EdNet School of Art& Design organized an India Art Fair Walk for its Art & Design Students on May 1st, 2022. Ms Niharika Sondhi, the MD of EdNet Consultants, along with her art faculty and students commenced the walk at 10 am. Featuring an impressive roster of 63 galleries and artists, private foundations and museums, artists’ collectives, 14 art institutions, cultural events and festivals, the annual art fair is being held under the new leadership of Fair Director Jaya Asokan. Started with an aim to place the thriving Indian art scene on the global map, the 2022 edition of the India Art Fair, held from April 28 to May 1 at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds in South-West Delhi’s Okhla.
The fair offered art enthusiasts and students an opportunity to see a wide range of artwork from upcoming artists and some very famous artists as well. M.F Hussain, A Ramachandran, Thota Vaikuntham, Jamini Roy, Paresh Maity, S.H Raza, Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Husna Manzil, and Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh are some of the eminent artists whose work was on display at the IAF. It was a carefully curated exhibit after two long years of the pandemic, and it was a delight to witness marvelous art pieces in in their physical glory.
A number of young artists showcasing various art forms, including sculpture and paper, some born during the past two years of lockdown and pandemic, were also be seen in this edition. “This series, 101 Meditations on Paper, was born when I was home bound after a long bout of covid,” said artist Chetnaa. “Square as a shape offers you stability and balance because it is a perfect shape,” she says while explaining how in each work she has directed the square to bring out different shapes and forms, and yet retain the balance. There was thread on paper, gold foil on paper, ink on paper, and water colour, and various other eclectic mix of mediums. The most striking of all was the Home, an artwork by Sudipta Das that represented the plight of migration especially during pandemic. Made of paper, the thousands of overlapping human figures represented fragility of migrants, critically questioning the notion of home and homelessness.
Like always, art extends across the white space and black boxes, and includes large-scale installations such as a library of festival books and Food Lab Grant winning projects by Serendipity Arts; a large screen display of iconic works from the past four editions of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale by the Kochi Biennale Foundation; a 50-feet long mural titled The Future is Femme created by trans-artist collective Aravani Art Project, along the walkway into the fair supported by Saffronart Foundation; and an intricate and large-scale metal scrap sculpture by artist Narayan Sinha. In this edition of India Art Fair, there were also curated talks, panels, performances and walks curated by Shaleen Wadhwana to help visitors navigate through modern, contemporary, and folk art on display under various themes.
Ednet’s Art & Design students were highly inspired by what the IAF had to offer, as prospective artists the labyrinth of creativity that IAF’s platform offered has further pushed them to create thought provoking art of their own, and build strong art portfolios of their own. From myriad techniques, to historical significance of poignant art pieces the students were able to experience their class room lessons and discussions come alive. IAF was not only limited to those wanting to pursue Art & Design but also inspired our future architects with some cutting-edge ideas to tower above and build on.
It was a fun-filled educational trip that left the students and art faculties of EdNet School of Art & Design wanting for more, and inspiring them to create iconic artwork.