The fourth edition of India Art Festival, which opened its doors on November 22, is a democratic presentation of art, offering emerging and independent artists the opportunity to exhibit with major and mid-level art galleries. At the ongoing art fair, 35 art galleries will showcase 550 artists from 40 cities and more than 3,000 artwork.
On display are all forms of artistic expressions — from rural India to metro cities — including painting, sculptures, photography, ceramics, textiles and installations of artists, both established and independent ones, at the art galleries’ section and artists’ pavilion.
Founded in 2011 by the publishers of Indian Contemporary Art Journal, IAF is the only art fair held annually in Mumbai and Delhi. Festival director Rajendra says, “The art scene in Delhi has become event-driven and bigger art events are drawing more crowds than solo or group exhibitions in the individual art galleries. IAF is an economical art fair in terms of participation cost, which makes it easy for exhibitors to exhibit and recover basic participation cost and that’s the reason they participate every year. Almost 90 per cent of art galleries and 60 per cent of artists are repeat participants in IAF. This growth is phenomenal in such trying times.”
The continuous support from the art lovers, patrons and art world, at large, has made an exceptional growth possible for this festival. IAF has achieved 20 per cent growth year-on-year since its inception. The modest start with 80 booths in the first edition in Delhi has now expanded to 126 booths in its fourth edition. The participating artists include Abhigna Kedia, Dhyan Passika, Huma Hussain, Kanchan Prakash, Manju Srivatsa, Nandita Sharma, Neha Sen, Prabhu Joshi, Ritu Kwatra, Sayantan Ghati, and Swaraj Das, among many others.
Talking about the growth of art festivals in the sluggish art market, Rajendra says, “The evolution of a strong secondary art market in India in the last decade has created opportunities for mid-level and smaller galleries to exhibit. The artwork of almost all master artists associated with major galleries floats in the secondary market and lands even in the smaller galleries for sale. These galleries look for opportunities to reach out to the larger buyer base in the metro cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.
As the figure of mid-level to smaller art gallery spaces outnumbered major art galleries in India, participating galleries increased rapidly in India Art Festival. It is also the main reason for the art scene turning more event-based affair individual shows.”India Art Festival is on at Thyagaraj Stadium, INA Colony, New Delhi. The author writes on entertainment and food among other things.