Delhi Art Week brings together museums, art institutions and 37 galleries to put art back in the spotlight

Since April 3, Delhi has been divided into four art zones — with Dhoomimal Gallery in Connaught Place at the north end and Art Incept by Art Pilgrim in Chhatarpur in the south. These are two of the 37 art galleries participating in the Delhi Art Week (DAW), an initiative aimed at raising awareness and bringing attention to art in Delhi, which goes on till April 10.

“There are so many galleries in Delhi that have been doing exemplary work over the years but everyone may not be aware of all of them. This puts everyone on the same platform, leading to public awareness,” says Tunty Chauhan, director of Gallery Threshold. The gallery in Sarvodaya Enclave is showing a curated group exhibition titled “Nest” during DAW.

Also part of the initiative are two museums and four art institutions, including the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Lalit Kala Akademi and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.

A work by Chandrashekhar Koteshwar for Delhi Art Week. (Photo: Art Alive Gallery)

“This is a positive step towards public-private partnership with an aim to educate masses on art. We will look at more partnerships that are not centered on commerce but art awareness. We want the art community to benefit as well,” says Adwaita Gadanayak, Director General of NGMA. The national institution has planned an exhibition dedicated to Ramkinkar Baij and the nine treasures of Indian art that includes Nandalal Bose, Amrita Sher-gil, and Jamini Roy, among others.

At a time when the art industry is adapting to the rules of the Covid protocols and making an effort to bring the audience back, attempts are also being made through DAW to encourage engagement from the art aficionados. The line-up includes solos as well as curated projects.

If Gallery Ske has recent works by Sunil Padwal, Vadehra Art Gallery has Arpita Singh’s “Homeword”. Akar Prakar will present Manish Pushkale’s “Tracing The Cartographer’s Trail” and Gallery Espace had GR Iranna’s “Budi”. At Latitude 28, a group of contemporary artists will draw attention to “perspectives on the unprecedented rate of human development” and Dhoomimal Gallery will celebrate works of artists who were part of the collective Delhi Shilpi Chikra, comprising artists BC Sanyal, Sailoz Mookherjee, KS Kulkarni, Jagdish Swaminathan, Satish Gujral and Ram Kumar.

The Delhi Art Week is an initiative aimed at raising awareness and bringing attention to art in Delhi. (PR handout)

While the exhibitions will also be on view on the website of each gallery and virtual workshops will be held, in-person interactive sessions have also been planned. Walkthroughs will be held at NGMA, Art Heritage, Delhi Art Gallery, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Dhoomimal Gallery, among others.

Included in the programme schedule are talks with Martand Khosla, Iram Sultan, Shruti Mahajan and Mayank Mansingh Kaul at Shrine Empire Gallery and at Vadehra Art Gallery visitors can attend a discussion with artist Sachin George Sebastian.