TAP India for art

If it is still raining this weekend, go online for an art break. The Art Platform India (TAP India) is showcasing Uma Shankar Pathak’s new painting series, Crossing Over, and Diya Mathur’s Mughal miniatures-inspired digital artworks.

“In this series, Uma Shankar has worked on the theme of migration and transition, using images of the zebra and birds in flight to convey the idea of crossing over to another plane,” says Sharan Apparao, curator-gallerist of Apparao Galleries and founder of TAP India. “Diya is tech-savvy, and open to new ideas. I like her sensibility, especially how she handles the subject — placing Mughal miniatures within her landscape”.

A year of learnings

Apparao launched TAP India last year with 15 galleries across the country, as a platform to showcase and bring visibility to modern and contemporary art during the pandemic. While the past year has been one of new learnings — working with tech and using social media efficiently — it has also been about making art accessible.

Diya Mathur
 

It’s encouraging to note that, with online access, the demographic of the collector is getting younger, she says. And with more younger artists getting into the space, art is becoming affordable, feeding the loop of bringing in more collectors. Mathur’s art is priced at ₹20,000, for instance. “The younger lot like a work they see online, they pick up the phone and ask for it. The system is transparent; the prices are listed, as are the contact details of partner galleries.”

TAP India has also been growing their offerings. “We have added more galleries, and events such as Art Matters,” she says. Online talks by veterans range from art practice to curation. Such as Boon Hui Tan, director Asia Society (New York), who spoke about ‘identifying and defining shifts in the global art ecosystem’. “We are archiving our events now. The talks, valuable pieces of education, are on our YouTube channel,” she concludes.

Details: theartplatformindia.com