Hues in Business

Seventh edition of India Art Fair has a curator for special projects, will focus on art from the subcontinent

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.

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

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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