Vision

Aicon Gallery's curatorial vision begins in India but reaches outwards internationally

from there. The two gallery spaces are located in New York and London, and each

provides a vital platform for artists based in the Indian Subcontinent to exhibit in the

United States and Europe. Alongside in-depth, focused solo shows the galleries present a

programme of curated group exhibitions that are international in their scope and

ambition. Following recent debates in institutional curating, the programme deliberately

thinks together art produced very recently and art made through the latter half of the

20th century. Through this we aim to produce unexpected congruencies, shed light on

other modernities, make complex the designation 'contemporary' and signal a shift away

from simple survey exhibitions. In short, Aicon Gallery presents recent and

contemporary art from India and beyond.

History

Aicon Gallery was developed from Gallery ArtsIndia, which was one of the first major

outlets in the United State for art from India. Initially Gallery ArtsIndia connected

collectors, critics and curators to artists in India via an on-line platform, and after the

initial positive feedback, opened as a gallery space in New York in 2002. Aicon Gallery

was launched when our second major space opened in London in 2007. The New York

space shifted location to its new premises in the Lower East Side in 2008.

The gallery has presented significant solo exhibitions of a number of artists - many of

which have been their first major exhibitions outside the subcontinent. Solo shows have

included G.R.Iranna, Bose Krishnamachari, Anandajit Ray Talha Rathore, Muhammed

Zeeshan, Adeela Suleman and Atul Bhalla . It has also re-examined the oeuvres of artists

working from the 1950s onwards, including F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, K. Laxma Goud,

S.H. Raza and Shyamal Dutta Ray. More recently the gallery has started participating in

international art fairs such as Arco, Art Dubai, India Art Summit and Art Hong Kong and

will be developing further participations going forward. Aicon Editions, launched in

2008, is the first venture to enable artists from the Subcontinent to work with limited

edition projects.

Museums and collections

In 2002 the gallery acquired a substantial part of the Herwitz collection, comprising of

works collected over a 35 year period. This has enabled the gallery to curate in-depth

solo presentations but also to contextualise a rich period in art production in India. This

has been a particularly important task in light of the lack of a museum infrastructure

within India. In part through this acquisition the gallery has been able to loan works to

major exhibitions at Tate Britain, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and the Peabody

Essex Museum. The gallery has supported major museum presentations of art from

South Asia - recent support has included the Serpentine Gallery, London, Asia Society,

New York and a major presentation at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Furthermore the

gallery has been able to draw on its expertise in order to manage three art funds

specifically focused on Indian art.

Ongoing Programme

'Royale with Cheese' is a curated international group exhibition which takes

mistranslation as its starting point and includes major presentations by Shezad Dawood,

Simon Bedwell, Sarnath Banerjee and Sadequain. It opens in London in mid-October.

Baiju Parthan will have his first major solo exhibition in the United States later in the

year. The internationally acclaimed photographer Raghu Rai will exhibit in early 2010 as

will London-based artist Simon Tegala. Later in 2010 Adeela Suleman will present a

solo exhibition in New York and T.V.Santhosh in London. Other planned solo shows

include Shibu Natesan and Riyas Komu. Aicon draws upon the academic interests of its

curatorial staff whose specializations in subjects including globalization, identity,

environmentalism, international politics and postcolonialism often feed into

programming. Gallery talks will continue to be a regular part of the schedule - recent

speakers include the curator Francesco Manarcorda and the artists Shezad Dawood and

Dan Holdsworth. Aicon's artist-newsletter, 'Aiconograph' launches this Autumn - a

discursive on-line exchange that opens up our programme and vision for debate amongst

the artists who we work with.