The moment I saw the sheer dimensions of the place I knew it had to be used as an exhibition space for art,” says Dilip Jhangiani referring to The Viewing Room, an expansive new space at Elysium Mansion on Colaba Causeway, Mumbai, that is going to open its doors to the public in August.

Avid art collectors Dilip and Sherry Jhangiani, with close friend Soli Cooper, took their passion for art towards buying art as an investment. While both men are actually practicing lawyers, Sherry’s father was an artist, so she has been inclined to art since childhood. Upon deciding to start an exhibition place, they recruited Niyatee Shinde (with previous experience at Gallery Articulate) to curate their shows.

The Viewing Room, with its minimalist, tasteful décor, is simply a place to view art. As part of the gallery there is a beautiful sky-lit landing that opens out to a terrace, which they plan to use to display sculptures and installations. Cooper explains, “We are different from a gallery because we won’t retail art but promote artists we identify with, stocking and selling only art from on-going shows.”

“It is important that we believe whatever we showcase to be good, and interesting art. We would also let the dictates of the public guide us when deciding what we will exhibit,” asserts Dilip Jhangiani. They plan to have a healthy mix of international and Indian artists with much more of the latter. “Indian art won’t find a space globally unless we open our doors to international artists,” states Jhangiani. Currently a tie-up with a Middle Eastern artist is in the pipeline and in November, there will be a show with Natasha Law and Natasha Kissell from London.

“Initially,” says Sherry, “when I asked Dilip to buy paintings he would?say that his stocks would make for better investments.” After a friend, an art dealer,?persuaded them to buy their first painting in 1989, there was no looking back.