The 7th Mumbai Edition of India Art Festival (IAF) from Feb 15-18 at the Nehru Centre, Worli continues to grow in scale, bringing cutting-edge contemporary art to the metro with over 50 Art Galleries and 575 artists, representing 30 cities across 10 countries from the Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe taking part in the exhibition.
The inaugural ceremony of the festival was a star-studded affair, that saw celebrities of the likes of Sonu Nigam - the Chief Guest; Guests of Honour Lesle Lewis, Madhushree, Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, actors Mahima Chaudhary, Richa Sony and Kavitta Verma; Rajendra Patil – Founder and MD of India Art Festival; artists Gautam Patole, Bose Krishnamachari, Prakash Bal Joshi, Prithvi Soni, Paramesh Paul, Kiran Chopra among many others.
The India Art Festival, this year, is presenting all forms of artistic expressions including painting, sculptures, photography, ceramics, textiles, installations and offers an insight into current art trends from India and Asian countries.
Founded in 2011 by the publishers of Indian Contemporary Art Journal, IAF is the only art fair held annually in two metro cities - Mumbai and Delhi. Whether, it is a seasoned collector, or a new art buyer, just want to acquire the first piece of art, the India Art Festival with 5000 pieces of art on display is a perfect place to fall in love with art.
At IAF, the art collectors are spoilt for choices to choose from many mediums and styles - oil paintings, acrylics, water colour, original prints, installations, drawings in myriad styles dealing with varied subjects including landscapes, figurative, abstracts, cityscapes, seascapes, urban and rural scenarios, portraits, nudes, semi-nudes, religious art, traditional paintings, murals, warli art and many more.
This year sees over 20 new art galleries participating, with India Art Festival expanding the periphery of art choice presented to city art buyers. The young talents teeming with the unbridled form of creativity have brought refreshing and new radical visual art voices to the festival this year.
The IAF will also be hosting four panel discussions on ‘The Bombay School’, ‘Can Visual Art Really Bring About a Social Change?’, ‘Institutions and their outlook in the contemporary scenario’, and fourth is ‘Writing Centric Visual Art Practice’. The speakers include Art writers, art historians, Museum directors, institution builders and cultural commentators among others.
Rajendra, Founder & Managing Director, India Art Festival, says “the synergy of live and online art fair module creates unprecedented exposure opportunities for the exhibitors and it is different experience for the visitors as well. One can buy artworks online at their leisure even after the art festival is over, as they will remain online from this edition till next edition.”
India Art Festival is on from 15th to 18th February at Nehru Centre, Worli…daily 11 am to 7:30pm.
