India Art Fair, the leading platform showcasing modern and contemporary art from India and South Asia, returns for its 15th edition at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in New Delhi from 1 to 4 February 2024. Led in partnership with BMW India, India Art Fair 2024 features 108 exhibitors, including 72 galleries and major regional and international art institutions. The fair welcomes a total of 30 new exhibitors, including 7 design studios in its first ever collectible Design section. For its biggest edition yet, India Art Fair expands its offering of South Asian art and major contemporary international artists whilst adding handmade and limited edition design by pioneering studios for the first time, solidifying its position as the leading platform for art and culture in the region.
To mark its 15th edition, the fair hosts its most ambitious programme yet, activating the fairgrounds as a place of direct engagement with artists, designers and arts specialists. Beyond gallery presentations, the fair sees the installation of new commissions and large-scale Outdoor Art Projects, led by artists and supported by the fair’s broad network of arts organisations, foundations and patrons. New Delhi’s rich cultural offering is showcased by an extensive Parallel Programme across the city, celebrating the thriving arts scene of the region and beyond.
Jaya Asokan, Fair Director, India Art Fair comments, “The 15th edition of India Art Fair is truly a celebration of the best of the best in South Asia, and 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. 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. This year, more than any other, we will see the real power and potential of South Asia at India Art Fair, a testament to our long-standing commitment to our artists, exhibitors and partners.”
EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS
Top Indian galleries show masterpieces from Indian modernists including Jamini Roy, G. R. Santosh, Ram Kumar and Ganesh Haloi, in addition to works by Company School painters like Sewak Ram, lesser known modernists such as B. Prabha, Radha Charan Bagchi and Rustom Siodia, and senior contemporary artists such as Thota Vaikuntam and Manu Parekh. Also on view are South Asian artists with a global presence including Gauri Gill, Rana Begum, Dayanita Singh, Ayesha Sultana, Tayeba Begum Lipi and Mithu Sen, as well as emerging artists working across diverse mediums such as T. Venkanna, Isha Pimpalkhare, Ketaki Sarpotdar, Harsha Durugadda and Rajyashri Goody. New artists at the fair include Jatinder Singh Durhailay, J. Demsky, Akshata Mokashi, Tenzing Dakpa, Jayati Kaushik and Jonathan Trayte.
The 12 international galleries at the fair show renowned South Asian artists in the diaspora and working from countries in the region beyond India, including Rina Banerjee, Waqas Khan, Amba Sayal-Bennet, Affan Baghpati, Arjuna Gunarathne and Fifi Rahman, alongside international powerhouses such as Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor and Ozioma Onuzulike.
The Platform section spotlights the rich artistic heritage of South Asia through the works of contemporary masters of traditional arts, with presentations spanning art forms from across the region by its six exhibitors: Delhi Crafts Council, Gallery Ragini, Inherited Arts Forum, OJAS ART, Serenity Arts and Shrujan – Living and Learning Design Centre (LLDC).
India Art Fair’s inaugural Design section showcases limited edition and handmade collectible design by 7 pioneering studios that exemplify the thriving design scene in South Asia, including Vikram Goyal, Atelier Ashiesh Shah, Gunjan Gupta, Rooshad Shroff, Studio Renn, de Gournay, and Karishma Swali & Chanakya School of Craft. In addition to the Design section, the fair also welcomes celebrated design galleries Carpenters Workshop Gallery and ÆQUŌ in the main Galleries section, bringing highlights from their roster.
The Studio continues to be the space at the fair for interactive, transformative and cutting-edge digital art, including the Digital Residency Hub, hosting projects by Digital Artists in Residence, Dhruv Jani, MYLES x Ameya and Sadhna Prasad, each bringing exciting interpretations to the Residency theme of ‘Forces of Nature’.
PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS
Art Across—, the Talks Programme supported by JSW and led by Priya Chauhan, includes artists Anita Dube, Barthélémy Toguo, Jitish Kallat and Rana Begum; museum heads Kamini Sawhney (Museum of Art & Photography), Klaus Biesenbach (Neue Nationalgalerie), Michael Govan (LACMA), and Roobina Karode (Kiran Nadar Museum of Art); curators Neeraja Poddar (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Rattanamol Singh Johal (MoMA); market experts Sonal Singh (Christie’s India), Melanie Gerlis (Financial Times), Darshan Mehta (Reliance Brands Ltd.), and Aparajita Jain (Nature Morte); patrons Nadia Samdani, Tarana Sawhney and Komal Shah; arts experts Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Haus der Kulturen der Welt), Rebecca Lyons (Royal Academy of Arts), Pooja Sood (KHOJ International Artists’ Association), Monica Bello (CERN), and Thomas Girst (BMW Group); designers Ashiesh Shah, Gunjan Gupta, Karishma Swali, and Vikram Goyal; and leaders in design and creative industries including Loïc Le Gaillard (Carpenters Workshop Gallery), and leading architects Diana Kellogg and Ratish Nanda; and more.
Marking eight years of partnership, India Art Fair and BMW India expand the scale and scope of The Future is Born of Art Commission created to platform Indian art and artists on a global stage. One of the largest artist commissions in India, the Commission attests to BMW India and India Art Fair’s shared belief in the power of art, creativity and innovation in building a sustainable collective future. The winning artist for the 2024 Commission, Sashikanth Thavudoz, will create an immersive installation at the fair on the theme of Forwardism with the BMW i7 at its centre.
India Art Fair 2024 sees more art than ever installed across its fairground site with institutional-quality, large-scale Outdoor Art Projects. Highlights include commissions by Sajid Wajid Shaikh, winner of the first MTArt Agency x India Art Fair Artist Prize; John Gerrard, from the collection of and supported by LACMA; Gigi Scaria supported by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art; and an interactive public ‘Art Maze’, created by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. In addition, India Art Fair Artist in Residence, Siddharth Gohil aka Khatra will create a 100-metre long carpet motif welcoming visitors into the fair; and artist duo Thukral & Tagra will design the India Art Fair Facade, which will be repurposed into collectible bagsafter the fair. Thukral & Tagra also present an interactive digital project at the Digital Residency Hub.
Now in its third year, India Art Fair’s Young Collectors’ Programme continues its focus on those starting out in their collecting journeys in an effort to create a lasting future and sustainable growth for the booming Indian art market, returning to STIR with an exhibition by Immerse.
