Contemporary Art at the Devi

In New Delhi today, it’s evident that the market for Indian contemporary art is expanding both regionally and internationally.  Sales are strong in showrooms and galleries.  Anupam Poddar is one of today’s most important collectors.  In a short period of time, this young New Delhi–based collector has acquired many works by artists from India, and while doing so has been instrumental in attracting international attention to the Indian art scene while continuing to cultivate it locally.

The Devi Art Foundation, a short drive from the five star hotels in New Delhi, is India’s first nonprofit space and in fact, is India’s first museum of contemporary art.  Artwork from the Poddar family collection form the foundation of the exhibitions at Devi.   Anupam Poddar states that his interest in contemporary art was cultivated by his mother, and his enthusiasm for collecting was the same. He began acquiring art passionately, filling his family home with artwork that he had selected. “There is much care that goes into choosing what is installed,” he says. “It is important for me to be continuously interested in the work and able to live with it.” What does interest Poddar is art that is challenging and often provocative.

In a country where public exhibitions of contemporary art are hard to find, India’s government-run National Gallery of Modern Art seldom shows contemporary work. As interest and commerce in contemporary art increase, other venues, comparable to Devi, begin to emerge. A modern art museum designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron is currently under construction in Calcutta. That museum is scheduled to open in late 2013.