As delhi gears up for a series of art festivals, IAF or the india art festival is first in line with an eclectic mix of upcoming and celebrated artists
The capital is forging ahead into the new year with a bang. This January, Delhiites will see the city getting transformed into a bustling hub for artists and art lovers, as hundreds of upcoming as well as celebrated artists will showcase their talent at the India Art Festival (IAF), to be held at the National Stadium, India Gate.
This three-day festival is a modern and contemporary art fair featuring over 300 artists — from Thota Vaikuntam and M F Husain to Seema Kohli and Satish Gujral — and 40 galleries showcasing their works. While the main pavilion will host the country’s major and mid-level galleries that will display several works by associated painters, the Artists’ Pavilion will give emerging artists a chance to exhibit their creations.
“The festival is a successfully-tested model for dialogue and collaborations between art galleries, independent artists, art collectors and connoisseurs; it is a unique art fair established in 2011 that showcases thousands of innovative artworks,” shares Rajendra Patil, founder and managing director of the event.
He further adds, “The grand success of the last four editions of the IAF held in Mumbai was due to regular patronage of art buyers and collectors who have visited almost every time in the past. With an edition in Delhi, IAF becomes the first and only fair in India with annual editions in two different cities.”
The effort of the festival is to create a balanced platform for both large galleries set in metropolitan cities and independent artists. Rajendra says, “IAF has a social and cultural responsibility and it is important to take it to various cities in India. So, the Delhi edition opens with an unbiased approach. While the IAF is the flagship brand, all the artists and participating galleries become its ambassadors.”
He also shares that the main aim of IAF is to democratise the very functioning of the art market and the gallery system. “Galleries are private establishments whereas art fairs are brand identities. Both have credibility; over a period of time our art market has become more and more democratic through the activities in the secondary art market. There was a time when the works of the masters were available only with the mainstream galleries. But today, medium to small level galleries and several other secondary market operators deal with the works of the masters too. That means the market has literally opened up,” he argues.
One of the key highlights of the festival is the sculpture park featuring works by G. R. Iranna, Seema Kohli, Sudhanshu Sutar, Pooja Iranna, Gauri Verma and Namita Saksena. Artist G.R. Iranna is showcasing a work titled ‘Silencer’. Explaining his art, he says, “This installation talks about the hollow mass man, systematically organised into a lonely crowd. The work also symbolises personal loneliness as well as socially enforced silence — a symbol of loss of power to communicate one’s feelings (even to know them) in defiance of a society that puts one in one’s subservient place, a self-deprecating place one willingly takes.”
Art spaces from across the country like Arts of the Earth, Studio3, Forum Art Gallery, Studio 55, Café & Art Gallery, Gnani Arts and Myanmar Ink Art Gallery will have their best paintings, drawings and sculptures on display, making for a truly attractive show.
Uchaan, a Gurgaon-based art gallery, will be presenting a collection of works by upcoming artists. One of the artists promoted by the gallery, Tanisha Bakshi, shares her excitement about her work and the fact that it is to be showcased as part of this exhibition. She says, “This is a great opportunity for upcoming artists to showcase their work to the right kind of audience. It will also provide an opportunity for young artists to interact with our seniors and learn from them.
In this fair I am showcasing a work titled ‘Happiness’ representing how people living in slums find ways to be happy and satisfied. While exploring the clusters of India, I came across the actual and unimaginable life of these people within extremely fragile economic conditions as compared to high society city-dwellers. They have very few blessings, and those are all in the form of love — the purest form of love that can be seen and felt.”
