Talent needs a platform not a pincode: inside Mumbai’s groundbreaking new art exhibition

What happens when 108 individual canvases come together to form a temple-like landscape, or when humble threads, fabric and handwork transform into a towering contemporary installation? At Up Next: A New Wave of Contemporary Art, the boundaries between painting, craft, installation and tradition begin to blur, bringing together 16 artists from India and abroad who are experimenting with new ways of seeing and making art. Presented by Tela Art Gallery, the exhibition explores how the language of contemporary art is evolving — across mediums, generations and geographies.

To know more, Indulge Express had a conversation with curators Ritu Chopra and Vikas Singh

You’ve called this exhibition A New Wave of Contemporary Art. What made you feel that the artists of this exhibition represent a new direction in contemporary art?

For us at TELA, 'New Wave' is not about age, it's about attitude. When we started studio visits, we saw that these artists are not just painting beautiful pictures — they are questioning. The fearlessness to respect the root but not be bound by it — that's the new direction.

You’ve brought in artists from Guwahati, Aurangabad, Baroda, Pune and Bengaluru, apart from Mumbai and artists from abroad. Was it a conscious decision to look beyond the usual art centres?

Yes, and a very conscious one. For the longest time, the art conversation has been Mumbai-Delhi-Baroda centric. But incredible work is happening in Guwahati, in Aurangabad, in smaller studios in Pune and Bengaluru where artists are working without any gallery pressure. We have always believed that talent needs a platform, not a pincode. When you bring such artists together in one space like Nehru Centre, you actually see the real cultural map of India today. We have a few international artists too.

There’s such a mix of mediums here, especially the 108 canvases and the large textile installation. What are you seeing in contemporary art today that made you want to bring these kinds of works together?

Contemporary art today is no longer just painting on canvas. The viewer wants an experience. The 108 small canvases are a story in themselves, it's one narrative broken into 108 moments, like a chant. You have to walk, you have to stop, you have to come back. It slows you down. 

Entry free. Till September 28, 11 am onwards. At Nehru Centre AC Art Gallery, Worli, Mumbai.

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