There was a time when a trip to the bourgeois Hauz Khas Village was a must-do on every high-heeled art lover’s weekend itinerary. In the last one year, however, the sleepy South Delhi neighbourhood of Lado Sarai has emerged as the new art destination with as many as five new art galleries having opened their doors and collection for public viewing. When gallery Latitude 28 opened in March last year with its inaugural show ‘Size Matters or Does it?’, director and curator Bhavna Kakar could not conceal her delight at being part of the “most happening art hub” in the city. In close proximity to her tastefully designed gallery lies Exhibit 320, owned and managed by collector-turned gallerist Rasika Kajaria which opened at the same time, and boasts of an equally appealing aesthetics in both design and art.
“There is so much energy in this place,” says Bhavna Kakar, “with so many galleries on one street, viewers can find a huge diversity and variety of art to look at during one visit alone.” The biggest advantage, as gallery owners at Lado Sarai point out, is that the rent rates are lower than areas in central Delhi like Defence Colony or Connaught Place and much larger gallery space is available, viable for the new age art that most galleries now prefer to show. For instance, for her inaugural show, Kakar’s gallery window exhibited Siddhartha Kararwal’s ‘Wardrobe Closet’ installation – a small TV and a messy heap of sweaters and disembodied arms against an etched glass window!
In another show by New Zealand-based artist Nandita Kumar, the entire gallery space was converted into a science lab of sorts – with a hand drawn brain that moved like a housefly all over the gallery walls, wires, projectors and electrical circuitry creating an entire neuron-scape inside the gallery.
Not that Lado Sarai didn’t have its share of art before. In fact, when Mamta Singhania of Anant Art Gallery, the first to chance upon Lado Sarai as a ‘legal gallery space’, set shop in the lane two years ago, she knew exactly the upside of moving to a nondescript area that now is teeming with dozens of galleries. “I had a 6000 square feet space here,” says Singhania, who has moved out recently to relaunch the gallery in a new place, “I don’t think I would have got a similar space elsewhere.” Those that followed suit – like Art Motif, Art Eterne, Gallery Threshold – forced by the MCD sealing drive in residential areas where some of them were earlier located also benefited from Lado Sarai’s closeness to the hip designer locales of Mehrauli and Qutub.
In the last one year, the street has been inundated with more galleries – some serious art ventures, others plain art shops – like Artoholics, Krishna’s Collection, Ragini, Arts of the Earth, Indraprastha Art Gallery, Gallery Ruki as well as online art portal Lantern of Art.
While this could be seen as severe competition – and some seniors do complain that wannabes in the area are playing havoc with prices by offering art at inexplicably low prices – most find solace in the fact that more galleries mean more visitor footfall. “It’s good news for everyone. We get a lot of walk-ins, regular people move from one gallery to another. And serious art buyers can also find more choice,” says Kajaria. Kakar adds: “We’re trying to work together and maybe even do group openings. Now Lado Sarai is on ‘the art map’ – people coming to Delhi visit this place least once, so it’s great that it’s all in one place.”
It seems to be a win-win situation for all, the only deterrent being the crowded bylanes of Lado Sarai. Each gallery has its own appeal and niche. While Latitude 28 concentrates on extremely cutting edge art like installations and videos, Art Motif is more traditional in approach and also offers some of the most affordable prices one can get in Delhi. While Exhibit 320 focuses on young contemporary names and Art Positive on large group shows, Threshold is the place to visit for sculptures. What more could a visitor ask for? A bit of parking space, perhaps?