India Art Fair Records Strong Sales

The sixth edition of the India Art Fair, which features India’s modern as well as contemporary art, reported strong sales. The fair was open to public from Thursday, January 30 to Sunday, February 2 and showcased art forms including painting, sculptures, digital art, photography installations and performance art.

Spanning over a 200, 000 square feet with three tents at the NSIC Exhibition Center, New Delhi, India Art Fair featured thirty international and forty seven domestic galleries across ninety one booths and art works by over thousand artists from India and abroad. The Art Fair, the biggest in India, was founded by Neha Kirpal, Director, India Art Fair, six years ago out of her passion for art and culture.

Twelve new galleries from overseas were showcased, including those from Israel, France, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Turkey and Karachi, Pakistan. The Himalayas Art Museum in Shanghai and the Mark Rothko Museum in Latvia both participated in the fair for the first time. Celebrities from different industries including Bollywood poured in.

The organizers of the fair said in a statement that the majority of the exhibitors reported “good” sales; but the sales figures were not released. The art fair appealed to a wide range of audience including curators, museums and collectors as well as locals who wouldn’t normally have access to such a wide range of contemporary art. “It’s an important national convening that didn’t exist before,” said Melissa Chiu, director of the Asia Society Museum in New York.

Pakistani High Commissioner to Delhi, Mansoor Ali Kahn, said that the cultural collaborations should be increased through art exchanges between India and Pakistan which would improve the international cultural relations. The India Art Fair also marked the first private-sector led Indo-Chinese cultural exchange program coordinated by ‘Made in China’ Chairman Philip Dodd.

Infoeditor