By Siddhi Jain
New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANSlife): Compelled by a COVID-induced shift, the India Art Festival (IAF), a contemporary art fair has taken the conventional presentation of visual art to a digital platform. The contemporary art fair in India, that has hosted 17 editions in the last 10 years in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru, opened the 10-day 'Virtual India Art Festival' on Thursday.
According to organisers, in this virtual avatar of the India Art Festival, patrons will get to see total of 45 stalls, 20 art galleries and 200 artists exhibiting total 1000 artworks.
Rajendra, Founder of India Art Festival and President, The Bombay Art Society said, "Today, most of us in the self-quarantined state of mind, willingly or unwillingly use electronic devices, looking for ways to connect, to support each other, and share. The virtual India Art Festival, a specially designed online art fair is an effort to engage visual art audiences with the artists who are trying to recover from past anxieties and future worries. Virtual India Art Festival is our commitment as the cultural organiser to answer urgencies surrounding the lives of thousands of artists in India."
The visitors - art enthusiasts, art buyers, and art connoisseurs - to the virtual India Art Festival can experience this fusion of contemporary art with virtual reality, creating an experience of immersive booths in the art fair. The artworks exhibited include inspiring original artworks, paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations.
"Considering that the art buyer, architects, interior designers and art collectors who buy art or even artists, art writers and art enthusiasts are a part of a busy community, we at India Art Festival, have designed very simple but elegant and engaging virtual art festival system of 2D rooms, 3D virtual galleries with 360 degree views of stalls for every exhibiting artists and art galleries. The visitors can literally visit 45 stalls, 20 art galleries, and 1000 artworks of 250 artists with zoom-in facility in just 45 clicks to enjoy 2D & 3D virtual stalls viewing. There is a facility in every booth where in visitor can call or send text message to participating artists and art galleries and even can pick up digital copy of their catalogues from every stall," the festival founder added.
The participating art galleries in Virtual Art fair includes - Aakriti Art Gallery & Gallery Nataraj, from Kolkata, Art Nouveau, Galerie Splash & Uchaan from Gurugram, ArtDesh Foundation, Greyscale, Rhythm Art, Studio3 Art Gallery and The Bombay Art Society - all from Mumbai, Easel Stories, Noida, Eminent Art Gallery, Gallery Endless Thoughts, Sudha Art Gallery, Thakalis Art Gallery and The Lexicon art Gallery - all from New Delhi along with Galerie Sara Arakkal, Gnani Arts, Singapore, Kala Bhawan from Tripura and Studio Vriksha Chhaya from Varanasi.
The art festival runs from December 18-27, 2020 at www.indiaartfest.in.