Delhi Contemporary Art Week 2024 to highlight voices of South Asian artists

Image for representational purposes only (Photo Courtesy: iStock)

Delhi Contemporary Art Week (DCAW) is returning for its seventh edition at Bikaner House from August 31 to September 4. The seven-day art extravaganza will be home to some of the finest contemporary art voices from South Asia.

Six Delhi-based art galleries -- Blueprint12, Exhibit 320, Gallery Espace, Latitude 28, Shrine Empire and Vadehra Art Gallery are showcasing a selection of works by established and emerging artists from India and other South Asian countries, with each gallery bringing its unique curatorial vision to the event.

Additionally, a group exhibition curated by Girish Shahane will feature artists from each participating gallery. Titled ‘A Bold Step Sideways', it challenges traditional notions of art history and originality. Embracing a generation of artists unencumbered by the anxieties of influence, this exhibition showcases a diverse array of works that freely traverse styles and mediums.

Art on display

Blueprint 12

Blueprint 12 will be exhibiting works of artists including Divyesh Undaviya, Meghana Gavireddygari, Zoya Chaudhary, Aravani Art Project, and Anila Govindappa, among others.

Exhibit 320

Exhibit 320 will showcase contemporary art from India and the subcontinent, creating a platform for new thoughts and ideas. This year, the emphasis of the exhibition space is on new media, and its structures as a place for creative endeavour, aesthetic exploration and furthering visual dialogue. The artists whose works will be on display include Deena Pindoria, Deepak Kumar, Jayati Kaushik, Kaushik Saha, Kumaresan Selvaraj, Priyantha Udagedara, Gopi Gajwani, Gunjan Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Sareena Khemka, among others.

Gallery Espace

Gallery Espace will showcase a varied collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures by leading artists across generations and graphic mediums.

A highlight of the presentation is a drawing installation by Soma Surovi Jannat (‘Time without Birth and Death'), a young artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The gallery will also showcase a new set of paintings by Baroda-based Rashmimala, Ravi Agarwal's photographs of an abandoned office, and Tanmoy Samanta's luminous canvases of liminal shapes. Other exhibiting artists include Amit Ambalal, Ishita Chakraborty, Sharad Sonkusale, Sheetal Gattani and Sonia Mehra Chawla.

Latitude 28

Continuing to spotlight emerging artists from the Global South, Latitude 28 will reflect South Asia's evolving contemporary art scene through a textile collection. This exhibit features artists using weaving, crochet, embroidery, Zardosi, and Kantha techniques to manipulate fabric and integrate it with other art forms and textures.

Highlights include Khadim Ali's tapestry work influenced by his Afghan heritage, debut artists at DCAW, Veena Advani (her mixed media paintings with hand embroidery), Al-Qawi Nanavati (infuses her late mother's belongings into her art, creating a sense of mystery and deep contemplation) and Viraj Khanna (whose narrative-based embroidered works are focused on eye-catching moments shared on social media). Inspirations from texture and form of Indian textile handicraft are evident in Sanket Viramgami and Shalina Vichitra's works. Sudipta Das transforms paper into sculpture or fabric.

Other artists whose work will be showcased include Ankush Safaya, Anupama Alias, Chandan Bez Baruah, Farhat Ali, Harisha Chennangod, Harman Taneja, Jahangir Asgar Jani, Prajjwal Choudhury, Shubham Kumar, Sudipta Das, Waswo X. Waswo, Yogesh Ramkrishna and Zahra Yazdani.

Shrine Empire

Shrine Empire will showcase the works of Hema Shironi and Natasha Das for the first time. Both artists work with textile and through this medium, they explore various contexts that relate to their personal histories, politics of the region and sustainability. Artist Amitava Das will be showing several of his recent works. Other participating artists include Anoli Perera, Arun Dev, Awdhesh Tamrakar, Divya Singh, Sajan Mani, Samanta Batra Mehta, Sangita Maity, Shruti Mahajan and Tayeba Begum Lipi.

Vadehra Art Gallery

Featuring an ensemble of exciting South Asian artists practising within the Subcontinent and beyond, Vadehra Art Gallery will show works by Anita Dube, Anju Dodiya, Atul Bhalla, Atul Dodiya, Faiza Butt, Gigi Scaria, Jagannath Panda, Jasmine Nilani Joseph, Joya Mukerjee Logue, Praneet Soi, Sachin George Sebastian, Shailesh B. R., Shilpa Gupta, Sudhir Patwardhan, Sunil Gupta, Treibor Mawlong, Zaam Arif and others,

The curation will include works across mediums, with a focus on painting and photography, ushering in reflection and discourse on topical narratives growing out of contemporary South Asian culture.

Some of the works on display will include installation works by Anita Dube, portraits by Faiza Butt, photographs of protest by queer communities in London shot in the 1980s by Sunil Gupta, drawings by Jasmine Nilani Joseph, poetic explorations of the human condition in one's relationship to self, time and place in paintings by Zaam Arif, the complexity of intimacy in interpersonal relationships in a suite of recent drawings by Sudhir Patwardhan and mixed media collage works by Shailesh B. R., among others.

Details

What: Curated exhibitions featuring 50+ artists, curated walkthroughs, workshops, talk sessions

When: August 31 to September 4

Where: Bikaner House, New Delhi

Cost: Free entry

(With inputs from IANS)

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