Researched by: Vagda Galhotra & Prafula Grace Busi

First: An intro to the fair

Origin story: The India Art Fair first began as the India Art Summit—started in 2008 by Neha Kirpal. Inspired by the art scene she encountered as a student at the University of Arts in London, she launched the event with a loan of Rs 1 crore—with 30 galleries on board. 

Quote to note: Kirpal’s biggest motivation was to make art more accessible to a layperson like her:

“I was always curious about art, being surrounded by it in some form or the other… But fine art always felt alien and inaccessible, so I started to feel intimidated by it. Looking back, I think it came from how art was taught in school. Nothing kills creativity in a child faster than being asked to copy a vase in class! Later, in London, I felt so much more comfortable around art. The scene there and in other countries really enriches one’s living environment. Then I asked myself, why not in India?”

What is an art fair? An art festival (aka biennale) is curated by the organisers—who pick the themes and invite artists to exhibit their work. The emphasis is on cultural celebration and exchange. OTOH, an art fair is more like a business conference. Art galleries and businesses rent booths to showcase and sell their collections. In its early years, the IAF was criticised for being a “marketplace.” 

The event: It is typically held in February and spans four days—but was rescheduled to April 28 this year—after being suspended due to the pandemic in 2021. The 13th edition included 79 exhibitors—including 65 galleries and 14 institutional participants, such as cultural festivals, collectives and foundations.

Ownership: Founder Neha Kirpal first sold her stake to the Swiss conglomerate MCH Group—which runs the Art Basel fair in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong. In 2019, MCH sold its 65% stake to IAF’s minority investor Angus Montgomery—a Hong Kong-based events company with art fairs across East Asia—which is now the sole owner.

Leadership: In 2017, Kirpal handed the director’s baton to Jagdip Jagpal—who re-focused the fair on South Asian art and galleries, saying: “Why would people come to India for an international player that you can see down your own road or nearby?” In 2021, deputy director Jaya Asokan took over the reins—and this was her first IAF. Asokan aims to deepen the Indian connection—going beyond the big cities and names:

“The new and next generation of artists will be the focus of the fair; we are hoping to give them the attention they deserve… I am proud of the art emerging from smaller cities, and the range of issues being addressed—whether it is social, ecological or political—in new ways.”

Why the IAF matters: Art critic and curator Ranjit Hoskote sums up the answer nicely: 

“There are two aspects to the fair. One is the trade side, where people are looking to connect with collectors, network, and do business. And then there is a statement of morale, and that aspect, according to me, is even more crucial. The IAF is about artists and art lovers coming together in a real way; it’s a reinstatement of friendship and a celebration of the inner life of the art world.”

Ok, what was big at the fair this year?

Here’s what created the most buzz in 2022. 

Disrupting gender: In keeping with Asokan’s vision, one of the prominent inclusions this year was the Aravani Art Project. It is India’s only trans art collective with 40 member artists from across the country—who paint murals and artworks across public spaces. More notably: Their work has never been exhibited in any gallery. The fair’s entrance featured a 50-foot mural that read ‘The Future is Femme.’ The message, according to Aravani’s director: ​​”Being femme has nothing do with the biological gender by birth. Feeling femme, regardless of who you are, should be celebrated.” 

You can check out more of their work on their website. See the mural below:

Speaking of wall art: Anshuka Mahapatra won the open call to design IAF’s 1500-square metre facade. The University of Hyderabad student drew on India’s multilingual tradition—deploying phrases in seven languages, including Odia, Assamese, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada and English. 

Speaking of gender roles:  One of the standouts was performance artist Gurjeet Singh whose ‘Ghar Ghar’ staged stereotypical game-playing of little children but with a same-sex theme. Here’s a peek of him playing a kid imagining his wedding with another boy.

A big web3 theme: For starters, the fair offered a metaverse experience—where attendees could customise their own avatars. Also prominent: Terrain.art—a blockchain-powered platform—aimed at expanding the definition of digital art and artists. Its offerings included everything from NFTs (explained here) to role-playing games—all of which can be bought with cryptocurrency. Here is one of the NFTs below, and you can see the rest on the website. Also worth a look: 14-year-old Laya Mathiskara’s digital art.

The BMW project: IAF partnered with the car company on a project to champion sustainability. Artists were invited to create a wrap for BMW’s first fully electric and connected vehicle in India. The winner was watercolour artist Faiza Hasan whose design featured Urdu words like “suno” (listen), “tasawur” (to imagine) and “umeed” (hope). The gif below has the designs of all four shortlisted artists: 

The pandemic: was inevitably a theme as well. Narayan Sinha’s ‘Engulf’ was an intricately assembled sculpture made of scrap truck silencer pipes—intended to capture “the dark smoke and challenges of the past year, while showing us the balance and harmony which is ever-present in nature.”

But we were more struck by Sudipta Das’ ‘Home’ which captures the claustrophobia of millions of people stuck at home—and includes figurines that represent migrant workers trapped in cities during the lockdown. 

This is all very avant-garde…

Lol! As in where are the pretty pictures? Well, here are some of our favourites. 

One: We loved Debanjan Roy’s quirky ‘India Shining’ series that depicts Gandhi-ji interacting with modern technology—as in this case with a laptop. See his other work here.

Two: It doesn’t get more traditional than these pichvai paintings from Pichvai Tradition & Beyond—which aim to preserve and revive a 400-year-old tradition that originated in 17th century Udaipur. See more of their work over in Architectural Digest.

Three: The Kiran Nadar museum showcased the work of one of the most enigmatic Indian artists, K Ramanujam—who died of suicide at the age of 33. This is his 13-foot work titled ‘My Dream World’ painted in 1973.

Also stunning from KNMA: ‘Sublime Light’ by KO Agha.

Four: To end on a bright and cheery note, here is ‘Home is Wherever You Are’ by Rekha Rodwittiya from Sakshi Gallery.

Reading list

Lifestyle Asia offers the most comprehensive roundup of key artists and galleries at the fair. Mint Lounge did an entire spread on the India Art Fair over the weekend—spotlighting emerging artists, rounding up 16 key artworks and profiling MadStarBase—who did a music-meets-art collab. For more on emerging artists, check out Architectural Digest. To learn more about Aravani, read Scroll or The Guardian. We also recommend Architectural Digest’s feature on pichvai paintings.