Mumbai’s Nehru Centre has always been a fascinating venue, beautiful in many ways with its well-manicured lawns and imposing structure. Now, add to that artworks by over 400 artists represented by various galleries that set up stalls at the India Art Festival here — the milieu was perceptibly splendid. And Verve’s exclusive booth was a pleasant stop over for the invitees at the VIP preview who strolled in to see the artists on show.

The spectrum of offerings were spread over two floors – the modern and contemporary art festivals medley of artworks included sculptures and paintings, installations, photographs and editions in astonishing colours and enthralling sizes. The video and digital artworks were riveting too. The organising team of Kalavishkar, an NGO, had ensured a fanstastic show with crossover events featuring fusion shows with art and music, including poetry recitations, film screenings, lectures and interactive sessions between artists and art critics which were much appreciated.

Though the festival was held from November 17 to 20, Day One saw a host of special guests at Verve’s exclusive booth. Inaugurated by minister of cooperative and parliamentary affairs, Harshvardhan Patil and artist Laxman Shrestha, in the presence of the India Art Festival team’s director Rajendra Patil, president Dr Saryu Doshi, chairperson Prafulla Dahanukar, and advisor Anupa Mehta. Guests from different walks of life included Meenu Dey, Kavita Thadani, Nisha Jamvwal, Madhoo Shah, Brinda Miller, Palak and Samir Seth, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Esther Brinkmann, Kunal Kohli, Seema and Jaideep Mehrotra, Sharayu Daftary, Malti Jain, Shashi Jalan, Kahini Arte Merchant, Mrunalini Deshmukh, Jamini Ahluwalia, Zakia Kazi, Dolly Thakore, Shailendra Singh, Suketu Parekh, Ananya Banerjee, Anita and Satish Puri, Justine Ponmany, Anil Dharker, Prabhakar Kolte, Gieve Patel, Maneck Davar, Baiju Parthan, G. R. Iranna, Sheesh Gulati, Dr Usha Agarwal, Sunil and Tanya Padwal.

Verve was in synergy with the festival that served as a cultural bridge between Indian artists, galleries, collectors, critics and connoisseurs by allowing a dialogue between them. Indeed a true appreciation of Indian art through the creative celebration of hundreds of artists and galleries.

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