It is art season again

(By Nalini S Malaviya)

After a brief hiatus, there is a lot of activity related to art happening in cities across the country. Art collectors and buyers have plenty to look forward to in the coming season, as there are a number of exhibitions, talks and fairs which will be taking place over the next few months.

A few days ago in New Delhi, an unusual project titled ‘Conscious-sub-conscious’ organized by Gallery Espace, began, which involves letting artist Manjunath Kamath paint the gallery walls. Over a period of seven days, Kamath will draw on the walls of the gallery, converting it into a temporary studio and visitors can walk in to view what he has created and interact with the artist. However after a week’s viewing of the completed work’s display, the gallery will whitewash its walls! Another exhibition ‘Indian (Sub)way’at Vadehra Art Gallery in the capital features a group of artists in a show that has been curated by Yashodhara Dalmia.

In Mumbai, ‘Rivers of Blood’ by Paula Sengupta is going on at Gallery Chemould Prescott and The Guild Art Gallery is presenting a unique initiative involving artists and public titled 'I think therefore graffiti'. In Bangalore, 103°C Yellow Fever and other works, an art show by Zakkir Hussain just ended at a city gallery, while a show dedicated to drawings curated by Yusuf Arakkal is going on at Galerie Sara Arakkal. Birendra Pani’s solo exhibition is upcoming at Gallery Sumukha in Bangalore, while a group show curated by the London based curator and writer Shaheen Merali is going on in Chennai.

India Art Summit has come out with a list of participating galleries – 84 from 21 countries at the fair scheduled to take place in January, next year. The scale of the event is much larger than last year and promises to be better than before.

These are just some of the exhibitions, which are either ongoing or scheduled to take place shortly. Apart from these, there are many other events and shows that art connoisseurs can look forward to the next few months. The wide spectrum of art offers a perfect opportunity to view some good quality and interesting art, network with artists and others, and to get familiar with various trends as well.

(Published in Financial Times)