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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