JOIN USEstablished in December 2008, and run by its directors, Anahita Taneja and Shefali Somani, Shrine Empire Gallery, Delhi has created an exciting platform for presenting and promoting contemporary visual art practices.
Since its inception, Shrine Empire has consistently focused on encouraging a dialogic approach with artists and curators in order to produce exhibitions and projects that critically engage with contemporary issues and concerns.
Artists and curators from South Asia as well as the diaspora have been involved with the gallery’s activities. The mission of Shrine Empire is to promote artists, curators and art-writers who are invested in redefining the boundaries of contemporary art practice.
For the past three years, the gallery has been engaged with the ‘Art Scribes Award’ focussed on young art writers. The Gallery organises for the winner to spend a month at a residency in Southeast Asia.
Shefali Somani speaks to Deccan Herald on IAF 2015:
On the importance of participating in art fairs for a gallery.
Art fairs are important platforms through which galleries can showcase the artists they represent to an extremely wide and varied audience. Galleries would not easily have access to the museums and curators that otherwise visit art fairs.
How do you think the IAF has evolved over time?
The IAF has definitely evolved over the past eight years both in size and quality. The number of visitors to the fair has also grown. The speakers’ forum each year has some interesting sessions. Though the galleries that represented seem to be similar each year, I do hope we will have some new infusion with the IAF’s new initiatives and with Girish Shahane as curator of the Fair.
What are the three best aspects of the IAF?
Viewership, exposure and sales have been the three aspects that have made us staples at the Fair.
Three items on your wish list from the IAF this year? (Apart from “Sales, sales, more sales…!!!”)
A wider exposure for our artists, especially with the international museums visiting the Fair this year; attracting the interest of Indian and international curators; and lastly, hoping to get a positive response to the works of two artists we are introducing at our booth this year: Puja Puri and Tyeba Begum Lipi.
Who are the artists you are representing this year?
We are representing Anoli Perera, Fariba S Alam, Gautam Kansara, Priyanka Dasgupta, Puja Puri, Samanta Batra Mehta and Tyeba Begum Lipi. Anoli has also been invited by the IAF to do a project.