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Making art fair

Updated on: 18 July,2021 09:40 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Anju Maskeri | anju.maskeri@mid-day.com

The pandemic has hit artists hard. But, a new online art platform by a Bollywood family hopes to provide visibility to fresh desi talent

Making art fair

Sonakshi, Luv and Kussh Sinha’s House of Creativity will showcase and promote emerging Indian artists

If there’s one thing that siblings Sonakshi, Luv and Kussh Sinha have in common, it’s their desire to create. “We belong to the film world, but there’s a personal side of us that we don’t share with everyone,” says Luv. “For Sonakshi, it’s her paintings. For my brother and me, it is our photography.” In the pandemic, the Sinhas turned their attention to art to understand how the pandemic has affected our ability to appreciate the form. They felt that online platforms for visual arts could no longer remain only e-commerce destinations, online catalogues or event notifications. They wondered if they could revisit and reimagine what a virtual art world could offer. “They [art platforms] now have to become complete [online] entities. This means storing, displaying, inspiring, educating, advising and enriching an ever-increasing number of virtual art world citizens.”


Balloon and baby by artist Deepikah Bharadwaj
Balloon and baby by artist Deepikah Bharadwaj


House of Creativity (HOC) is their newly-launched platform for emerging artists for the new post-2020 art world. It represents a mix of media, ranging from ceramics, acrylics and watercolours to oil paintings and resin. Along with painters Ali Akbar Mehta, Chetna Vagh, Digbijayee Kathua, Govinda Sah Azad, and Michelle Poonawalla, the platform also features photographers  Anuradha Marwah, Ayesha Taleyarkhan and Dipanjan Pal. “Because the art world is divided into many visible and invisible sections—online and offline—often this shadows really deserving artists from getting their due recognition,” says Kussh. The curation has been a group effort by the siblings  along with an in-house creator and arts manager. The choice of medium and how viewers relate to each artist’s work helped the team take a call. “We want different artists to come on board so that they can showcase their unique style and talent to the world. We connected with quite a few names, but had to narrow down the list for starters. We hope to grow and add as we go along,” says Luv.