From luminaries of the art world to the exciting emerging talent, it had it all.
India Art Fair returned for its ninth edition this year, featuring over 70 exhibitors from 23 countries, bringing their choicest selections for you to browse, buy and enjoy. The fair was held in New Delhi from 2-5 February, and had plenty to offer to the modern and contemporary art lovers.
The success of the India Art Fair can be attributed to its astonishing selection of intoxicating art, sculptures, installations, and the privilege of seeing such a range under one roof.
The uncontested star of the show was Anila Quayyum Agha, a Pakistani-American artist, represented by Aicon Gallery, New York. She won accolades for her luminous installation, titled All the Flowers are for Me. It consisted of a laser-cut red lacquered stainless steel and bulb. When lit from the inside, it cast stunning shadows in the exhibition area. The artist says her impressions are drawn from geometrical patterning in Islamic sacred spaces and the Alhambra.
A quirky work titled Peace Makers II by Nepalese artist Sunil Sigdel was a tongue-in-cheek comment on the present day political scenario. It featured Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Buddhist imagery. A piece that had many talking was Argentinian artist Alberto Echegaray Guevara’s debut art installation, Moneyball. It featured a crystal sphere filled with $1 million – shredded. The large-scale art project was a fascinating observation of modern society’s complicated relationship with money.
A wonderfully ambitious site-specific project based on the concept of nostalgia and memories, titled Memoir Bar was by visual artists Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra. Visitors were asked to write down a memory on paper, which was then shredded and made into a tile. The idea was to capture and preserve memory in an object.
One signature element at the fair was a striking collection of artworks by the bigwigs such as RN Tagore, FN Souza, SH Raza, MF Husain and Amrita Shergil to name a few.
The fair had an impressive line-up of international delegates, curators and directors from top-notch institutions such as The Met, MoMA, Tate, Guggenheim and Palais de Tokyo to name a few.
Founded in 2008, India Art Fair is one of South Asia’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art.
