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

1/19

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) 

2/19

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

3/19

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. 

4/19

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.

5/19

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.

6/19

Feminism in gold-and-white: A childhood memory of her ammamma, or grandmother, in a kasavu mundu veshti has informed artist Lakshmi Madhavan’s practice. The smell and fabric of the kasavu textile, now a dying art practised only in Balarampuram, Kerala, has stayed with her. “The kasavu mundu veshti comes with highly coded designs and ways of wearing, depending on its wearer’s gender, class and caste,” states the artist note. Madhavan, who is the artist-in-residence at the fair, has created a series of gold-and-white panels, Hanging by a Thread, with the words ‘some/body’, ‘every/body’, ‘no/body’, woven into the border to highlight the fact that the very weavers who create the textile are not allowed to wear it. The panels are being presented by the Devi Art Foundation. 

7/19

Transcending boundaries: Mrinalini Mukherjee is known for defying categorisation—through her career she sculpted unusual anthropomorphic forms in fibre, which defied scale, and were erotic, sensual and unsettling at the same time. Now, one can see a different facet of her practice at the Jhaveri Contemporary booth, which is showcasing rare works in bronze by the artist along with a pair of watercolours. The set of reflective landscapes feature muted colours—in her signature style—and inky tones. 

8/19

A vibrant showcase: Galleria Continua, which has spaces in San Gimignano, Paris, Beijing, Dubai, and more, has an eclectic presentation at the fair, featuring works by Ai Weiwei, Kiki Smith and Nikhil Chopra. German-born, American artist Smith, who is known for her figural work themed around regeneration, sex and the natural world, is showing her acclaimed work, Shadow, which features celestial motifs. Then there is Osvaldo González’s Camino, which makes use of LED lights, and showcases the artist’s fascination with space. 

9/19

A pioneering practice: New York-based Aicon Contemporary is showing a poignant series of works, Allah (an acrylic on canvas) and an untitled painted wood piece by Rasheed Araeen, a Pakistan-born, London-based artist, writer, activist and curator. According to the gallery, the artist is recognised as the pioneer of minimalist sculpture in Britain. “His work in performance, photography, painting and sculpture throughout the 1970s to 1990s challenged Eurocentrism within the British art establishment and his curation and writing championed the role of artists from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean,” states the note. Since the 1970s he has published his own art journals and authored several books, with Islam & Modernism being the latest, published in 2022. 

10/19

All the world’s a stage: Hyderabad-based Kalakriti Art Gallery is presenting a new body of work, titled ‘Masquerade: An Endless Drama’, by Avijit Dutta. He uses tempera to reflect on the theatricality of life, with different scripts and characters engaging with one another. “An unseen tug of war thrives- between creative liberty and concept notes, fact and fiction, love and false affection, class, and mass. Truth is lost in this whirlwind melee of pretence and projected reality,” states the curatorial note about the premise of this set of artworks. 

11/19

Hybrid worlds: The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art is showcasing a special artist project, ‘Alternate Evolutions’, by Shrimanti Saha. The artist creates vivid visual worlds out of paper cutouts and drawings. Unhindered by a frame or borders, these visuals spread across walls like an “organism”. “The installation assumes multiple (after)lives, having been conceived in the various studios and residency spaces that she has worked in,” states the curatorial note. Saha has also extended these cut-out drawings into her animations, in which she approaches the moving image with the temperament of a painter. 

12/19

The body as a site of art: Experimenter has brought extremely thought-provoking works to the fair by artists like Sohrab Hura, Adip Dutta, Biraaj Dodiya, Julien Segard, Kallol Datta, Kanishka Raja, Praneet Soi, Sahil Naik, and more. Make sure to view the work, Self Portrait at Dawn, by Bhasha Chakrabarti, who is deeply interested in exploring the world through the body and the skin as a medium. Her ongoing show at Experimenter-Ballygunge Place, curated by Shaunak Mahbubani, reflects on this aspect of her practice, in which she looks at gestures enacted by wrists, fingers, calves and feet in moments of togetherness. (Seen here: Sohrab Hura, ‘The green dress,’ 2022 – Ongoing)

13/19

Mirroring reality: New York-based Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri is premiering his series, ‘Americana’ at the Bruno Art Group’s booth. The set of photo realistic works are dedicated to the ‘diner’ as an American pop culture icon. This year is all the more special as it marks the gallery’s tenth year of participation at the fair. Ozeri is known for his large-scale cinematic portraits of women framed against lush landscapes. “With tinges of Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics, Ozeri brings an ethereal and uninhibited sensibility to his paintings,” states the gallery note. 

14/19

New stories in miniature: Gallery Espace is presenting a new series of miniature paintings by Udaipur-based artist Waswo X Waswo. Titled ‘Last Ride in the Wild,Wild, East’, this new body of work features elements of realism with the fantastical. This series has been produced in collaboration with the 29 year old Chirag Kumawat, who is making his debut at the fair. As always, Waswo presents deeply-layered works, in which the unfamiliar shares space with recognisable imagery. (Seen here: Last Ride in the Wild Wild East (detail 1), 2022)

15/19

A different way of seeing: Akar Prakar is showcasing a set of works by artist Jayashree Chakravarty, who is known for her innovative techniques using organic material and paper. Especially interesting is her work, Rajbari, made with oil, acrylic, cotton, tea stain, grass, seeds, roots, jute and synthetic glue on canvas. One has to closely observe her creations to understand the many parts that come together as a whole. Nature and metamorphosis feature as themes in her practice in a big way—something that she attributes to the time spent in Santiniketan. Some of her other works at the fair include Simmering Synergies and Alien Sphere. 

16/19

Art that pulsates with energy: The Baroda-based artist, T Venkanna, is known for his powerful and fantastical imagery. His work, which is being shown by Gallery Maskara, represents “an uncommon expressive versatility and freedom of brushstroke to create a dreamlike atmosphere.” The gallery will also be unveiling a special work by Rooshad Shroff and Venkanna, called ‘PleasurePain’, with details of the latter’s drawings having been translated into a marble inlay on recycled old Burma teak wood with natural PU polish. 

17/19

 A unique indigenous language: One can see the masterpieces of Indian folk and tribal art at the booth of Inherited Arts Forum. The presentation features works collected from the interiors of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, created by artists like Balu Jivya Mashe, Bhuri Bai and Mangla Bai. The idea is to showcase the incomparable diversity and the extremely contemporary language of artists from the Bhil, Warli and Pithora traditions.  (Seen here: Mangla Bai, ‘Untitled’)

18/19

Making a strong statement: At the booth of Gallery Art and Soul, one can see a layered work by Mayuri Chari, in which text is juxtaposed against imagery on cloth. “I was not born in this society, I was created by the society,” read the words in one of the works. This creation is part of Object Making Exercises’, a dual solo of Upendra Ram and Chari, curated by Prabhakar Kamble. Both the artists are deeply embedded in the acts of the artisanal. “The works intend to narrate and speak with an audience whilst delving into the propositions of visuality of how we view the folk,  gender and the narrative in Rural India. Are these voices heard even when they hold aesthetical and conceptual merit within an art fair? States the note by Kamble. 

19/19

A plurality of approach: Emami Art is presenting new works by ten contemporary artists, themed around pressing issues of the times such as agrarian politics, issues of sustainability and gender politics. One can see a mix of mid-career artists such as Soma Das with younger artists like Arpita Akhanda, Debashish Paul, Ujjal Dey, and more, working with diverse mediums ranging from textile, ceramics and printmaking to paper weaving and tempera painting. In a first, Emami Art will also be showcasing video works and sculptural dress engaging with issues of the body and identity. (Seen here: Arpita Akhanda's ‘Berunda’)

1/6

That Red Shirt: Fine Khadi shirt edged with hand-embroidered details on the panels and pockets in fire-engine red. Available on Khanijo.com; ₹16,900

2/6

Periwinkle Bandhani Printed Co-ord Set: Batwing sleeve shirt pairedwith a smocked, slit skirt from Saaksha & Kinni. Available on Ensembleindia.com; ₹25,000

3/6

Forest-Themed Floral Set: Floral jewellery, all the rage at celebrity weddings, made using a combination of fresh and artificial flowers andleaves. Available on Floralart.co.in; ₹12,000

4/6

Serendib Cake Stand: Hand-painted fine bone china cake stand accented with 24-carat gold for those special celebrations. Available onGoodearth.in; ₹6,500

5/6

In The Clouds Jug: Designer Jonathan Hansen’s lead-free crystal jug with an exquisite hand-engraved cloud motif. Available on Modaoperandi.com; $650 (around ₹54,000)

6/6

Taylor Twins Moccasins: Quirky and stylish low-heeled, colour-blocked moccasins with a square toe from Camper.Available on 24s.com; ₹13,707

1/6

Brown Dragon Zara Necklace: Statement neck piece from Mayabazaar by Rosalind Pereira made using zari yarn, brass chain and a dragonfly brass pendant. Available on Ogaan.com; ₹2,060

2/6

Chand Mati by Anjul Bhandari: A new festive collection from thedesigner celebrating chikankari blended with earthy neutrals, taking inspiration from lunar luminescence. Enquiries on Anjulbhandari.in; price on request

3/6

Hoop Set: Gold-tone metal hoops from Australian designer Charles Lichaa’s 8 Other Reasons. Available on Revolve.com; ₹5,160

4/6

Half-Zip Merino Long-Sleeve Top: Made from merino wool, DistrictVision’s longsleeved tee is breathable, antimicrobial and thermoregulating, with a half-zip construction and shell patch pocket.Available on Matchesfashion.com; $275 (around ₹23,000)

5/6

Dream Pumps: From New York-based brand Mansur Gavriel, lambskin pumps with a block heel and golden finish for chic comfort. Available on Shopbop.com; $495

6/6

Block-Printed Soft Silk Shirt: Short, boxy shirt in 100% silk with an all-over pattern made using natural indigo dye through block printing.Available on 11-11.in; ₹16,900

1/6

Red Sole Ribbon Ankle-Wrap Stiletto Sandals: Hot pink Christian Louboutin sandals in napa leather and crepe satin ribbon for that decadent feel. Available on Neimanmarcus.com; ₹88,756

2/6

Floral-Printed Plisse Leather Midi Skirt: Showcasing Balenciaga’s “Lily” print from this season, this midi skirt is made from flexible leather into an A-line silhouette. Available on Modaoperandi.com (on pre-order); $6,890 (around ₹5.64 lakh)

3/6

Lehenga From Imperial Minimalism By Sarah & Sandeep: The designer duo’s fresh, functional take on wedding wear marries Indian and Western silhouettes. Available on Sarahsandeep.com; price on request

4/6

Amethyst Ribbon Ring: A playful and delicate ring crafted in 18-carat gold, set with natural amethyst baguettes along the band, from Akansha Sethi. Available on Akanshasethi.com; around ₹1.3 lakh

5/6

Micro Bon Bon: Jimmy Choo’s iconic Bon Bon bag is re-imagined in miniature using napa leather. Available on Row.jimmychoo.com; €595(around ₹53,550)

6/6

Emerald Set Salt & Pepper: With a glam Art Deco aesthetic, this porcelain salt and pepper set from Vista Alegre will dress up any dining table. Available on Luxe.ajio.com; ₹9,800

1/5

Xander Johnson (L) of Bagel Tours takes the Messenger family from San Francisco around Midtown Manhattan to sample some on New York's finest bagels. Bagels are as synonymous with New York as pizza and the Statue of Liberty. Although there is no official count of New York's daily bagel production, Sam Silverman, chief executive of the trade group Bagelup, estimates there are about 500 specialty shops across the city's five boroughs. The ring-shaped bread has evolved and been reinvented since its arrival more than a century ago thanks to Polish Jewish immigrants.  ((Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP))

2/5

The inside of a bagel preparation room is pictured during a Bagel Tour around Midtown Manhattan. Rainbow bagels are pictured here. Balinska points to the 1960s as the period when bagels attained broader popularity beyond the Jewish community. Innovations such as the rotating oven enabled bakers to significantly increase output. That led to the arrival of shops touting 'hot' bagels directly to consumers; before, they were only available wholesale.Central players in the further ‘bagelizing’ of America were the Lender brothers, who successfully mass marketed the frozen bagel -- pre-sliced, of course -- in the 1960s, expanding nationwide by 1977.  ((Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP))

3/5

Ashley Dikos, wife of Bo's Bagels owner Andrew Martinez, shows cream cheese and salmon bagels at Bo's Bagels. ((Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP))

4/5

Andrew Martinez, owner of Bo's Bagels, boils bagel dough before his store opens in New York City.  ((Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP))

5/5

Andrew Martinez, owner of Bo's Bagels, points to fresh bagels at his bakery. While there is debate over just when the first bagels appeared in New York, historians agree that the bread originally arrived in the city in the late 19th century. By 1900, the industry had already expanded to 70 bagel shops, although working conditions were 'terrible,' according to Maria Balinksa's book, 'The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread.' Balinksa chronicles a triumphant 1909 baker strike that upgraded pay and working conditions, helping to propel the broader labor movement in the early 20th century. Over the years, bakers began coating bagels with toppings including salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion and garlic.At Bo's Bagels, all of these play second fiddle to the ‘everything bagel,’ which includes a smattering of all these toppings. Bo's sells more everything bagels than all of the other types combined, said owner Andrew Martinez. ( (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP))

1/8

Children watch a 2-wheel robot perform at the annual World Robot Conference at the Etrong International Exhibition and Convention Center on the outskirts of Beijing on 17 August. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

2/8

Visitors watch a robot dog Cyberdog developed by Xiaomi at the Beijing World Robot Conference (WRC) 2023 in Beijing, China, on 17 August. (REUTERS)

3/8

Visitors look at the remote control robots perform. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

4/8

A man uses a mobile phone to take a picture of a robot kitten at the 2023 World Robot Conference. (WANG Zhao / AFP)

5/8

A visitor touches robotic fingers during the annual World Robot Conference at the Etrong International Exhibition and Convention Center on the outskirts of Beijing, on 17 August.  (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

6/8

Visitors look at a remote control robot perform a walk during the annual World Robot Conference. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

7/8

Human like robots and robotic faces that mimic human expressions displayed at the conference on 16 August. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

8/8

A robot developed by Data Robotics displays throws a basketball at the Beijing World Robot Conference (WRC) 2023 on 17 August. (REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)

1/6

Storm Blue Dress: Tiered handsmocked panels, a high neck and asurprise twist at the hem make this cotton dress from ILK a funaddition to the wardrobe. Available on Ilk.co.in; ₹12,400

2/6

Coach X Observed By Us Crossbody Bag: A collaboration between Coach and Observed By Us, a brand created by artist Jessica Herschko andactor Kirsten Dunst, this new line is whimsical and chic.Available on Luxe.Ajio.com; ₹49,500

3/6

Multi-Colored Resin Floral Choker Necklace: 3D flowers are everywhere. Make your mark with this floral choker set in resin and finishedwith a high gloss from The Vintage Snob. Available onPerniaspopupshop. com; ₹17,000

4/6

Barocco-Print Silk Shirt: Short-sleeved shirt in pure silk with Versace’s dashing Barocco and Versace Allover prints. Available on Farfetch.com; $2,070

5/6

Confetti Sequinned Silk-Organza Cape Coat: Confetti-like multicoloured sequins have been hand-embroidered on to white silk organza in Ashish Gupta’s stylish sheer cape. Available on Matchesfashion.com; $2,411 (around ₹2 lakh)

6/6

ALDO X Disney Beige Loafers: Dapper and playful leather loafers sporting beloved cartoon characters are just the spring in your step you need. Available on Aldoshoes.in; ₹21,999