Winding paths lead Mirchandani + Steinruecke, the high-profile Mumbai-based art gallery, home to a roster of 23 artists, including conceptual art pioneer Anita Dube and 2023 Prix Pictet winner Gauri Gill, to open a second location in New Delhi this month. The first in the capital for such a Mumbai-headquartered gallery, the new space takes residence in a 2,000-square-foot space located on the first floor of a building in central Defence Colony. Their new address is ideally located in close proximity to other crowd pulling and established galleries like Vadehra Art Gallery and Shrine Empire.
The first exhibition Everness: After Jorge Luis Borges (20 November — 11 January 2025) will feature the work of the Kerala-based artist Aji V.N. The 5,000 sq. footer of Mirchandani + Steinruecke The ft Mumbai location, which relocated to 2022, will remain open.
The establishment of Mirchandani + Steinruecke follows a geographical trajectory of many Indian galleries opening outposts in new cities. Meanwhile, other significant galleries like Kolkata’s Experimenter and Delhi’s Nature Morte have set up recent outposts in Mumbai. According to co-founder Ranjana Steinruecke, the choice to open in New Delhi is due to the gallery’s larger and growing collection of new-age artists needing more space and visibility. The Delhi expansion not only represents how the gallery has progressed, but it also represents a new audience and a more mature market engaging with art making a necessary call for a new gallery to be present.
We believe it offers a much wider and engaging audience for our buyers,” says Steinruecke, citing a thriving art scene and new museums like Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and Brij Museum opening soon in Delhi. In the Delhi market, ‘a more prolonged engagement’ is necessary, she added, referring to the once-a-year meet-up at events such as the India Art Fair.
In fact, Mirchandani + Steinruecke has gradually tried to step out of the mainstream art fair circuit, skipping India Art Fair since 2022 and now also Art Mumbai this year too. So, instead, Steinruecke would rather put the money into big exhibitions and growth (for example, the planned CK Rajan retrospective in 2023, one of the pieces for which was cast at a foundry in Berlin).
The Indian art market is said to be in the midst of a boom, buoyed largely by high-flying Modern prices that are also lifting the contemporary market (including, as always, the concern over authenticity in Indian art), and Steinruecke is nonetheless wary. The institution has had its up and downs, she observes, as have sales now, but it’s all “a little on the soft side.” But, after more than two decades in the business, she believes in the art world’s durability: “Art wins out every time. It is all about keeping moving forward.”
Feature Image: Ranjana Steinruecke the Co-Founder of Mirchandani + Steinruecke
