Hues in Business

She was 28 and about to tie the knot when she started what is now arguably one of the most attended international art fairs in the world. As she prepares for the seventh edition of the India Art Fair that begins on January 29, Neha Kirpal is walking the aisles with her two-year-old daughter Ruhi. “There have been constant developments,” says the founder-director of the fair, adding, “There are so many fairs now, so the emerging market fairs are refocusing, offering something unique to that region, which is what we are doing.” She is bracing to welcome 85 galleries from 67 cities from world over, who will house their collections in 90 booths. Positioning itself for high-end customers, the fair will have lounge bars and restaurants on-site.

While the gallerists take charge within their stalls, Girish Shahane has been roped in to curate Artistic Projects and the Speakers Forum. For the latter, he has on the panel biggies such as Adam Szymczyk, artistic director of dOCUMENTA and Sheikha Hoor al Qasimi, director of the Sharjah Biennale and curator of the UAE pavilion for the Venice Biennale later this year. The art projects will include Paresh Maity’s Procession, an installation of 50 larger than life ants, Rahul Kumar’s Circle Uncircled, an installation in ceramic that has been hand-coloured, Francesco Clemente’s Taking Refuge, a dark interior space where blue and grey Buddhas are painted on the walls and Veer Munshi’s 20/12/12 feet installation Serenity of Desolation, depicting a traditional Kashmiri house felled by the flood. Made of wood, with intricate carvings, this is painted with 100 faces, a tribute to the Kashmiris who lost their lives to the flood. Daku’s text-based work will dress the stretch of road that leads to the hall at NSIC Exhibition Ground in Okhla, where the fair will be put up.

Within the galleries, on show will be Indian and international biggies, from Michelangelo Pistoletto to Anish Kapoor, Subodh Gupta and Sudarshan Shetty. Delhi Art Gallery occupies 1,100 square metre space, in which through over a 1000 works, including a sculpture court, the visual history of Indian art will be traced. From pre-moderns to the modern, Cholamandal Artists’ Village and the Baroda School will feature in this.

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Evenings on all four days will be marked by performances — from Manuel João Vieira who plays music and paints alternately, to Vishal K Dar’s oscillating light sculpture that performs the function of a sentinel. Hetain Patel will use rare archive footage of Pt Swapan Chaudhuri’s solo tabla performance in his presentation, and Priyanka Choudhary will chew the leaves of a bitter citrus plant.

There will be more regional representation from tier-II cities like Chandigarh, Vadodara, Jaipur, Trivandrum and Ahmedabad as well. The closing party will have a curated project based on Le Corbusier’s work, comprising photographs of architecture and furniture designed by him.

Though the fair will continue with its practise of organising curated walks by students, senior collectors including Feroze Gujral, Kiran Nadar and Radhika Chopra will also hold mentorship sessions for young collectors. Bulk tickets have also been sold to corporates such as HCL and Google in a bid to initiate its employees into art. At the same time, student’s ticket will be priced at a subsidised Rs 250 against Rs 400 for a general ticket. “It’s all-inclusive. We’ll also have school groups. After building the market ground up, we also now want to focus on engagement opportunities from the collector segment,” notes Kirpal.

IAF will be held from January 29 to February 2 at NSIC Exhibition Complex, Okhla. Tickets are available at http://www.indiaartfair.com