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When was the last time you visited an art gallery? If you can’t remember, we admit we couldn’t too. So we decided to give our souls some respite by putting Netflix on pause, switching off our mobile notifications and heading into the mysterious vortex that is this city’s art world for many. What we discovered was that in the recent years Mumbai has sprouted many galleries that challenge the conventional notions of art. While a canvas and oil paints will always be a much loved medium of art, these galleries have embraced video, photography, installations and even textiles as mediums in which modern thought, emotion and dilemmas are more often than not, aptly expressed. Breaking all forms of hierarchy when it comes to art, these galleries that we have hand-picked for you are re-defining the concept of art in India.
I. Artisans
Where: V B Gandhi Marg, Kala Ghoda, Fort
This gallery is a social enterprise committed to supporting India’s indigenous art, craft and design heritage, with a sustainable marketplace that inspires conscious consumer choice. They also host many interactive performances, lectures and workshops by indigenous artists. In their endeavour to economically promote indigenous art, the Artisan’s Gallery Shop houses handpicked and handmade collectibles all year round! The dying Gond artists of Madhya Pradesh, the ancient Japanese art Shibori; creating patterns on paper and weaving stories of folklore through the art of Pithora painting by the indigenous Bhil tribe are just some of the many art forms Artisans allows you to engage with.
Art Radar: Where art, craft and design converge.
II. Gallery Maskara
Where: 3rd Pasta Lane, Apollo Bandar
This exceptional space benefits from being based in a former grain factory, where the soaring roofs allows it to put on installations of dizzying size and scale. It places an emphasis on subverting the conventional elements of the Mumbai art world and encourages more of an interdisciplinary approach to the production and exhibition of art. Their latest and unfortunately last exhibition ‘Time’; which runs till this September includes Canadian artist Max Stretcher’s larger-than-life inflatable dolls; loosely set across the floor and even suspended from the 50-feet high ceiling, connected to an air supply which breathes life into them.
Art Radar: Houses installations of dizzying size and scale.
III. Volte
Where: Sumer Kendra, Pandurang Buhadkar Marg, Worli
This is one of the pioneering galleries of the city to have embraced all media beyond paintings; including video, performance and installations in its exhibits. They focus on artist centric projects to create a cultural experience that challenges the boundaries of art in India and expand the horizons of the Indian audiences. It represents the works of important and established South Asian and international artists. Some of Volte’s critically acclaimed shows include ‘Sweet Unease’ by Ranbir Kaleka and ‘Your Name is Different There’ which was curated by Nancy Adajania.
Art Radar: Embracing all media beyond paintings as art.
IV. Project 88
Where: B M P Building, N A Sawant Marg, Colaba
This gallery space is as unique as the art it exhibits; 4000 square feet of what was formerly a century old metal printing press. It showcases exhibitions of experimental and ambitious work in all media by artists whose practice have a strong conceptual foundation. In the past the gallery has displayed the works of artists such as the eccentric Otolith Group; they create art from films, installations, and performances that are driven by extensive research into the histories of science fiction and the legacies of transnationalism, the works of graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee and artist Hemali Bhuta’s ‘Point-Shift and Quoted Objects’ .
Art Radar: Work with artists who have a strong conceptual foundation.
IV. Project 88
Where: B M P Building, N A Sawant Marg, Colaba
This gallery space is as unique as the art it exhibits; 4000 square feet of what was formerly a century old metal printing press. It showcases exhibitions of experimental and ambitious work in all media by artists whose practice have a strong conceptual foundation. In the past the gallery has displayed the works of artists such as the eccentric Otolith Group; they create art from films, installations, and performances that are driven by extensive research into the histories of science fiction and the legacies of transnationalism, the works of graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee and Hemali Bhuta’s ‘Point-Shift and Quoted Objects’ .
Art Radar: Work with artists who have a strong conceptual foundation.
V. Tarq
Location: Dhanraj Mahal, C.S.M. Marg, Apollo Bunder, Colaba
This contemporary art gallery is nurturing a conversation around art from a diverse range of contexts. Some of their unusual and thought provoking exhibits have been ‘Pocket Maps of the Mind’ (Residues of Memory); that looks at the multi-faceted nature of memory and ‘Views of the Spirit’; an exhibition of photographs by the legendary surrealist photographer, Man Ray. Currently at the gallery is the ‘Remains Of The Day’ that seeks the uncanny in everyday objects.
Art Radar: Art that motivates discussion, abstract reasoning, logic and cause.
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