Best Mumbai art galleries
In a city that inspires enterprise as much as it inspires creators of art, there’s a new gallery opening everywhere you look in Mumbai.
From converted warehouses and ordinary rooms, here are some of the best art galleries in Mumbai, selected not just for their spaces but for the people whose vision drives what goes on within.
More on CNNGo: Sunday is for gallery-hopping in South Mumbai
Chemould Prescott Road
One has to start with the oldest and most enduring gallery. The original quaint, semi-circular walled Chemould gallery, on the first floor of the Jehangir Art Gallery, was started in 1963 by Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy.
Now, with daughter Shireen taking charge, it’s morphed capaciously in name and space into Chemould Prescott Road.
Modern and younger artists have exhibited with the Gandhys, the program is a mix of old stalwarts and mid-career contemporary stars.
And here, along with a painting, will come a story of Mumbai’s pre- and post-hype art world. Because Chemould was, and still is, an "adda" for all visitors who come to Mumbai -- in local speak, an informal intellectual gathering or exchange of ideas.
Coming up to its 50th anniversary, Chemould has become an institution with an artist roster roll call of the most sought-after artists in India.
Queen’s Mansion, 2/F, G. Talwatkar Marg, Fort; +91 (0)22 2200 0211/2; www.gallerychemould.com
Project 88
Gallerist Sree Goswami personifies everything Mumbai art gallery Project 88 stands for: she has style and vision and is vociferous and articulate about the art she shows.
And she is young and brings in fresh, unseen, innovative and sometimes plain perplexing shows to this gallery.
A former printing press, the curved metal beams and iron pillars stand resolutely in Project 88's superb contemporary conversion of space.
If you're looking for a mix of media: from drawings to video, sculpture to graphic novel art, installations, or even a book reading this is your destination.
BMP Building, G/F, N.A. Sawant Marg, near Colaba Fire Station, Colaba; +91 (0)22 2281 0066; www.project88.in
Galerie Mirchandani & Steinruecke
Mother and daughter Usha Mirchandani and Ranjana Steinrucke bring their impeccable personal style to a program that has courageously brought the likes of artists Kiki Smith, Jonathon Meese and now Wolfgang Laib to our shores.
In addition, young artists are nurtured from first solos to promising careers by sustained backing over the years. And yet the gallery smacks of old-world charm.
You have to ring a bell to get in to its high-ceilinged environs, but once inside, the stark, multi-roomed gallery is contemporary in its minimalism and varied in its showing of art.
2 Sunny House, 16/18 Merewether Road, behind the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Colaba; +91 (0)22 2202 3030; www.galeriems.com
Sakshi Gallery
Geetha Mehra has moved five times with her gallery. From Bangalore and Chennai, through three sites in Mumbai: an apartment on Altamont Road to a mill in Lower Parel and now to the ground floor of a Colaba mansion block. Mehra's even opened a branch in Taiwan.
The result is reflected in the artists shown, an eclectic mix from all over the country and abroad.
They have a healthy representation of moderns but are also never shy to showcase the bold: there’s bling and innovation here in Sakshi Gallery's contemporary practice.
It is the gallery whose stock rooms we loved to prowl. And when you do, ask for the affable Usha Gawde to guide you through them.
Tanna House, G/F, 11-A Nathalal Parekh Marg, Colaba; +91 (0)22 6690 9191; www.sakshigallery.com
Chatterjee & Lal
This gallery has a strong roster for performance-based artists.
Nikhil Chopra did a memorable three day live-in at the gallery, drawing Colaba views and metamorphosing from painter to aristocrat.
More recently, artist Tino Sehgal, who will undertake the annual commission for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2012, premiered his performance piece in India, here.
It’s a treat if you are in the city and can catch a Chatterjee & Lal performance-based show, and there’s no other gallery in the city that programs it as regularly.
While performance art is new to many, the articulate curators Mortimer Chatterjee and Tara Lal will guide you through the meaning of it all. You’ll be charmed by this duo.
Ask to see their modern and contemporary photography, young artists works and video pieces too.
01/18 Kamal Mansion Floor 1, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba; +91 (0)22 2202 3787; www.chatterjeeandlal.com
