The Indian Art Fair, being held between February 9-12, is slated to feature seven Nepali artists this year. Nepal’s participation at the Fair is coordinated by the Nepal Art Council (NAC) and this will be the third time for Nepali artists to be represented at the fair. The seven participating artists are Chirag Bangdel, Jeevan Rajopadhya, Mekh Limbu, Rabindra Shrestha, Sabita Dangol, Sujan Dangol and Sunita Maharjan.

The seven artists are touted as “the best of contemporary Nepali art” and according to Sagar SJB Rana, Vice president of NAC, “their works are visual metaphors of contemporary Nepali society, emotional struggles, spiritual and human connections, together with artistic imaginations unfolded on canvas providing a multi-faceted engagement to the viewers”.

 The Nepali paritcipants are all esteemed local artists who come from disparate backgrounds, are engaged in different disciplines, and utilise various media in their works. Chirag Bangdel’s paintings romanticise stories from the Krishnalila, Jeevan Rajopadhya delves into rhythmic abstractions, Rabindra Shrestha’s mixed media works dissect hefty concepts like national cohesion and social equality, Sabita Dangol’s surreal compositions dramatise the mundane, Sunita Maharjan’s Fabric collages refer to landscapes—specifically the gradated traces of time over space, while Mekh Limbu’s drawings and paintings take a deft commentry to the issues of migration and displacement.

The Indian Art Fair is an annual exhibition of contemporary art from around the world and is held at the NSIC grounds, Okhla, New Delhi. Initiated in 2008, it is the largest art fair in South Asia and will feature 79 galleries from 18 countries. The Fair also provides guided walks conducted by curators as well as public discussion pertaining to the production, proliferation, and preservation of art in the region.