A recap of important shows at the DAF

Vernacular in the Contemporary – Part I

The exhibition focused on the vernacular and shifts the art historical and institutional terms for understanding and theorizing this cluster of visual art. Moreover, the show did foreground the diversity and contemporary relevance of vernacular artists’ personas, ideas and concerns through ambitious projects.

The exhibition featured the works of approximately sixty artists who practice a range of painting and sculpture. Most gained their artistic training in the family or community but today seek to explore and stretch their practice. Jackfruit and Devi Art Foundation created a curatorial agenda, which provides these artists space and resources to develop and execute new projects.

The exhibition was also an archival venture since artists were selected, interviewed and photographed in their studios and workspaces.

Vernacular in the Contemporary – Part II

This exhibition contained two sections, "Working Consciously" and "Working Reflectively". Artists in the first section were not just concerned with "working" but also interested in engaging, through their work, the world outside their art. Conscious of the ongoing impact the archive, current affairs and urbanization on their practice, they showed it both in terms of process and theme.

The second section of Part Two was dedicated to projects in which artists were concerned with working, not just with the world outside their workshop or studio, but now at a stage in their life or career where they could reflect on the history of their art form or their artistic community or personal career as an artist. Part Two exhibited artists who worked in the vernacular sphere in ways that ambitiously questioned the terms by which contemporary art is defined.

Importantly, Devi Art Foundation is expanding its portfolio of private institutional support by encouraging vernacular artists of India to magnify their scale of artistic production or to explore new themes. Devi Art Foundation’s support also seeks to create fresh public discourse and pedagogy through global contemporary and vernacular art today.