Modern & contemporary art, established & young artists: 16th edition of India Art Fair has something for everyone

By twilight, there were people queuing around artworks, waiting their turn to step into Asim Waqif’s mobile cement truck with metal-scrap fabrications, or entering the glass room where M Pravat’s I Don’t Watch you Watching This offers a multi-layered experience where viewers walk into an enclosure within a sculpture that uses shattered bricks collected from across Delhi. Being presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, here the audience are encouraged to produce sound inside, and the recordings become part of the audio.

Bhushan Bhombale’s Fragments of an Astronomer’s Mind. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

If Mohd Itiyaz’s installation made from waste metal pipes has protagonists carrying buckets to reflect inequitable water distribution, in Dichotomy of Delhi, the Capital’s thriving street culture is being celebrated through artists painting live within the structure that also houses a chai stall.

With 120 exhibitors, the international names might be drawing curiosity, but it was art from the region that drew more crowds. The roster of artists usually represented at the fair was present, but at some booths, an effort has been made to showcase the lesser-seen.

If Chennai-based Ashvita’s has stalwarts of the Madras Art Movement such as D P Roy Choudhury and KCS Paniker, at Chatterjee & Lal are watercolours by 1881-born Parsi artist Rustom Siodia. If Grosvenor has Nek Chand sculptures, Art Heritage has, among others, Haren Das woodcuts on paper.

At Dhoomimal Gallery, director Uday Jain has a portrait by Raja Ravi Varma alongside canvases of modernists, but also their smaller works on paper with lower price-points, meant to appeal to younger collectors.

Asim Waqif’s Make-Shift. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

At Crayon Gallery, works of Thomas and William Daniell, who travelled across India in the late 1700s, come together with antique stone sculptures from around the 11th century.

DAG is also presenting a curated exhibition, “India Past and Present”, which features works by Western artists and Indian pre-modernists and modernists, including MV Dhurandhar’s painting of Krishna surrounded by gopis, and the last work of the late Gogi Saroj Pal, the large sculpture Hathyogini Kali 1. “We have works spanning over 200 years of Indian art… charting its evolution from the 18th century to the present,” stated Ashish Anand, CEO and Managing Director of DAG.

The tributes being paid include KG Subramanyan’s birth centenary year being marked by Purushottam Trust for Printmaking through works of the artist-pedagogue and his students, and The Gujral Foundation commemorating Satish Gujral’s birth centenary year through the exhibition “Ear to the Ground” that features, among others, his architectural drawings and mixed-media assemblages.

Mohd. Intiyaz’s Dar-Badar 2.0. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

For Nigeria-based Indian-origin Kavita Chellaram, founder of Ko-Artspace, participating at the IAF for the first time also signifies further exploring the home turf. “Indian collectors are now showing increasing interest in art from across the world, and we have brought a selection of artists working with different mediums,” noted Joseph Gergel, director of Ko.

With 13 international exhibitors, the highlights at the fair include Huma Bhabha and Oscar Murillo at the David Zwirner booth, and Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei at Lisson Gallery. Galleria Continua is presenting an untitled Kapoor alabaster alongside works by Nikhil Chopra, curator of the 2025 edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

While the fair has booths celebrating indigenous art from across India, it also presents an opportunity to view an assemblage of contemporary works, both recent and acclaimed.

So at Nature Morte, Subodh Gupta is reimagining a kitchen as a portal to the future in his 2024 Mars Kitchen, and at Chemould Prescott Road, NS Harsha’s 2025 bronze Sprouting Philosopher emerges from his interest in ‘new proposals’ for ways of life.

At Shrine Empire, Baaraan Ijlal brings “to the fore what history forgot to see” in Safia and her Daughters. Amjadi and her Sons, returning to the tribe of women whose names were never mentioned in history.

Atul Dodiya returns with a metal roller shutter work, Weeping Ancestors — featuring portraits of historical figures such as Nana Fadnavis, Ram Mohan Roy and Tatya Tope — at the Vadehra Art Gallery. Rendered in embroidery by Milaaya Art Gallery, Rekha Rodwittya’s Home is Wherever you Are at Sakshi Gallery brings together several of her recognised motifs.

Within hours of opening, sales had been recorded and red dots were visible across booths. “The response so far has been phenomenal,” noted Loic Le Gaillard, co-founder of Carpenters Workshop Gallery. By afternoon, he had already made sales worth 600,000 dollars. “India is an important market, though we do need to work with the logistics, tax implications and transportation of works from home (gallery locations the world over),” added Gaillard.

While viewers could discover for themselves at the IAF, there are guided walks for adults and children, based on diverse interests. Those interested in trying their skill at art, meanwhile, can enroll for one of the several workshops, from masking-making to crafting clay, designing a tote bag to creating mythical animals based on AI-generated images.

The fair is on at NSIC Exhibition Grounds in Okhla till February 9.