallery’s glass facade. The performance saw the Indian artist develop his work while a soundscape filled the space with natural and unnatural sounds. Winds gushed and birds chirped and were intermittently interrupted by gunshots and the screech of aeroplanes. As was the case with Chopra’s paintings, the sense of discomfort grew gradually at 47-A. The artist’s instrument of choice—lipstick—typically contains heavy metals such as aluminium, cadmium and chromium which can be quite toxic if they enter the body. Chopra’s decision to use lipstick instead of his usual charcoal or pastel was taken to comment on the historical buildup of “toxic histories and ecological contamination” across the earth’s natural environments, as curator and writer Mario D’Souza writes in a press release. The durational performance, along with the larger exhibition it is a part of, provided audiences with cause to reassess our relationship with the planet, and to ponder the extent of toxicity, both literal and metaphorical, that it now carries.
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12 new art shows in India to add to your March 2024 calendar

Source Vogue India by Huzan Tata
March’s roster of new art shows in India incidentally opens with the international fest Art Dubai, where Indian galleries like Experimenter and Latitude 28 are participating, so head to Madinat Jumeirah if you happen to be in the desert city till 3rd March. Closer to home, Srila Chatterjee of Baro Market is curating the annual showcase of the Affordable Art Show from 1st-3rd March at Method Juhu, featuring over 15 artists from across India, while Ahmedabad’s 079 | Stories gallery is showcasing artist Vipul Prajapati’s solo show of paintings and installations. Here’s our pick of what you should definitely catch at galleries this month.
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Mumbai Collector Sangita Jindal on Her Sprawling New Contemporary Art Center in Ancient Hampi

Source ArtNet by Lee Carter
Sangita Jindal has been captivated by the ancient city of Hampi in South India since she first laid eyes upon the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the early 1980s. Hampi, explained the prominent art collector and philanthropist, was a “dynamic hub where art, architecture, and literature flourished from the 14th to 16th centuries.” As many as 1,000 temples, shrines, and other monuments were intricately carved out of local granite during Hampi’s heyday. Many of them still stand, making the site a major tourist destination and an auspicious location for Jindal’s long-planned, newly opened art center. Hampi Art Labs—with its organic, stone-like forms designed by architect Sameep Padora—promotes the creation of contemporary art through residencies and workshops that bridge past and present disciplines. It’s the latest initiative from JSW Foundation (which Jindal chairs), the philanthropic wing of the Mumbai-based conglomerate JSW Group (which her husband leads). Together, the couple is well-known for supporting arts and heritage projects in India.
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Inside India’s Booming Art Scene

Source Forbes by Grace Banks In the early days of January, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi spoke for the first time about the Indian contemporary arts scene on his youtube channel. Referencing the India Art, Architecture and Design Biennale held at the Red Fort, New Delhi, in December, which he attended, Modi called the event a “celebration of our country’s diverse heritage and vibrant culture” and spoke about his pleasure at being able to interact with art and artists. Later, he published photos of the event on his own website. For a ten year presidency that has offered little financial support to the arts, and in an election year, this broadcast and coverage felt to some like nothing more than a publicity campaign.
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Politics of purity: Konkan artist shatters sexist stigmas with cow dung, embroidery and more at India Art Fair

Source The Decan Herald by PTI
New Delhi: A yellow tarp in one corner of the India Art Fair presents a sight commonplace in rural India - cow dung cakes plastered to a wall to dry. Look closer, however, and you see the cow dung cakes are stylised in the shape of female genitalia. For Konkani artist Mayuri Chari, the rows of vaginas sculpted in cow dung are a statement against the hypocritical attitude towards menstruation. Through her art, she questions the tradition of banishing women from their homes during their period for purification of the home and a cow is worshipped while a human is rejected for being impure,” Chari told PTI.
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The Young Artists To Watch Out For At The India Art Fair 2024

Source The Sunday Guardian by Noor Anand Chawla
The fifteenth edition of the annual India Art Fair (IAF) opened to much fanfare on February 1, 2024 at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in New Delhi, and is on till Sunday February 4. The grand show features 109 exhibitors with an entire section dedicated to the category of design, in line with the fair’s commitment to celebrating the best of South Asian art and culture. On display are a plethora of works – masterpieces of Indian modernists as well as the works of emerging artists and contemporary masters of traditional arts. Artists from the South Asian diaspora are also part of the milieu. Through this immense display of talent, we kept our eye out for young and emerging artists who were pushing the boundaries with their work. Here is our pick of the best young artists to watch for at the India Art Fair 2024.
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Founders Prateek and Priyanka Raja reflect on their journey as Experimenter turns 10

Source The Telegraph by Farah Khatoon
Born out of sheer passion and steered with perseverance and panache, the contemporary art space and gallery stood as a mirror to the current times and emerged as a space for creative spirits who passed on their infectious energy and touched the souls of Calcutta and Calcuttans. "We feel both cities have deep and layered histories and are amalgamations of multi-cultural influences over time. As a result, they both have great institutions and communities that have so much to learn from each other. While the audiences in Calcutta are active and are unhesitating to ask difficult questions, the energy and inquisitiveness in the audiences of Mumbai are unmatched. The arts landscape has continued to evolve albeit at different paces in both Calcutta and Mumbai and new spaces and new models of showing work have emerged, collaborative initiatives have evolved and artist-run spaces have also grown tremendously".
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'Sheher, Prakriti, Devi' an exhibition that marks artist and photographer Gauri Gill's first extensive curation

Source ArtDaily
DUBAI.- Ishara Art Foundation is preseting Sheher, Prakriti, Devi, an exhibition that marks artist and photographer Gauri Gill’s first extensive curation. Ruminating on the interwoven relationship between dynamic cities, the natural environment and the inseparable sacred, the show presents twelve artists and collectives working across diverse contexts of urban, rural, domestic, communitarian, public and non-material spaces. In Gill’s words, “Apart from the sheer beauty and multiple truths expressed by the different artists - from the mundane to the transcendental, the gross to the subtle, and, the manmade to the sacred – through this palimpsestic and idiosyncratic exhibition, I wish to acknowledge those who have found ways to stubbornly persist in their practice, often sharing their work only within their families and local communities, completely outside the circuits and networks of professional artists, contemporary art discourse, galleries and markets… Through this gathering of insistent voices we hope to consider the dualistic worlds of the depleted and regenerative, manmade and natural, colonial and Indigenous, young and old, English and non-English, mundane and magical, absent and present.”
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In Strong Economy, India Art Fair Boasts Biggest Edition Yet

Source Ocula by Sam Gaskin
India Art Fair will present 108 exhibitors and a new design section when it returns to the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in New Delhi from 1 to 4 February. 'We are proud to be able to host the wide spectrum of creativity in the region, from the most established artists and designers to the emerging stars of tomorrow,' said Jaya Asokan, Fair Director of India Art Fair. India's art market is tiny by global standards, with total sales valued at U.S. $144.3 million in 2023 compared to $30.2 billion in the world's largest market, the United States. But it is growing quickly, up from $106 million in 2020–21, according to the State of the Indian Art Market Report FY23 by Grant Thornton Bharat and Indian Art Investor. And art dealers in India have favourable economic winds at their back. The Reserve Bank of India is projecting real GDP growth of 7% for the country in 2023–24. That's leagues ahead of the 2024 outlook for China (4.6%), the United States (2.35%), and the United Kingdom (0.7%). 'Our programme of commissions and projects is our most ambitious yet and we are proud to have such an illustrious group of experts taking part in our talks programme and workshops,' Asokan said. 'This year, more than any other, we will see the real power and potential of South Asia at India Art Fair,' she added.
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