19 works that you simply must see at the India Art Fair 2023

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Politics of the everyday: The film, ‘Pipio: A Bird Flies, A Stone is Thrown’, questions the role of the witness in instances of crimes of violence. Presented by the Gujral Foundation, the film was created by Payal Arya and Aditi Kulkarni during their visit to the FilmAkademie Baden Wurttemberg GmbH, Germany, between 2019 and 2020. “The film dwells on the negotiation between the witness, victim, and perpetrator…,” states the curatorial note. (Seen here: Video stills from the film ‘Pipio’. Image Courtesy- © Aditi Kulkarni & Payal Arya) 

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Imagined worlds: The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art is showcasing a work by Raqib Shaw, which has not been shown in the public sphere so far. True to the artist’s signature style, this work too draws on iconography from the East and the West. It stands out for its comment on the violence that has spread through the world today, destroying the beauty of cultures and places in its wake

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Metaphysical ideas in metal: Interior designer Vikram Goyal has unveiled a new series of sculptural pieces at the fair, taking his engagement with materiality and craftsmanship to the next level. Especially interesting is ‘The Tree of Good Fortune’ set of sculptures, which draws from the Brutalist style. “Each limb is made with multiple, unpolished parts in brass, the studio’s signature material, welded together with exposed edges and a patinated gold surface,” states the artist note. 

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Stitching personal narratives: Shrine Empire is presenting a series of thread works by Renuka Rajiv. The artist, in works such as Virus Body and Blood Tradition, brings together their childhood interest in fabric and the handmade. Using techniques like tie-dye and embroidery, and materials such as old garments of family and friends, Rajiv’s works have always been deeply autobiographical—often being a comment on gender, sexuality, and relationships.

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Capturing paradoxes: One gets to observe two facets of artist Shivani Aggarwal’s practice as part of an outdoor project as well as the showcase by Studio Art at the fair. Her massive steel-finished fibreglass sculpture, How do I Measure The Scale, placed outside, aptly looks at the paradoxical attempts at measuring the intangible. At the Studio Art booth, you can see a set of five wooden newspapers, as part of Lost Stories—Time and Transformation, which look at the transient nature of news, the idea of preserved time and attempts at small radical changes by the common citizens.

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