At the art fair, renowned painter Francesco Clemente will collaborate with artisans from Chennai, Odisha, Varanasi and Jodhpur to create a series of his tent installations using embroidery and block printing
At India Art Fair 2015, the artistic projects spanning the outdoor and indoor fair space, will present a range of work from high profile Indian and international artists. Highlights of the programme include Chitra Ganesh and Dhruvi Acharya to create a collaborative painting on site, giving visitors an insight into the processes contemporary artists employ in their work. The painting will unfold over four days from a blank canvas to the finished composition. A dramatic project comes in the form of Francesco Clemente’s tent installation. For 40 years Clemente, one of the world’s most renowned painters, has collaborated with a range of Indian artisans in Chennai, Odisha, Varanasi and Jodhpur creating his series of tents using a range of techniques such as embroidery, block printing and his own spectacular paintings.
In a re-calibration of the India Art Fair layout, additional exhibition space has been added to the two main tents, and the permanent structure has been re-commissioned to host the largest ever exhibition in a public space on the history of India’s modern and contemporary art. Presented by Delhi Art Gallery, this comprehensive review will showcase the full range of India’s most important artists.
Along with the new design elements to the fair, this year sees expanded restaurant offerings from Delhi’s most popular venues as well as live music at the fair, all of which will enhance the overall experience for our growing audience from both India and abroad.
Neha Kirpal, founding director, India Art Fair, says, “India Art Fair has taken stock of the way the world is looking at India and the way in which India presents itself to the world. As more international fairs representing emerging markets are established, the desire for collectors is not necessarily to follow the same artists and galleries around the globe, but to engage at a deeper level with each region. This is the approach that India Art Fair is embracing. It is the approach that brings out the unique offering of India, thereby establishing India’s place on the global art map. In line with the positive trends in the market, the fair presents a balanced range of contemporary, modern and classical art, engaging an increasingly broad audience. There is something for everyone and that is what is needed. The fair acts as a catalyst for progress, driving deeper understanding of the country’s artistic history as well as the latest contemporary work from across India, stimulating dialogue, debate, understanding and interaction not only with art specialists, but with the wider public and collectors of tomorrow.”
The 85 exhibiting galleries in a total of 90 booths will showcase a breadth of modern and contemporary art practices including painting, sculpture, new media, installation and performance art.
In its seventh year, the India Art Fair has finally got its first artistic director Girish Shahane. Directing both the artistic projects and the speakers’ forum, Shahane will integrate a closely curated artistic programme with the fair itself, bringing a focus to the talks and projects, to make them directly relevant to the galleries, and artists exhibiting on-site and more accessible for visitors within the context of the fair. The 2015 speakers’ forum will engage the entire range of stakeholders in the visual arts — artists, curators, critics, administrators, academicians, gallerists and collectors as well as a wide spectrum of artistic practices. Speakers will include Adam Szymczyk, artistic director of Documenta, the world’s largest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, Dr Venu Vasudevan, DG of the National Museum, Delhi, Jeremy Deller, leading artist and creator of the British pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale, Sheikha Hoor al Qasimi, director of the Sharjah Biennale and curator of the UAE pavilion at the next Venice Biennale and Julian Stallabrass, professor at the Courtauld Institute london, lecturer and writer on modern and contemporary art.