Eat your art out at this fair!

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Each year, the Indian Art Fair comes as the hugely anticipated event in which galleries and artists vie to participate, given that over one lakh visitors visit the fair. This may seem miniscule compared to the over ten crore people who will visit the Mahakumbh Mela at the Prayag, with ten lakh people having a dip or snana on a single day.

Nevertheless, the Indian Art Fair does induce everyone, who is connected with the practice, business or keen interest in art, to visit it at least once.
It is no wonder that the number of domestic and international galleries participating in this kumbh of Indian arts keeps increasing. This year, seven new countries including behemoths like Russia and Brazil will bring their art here. Last year was marked by quality art like the Trojan Horse by South African artist William Bester being displayed. This year, one expects to see works by masters such Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.
For critics and connoisseurs alike, it is an opportunity to excavate the origins of many trends and fads in contemporary Indian art practice. For, incidentally, among the over thousand artists on display, one often comes across the original from whom another may be deriving ‘inspiration’. For the galleries and artists it also an opportunity to do business, though the actual value of transactions remains a secret, with rumours and speculations running rife, given the misinformation disseminated through the opaque world of the art bazaar.
This reviewer will visit the Fair with the hope, albeit faint, that there are some ‘stop and stare’ works of art that not only compel one to view them, but also to remember them insofar as they elicit a deeply felt thought process. One is also looking for works, artists, who are responding to and shaping the social churn and tumult one has seen in the last two months.