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Installation image: 'Pop South Asia: Artistic Explorations in the Popular', KNMA Saket. Image courtesy: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
Overview
Pop South Asia: Artistic Explorations in the Popular, one of the first major exhibitions to provide a substantial survey of modern and contemporary art from South Asia engaging with popular culture, is on view at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) across its spaces in New Delhi and Noida, from 9 February to 30 April 2023. Initiated and first displayed at Sharjah Art Foundation in 2022, the iteration at KNMA extends the curatorial inquiries through its incorporation of additional works and parallel projects.
Spanning more than 100 works from the mid-twentieth century to the present, Pop South Asia is one of the largest group exhibitions organised by the Foundation, weaving an intergenerational dialogue among artists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the diaspora.
Spotlighting artists who intervene in the aesthetics of print, cinematic and digital media, alongside those engaging with devotional practices, crafts and folk culture; the exhibition features art that addresses modes of local capitalism, from large-scale industries to vernacular ‘bazaars’, in company with those commenting on identity, politics and borders.
The exhibition includes artworks by Abdul Halik Azeez, Ahmed Ali Manganhar, Anant Joshi, Anwar Saeed, Atul Dodiya, Ayesha Jatoi, Baseera Khan, Bharti Kher, Bhupen Khakhar, C. K. Rajan, Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Chila Kumari Burman, Chitra Ganesh, Dhali Al Mamoon, G. Ravinder Reddy, Hangama Amiri, Jeanno Gaussi, K. M. Madhusudhanan, K. G. Subramanyan, Lala Rukh, L. N. Tallur, Lubna Chowdhary, Maligawage Sarlis, Mehreen Murtaza, M. F. Husain, Mian Ijaz ul Hassan, Muvindu Binoy, Naiza Khan, Pushpamala N, Raja Ravi Varma, Ram Rahman, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Saba Khan, Samsul Alam Helal, Seema Nusrat, Seher Naveed, Seher Shah, Shishir Bhattacharjee, Sunil Gupta, Tejal Shah, Thukral & Tagra, Tsherin Sherpa and Vivan Sundaram.
First shown at Sharjah Art Foundation from 2 September to 11 December 2022, Pop South Asia is curated by Iftikhar Dadi, artist and John H. Burris Professor at Cornell University, and Roobina Karode, Director and Chief Curator of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
Pop South Asia: Artistic Explorations in the Popular is organised by Sharjah Art Foundation and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi.
Click here for more information on the exhibition at KNMA.
