The 7th edition of Delhi Contemporary Art Week(DCAW) once again showcases the best South Asian art and contemporary voices at Bikaner House from August 31st to September 4th, 2024. A creative alliance forged by six galleries, DCAW is anchored in the foundation of amplifying the voices of creative artists and celebrating their works that reflect contemporary times with many themes and techniques.
DCAW was born from a desire to spark conversations about contemporary issues, as it aspires to be a home for everyone interested in the art world. Steeped in a rich history of artistic expression, the modern art scene in India thrives on its adaptability, creativity, and resilience. This year’s Delhi Contemporary Art Week again spotlight six leading Delhi-based galleries. These Delhi-based art galleries showcase compelling works by established and emerging artists from India and the broader subcontinent. The captivating artworks on display will resonate with a broad audience, both locally and internationally, fostering a deeper appreciation for the artistic landscape of this vibrant region. Each gallery brings its unique curatorial vision and creative strengths to DCAW and celebrates the diversity and richness of contemporary artistic practices through varied mediums.
Furthermore, a group exhibition will be curated by Girish Shahane, featuring artists from each participating gallery. This year’s curation by Girish Shahane is titled ‘A Bold Step Sideways’ and highlights art/artists that sidestep traditional notions of art and history. Embracing a generation of artists unencumbered by the anxieties of influence, this exhibition showcases various works that freely traverse styles and mediums. Unlike eras marked by ironic references and postmodern pastiche, today’s artists navigate a cultural landscape where historical time converges like apps on a smartphone, accessible everywhere at once. This flattening of time fosters a unique artistic freedom, where abstraction and figuration coexist harmoniously alongside personal narratives and explorations of identity.
As we delve into artworks that reflect personal histories and community narratives, ‘A Bold Step Sideways’ reveals how performativity in social media has elevated the autobiographical, making individual and political identities central to contemporary discourse. This curation aims to celebrate a profound shift in artistic perspective, where stepping sideways replaces the avant-garde leap forward and where art history evolves in tandem with the complexities of our interconnected world.
Blueprint12 gallery will exhibit works of selected artists, such as Divyesh Undaviya, Meghana Gavireddygari, Zoya Chaudhary, Aravani Art Project, and Anila Govindappa. Exploring the rich tapestry of emotions, cultures, and narratives, contemporary South Asian art transcends borders, connecting the world through its vibrant colours and thought-provoking expressions. Blueprint12 showcase these evocative creations that redefine tradition and ignite conversations, fostering a global dialogue that celebrates diversity and creativity.
Exhibit 320 is a space for showcasing contemporary art from India and the subcontinent and a platform for new thoughts and ideas. This year, focus on new media, a place for creative endeavour, aesthetic exploration, and furthering the visual dialogue. Commitment to discovering and encouraging new and emerging talent is at the heart of our mission. The gallery will be exhibiting the works of Deena Pindoria, Deepak Kumar, Jayati Kaushik, Kaushik Saha, Kumaresan Selvaraj, Priyantha Udagedara, Gopi Gajwani, Gunjan Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Sareena Khemka, among others.
This year’s curated selection features diverse pieces that showcase emerging artists’ unique perspectives. By exploring new media, artists are unlocking endless possibilities by using unconventional materials such as textiles, found objects and elements from the earth, expanding the boundaries of traditional art forms. Artworks by Gunjan Kumar and Kaushik Saha foster creative exploration, aesthetic experimentation, and the advancement of visual dialogue. Exhibit 320 presents groundbreaking art that challenges conventional perceptions and inspires innovative thinking.
Gallery Espace showcases a lively and 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, a young artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh, who has recently signed up with Gallery Espace. “Time without Birth and Death” is an intricate work that explores the concept of cyclical existence, of birth and death, conveying through motif and form a sense of infinity and the continuity of nature. Soma, who did her MFA at Visva Bharati, Santiniketan (2016), was the recipient of the Samdani Art Award in 2020 and participated in the Frere Hall South Asian Artist in Residence program at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Gallery Espace will also showcase a new set of paintings by Baroda-based Rashmimala, depicting the ground plant species specific to the Delhi ridge, which she studied at a residency organised by Gallery Espace last year, Ravi Agarwal’s photographs of an abandoned office, and Tanmoy Samanta’s luminous canvases of liminal shapes.
Latitude 28 continues to spotlight emerging artists from the Global South, reflecting South Asia’s evolving contemporary art scene through a vibrant textile collection. This showcase 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). Each artist brings a unique perspective and technique to their work, creating a diverse and captivating collection. Inspirations from the texture and form of Indian textile handicrafts are evident in Sanket Viramgami and Shalina Vichitra’s works. Sudipta Das transforms paper into sculpture or fabric. This collection celebrates textile art’s intricate histories and dynamic possibilities in contemporary practice.
Latitude 28 showcase of other artists this edition includes 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 Gallery will show the works of Hema Shironi and Natasha Das for the first time. Both artists work with textiles, and through this medium, they explore various contexts that relate to their personal histories, politics of the region and sustainability. The gallery also represents Amitava Das from this year and will show several of his recent works. Other participating artists are Anoli Perera, Arun Dev, Awdhesh Tamrakar, Divya Singh, Sajan Mani, Samanta Batra Mehta, Sangita Maity, Shruti Mahajan and Tayeba Begum Lipi.
Vadehra Art Gallery features an ensemble of exciting South Asian artists practising within the Subcontinent and beyond – including 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.
Gathered for a democratic and diverse audience, our curation will include works across mediums, focusing 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, activating text and the gaze that turns upon them as sites of resistance; portraits by Faiza Butt layered with multi-cultural, art historical and technological inspirations as seen from an autobiographical lens; photographs of protest by queer communities in London shot in the 1980s by Sunil Gupta; drawings by Jasmine Nilani Joseph elaborating on ideas of property, ancestry and displacement; 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. that form a repository of observations, moods and imaginations through objects, elements and landscapes – among others.
Feature Image: Kaushik Saha- Cabinet of curiosities 4,
