Affordable Art Show returns to Chennai and here's what to expect from this edition

There’s often a myth around buying art—that it belongs to people with large homes, larger bank balances, and an even larger sense of their own taste. The Affordable Art Show has spent the last few years quietly dismantling that idea, one city at a time. And this month, it’s back in Chennai for a second consecutive year.

Art doesn't have to be intimidating. Chennai proves it with Affordable Art show

Curated by Srila Chatterjee, the show brings together around 30 artists spanning folk, contemporary, and modern masters—with works priced from INR 3,000 onwards. From Thangka scrolls out of Ladakh to Gond paintings alive with jungle and animal life, from Ajrakh-dyed textiles to rare vintage Christian icons from early 20th-century Europe, it is, in the best possible way, a lot to take in. “Come and love art,” Srila says simply when asked what the show is really about. “Forget about names, price points, and investments. Think about why you are seeing this and why you love it. And if you love it so much and it hits the right spot in your heart, take it home and live with it every day,” she adds.

Affordability, she says, is relative. “There’s no distinctive definition—for somebody, `50 lakh is affordable; for somebody, `5,000 is more than they can afford. We’re just giving people options from a reasonable starting point. If it means so much and you’re really enraptured by it, then it’s worth doing. We try and find ways in which you can pay for it over time,” she says. Payment plans included.

According to Srila, what’s different this year is the depth in the line of artworks and artists. Alongside familiar names like Venkat Raman Singh Shyam, and Ramesh Tekam—whose Gond paintings, dense with flora and fauna, have drawn devoted collectors—the show now features three or four new Gond artists. Same with Bhil, Madhubani, and Pattachitra, where artists like Gitanjali Das, Anwar Chitrakar, and Lado Bai bring their own perspectives to the tradition.

One highlight worth seeking out is the series of works from 11 tribal artists from Madhya Pradesh, who spent a year in Bhopal. They used their traditional forms—Bhil, Madhubani, Gond—to explore their own lives and the world around them. “They’ve painted those and they’re beautiful. The results are ancient visual languages turned toward deeply personal stories,” Srila says.

Then there’s Zainab Tamba-walla’s watercolours from her Seen Unseen series—intimate, close-up studies of Mumbai, painted with the kind of attention that makes familiar streets feel newly discovered. Contemporary voices like Ruchi Bakshi Sharma, Tushar Tanwar, Kaushal Parikh, and Ayesha Broacha bring their own displays to the mix. And for those drawn to photography, a few quietly arresting floral works by Banu Batli Boy round out the offering.

This year, after Chennai, the show heads to Kochi—and then on to roughly 15 cities in total, including smaller ones that rarely make the circuit. “There’s no reason why only somebody in a big city should be exposed to art,” Srila concludes.

Open to all. From March 6 to 8. 11 am – 7 pm. At The Folly, Amethyst, Royapettah.

Email: apurva.p@newindianexpress.com

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