10 most promising artists that Delhi-NCR has to offer

Last week, from a pool of 760 talents, Kolkata-based artist Subir Hati surfaced as the recipient of Glenfiddich's Emerging Artist of the Year award, becoming the fifth one to do so since the award was constituted in 2012.

Hati, who draws his inspiration from folk and urban art, will represent India at the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence in Scotland as part of the Rs 10,00,000 award co-presented by Bestcollegeart.com and will also present a solo show at Art District XIII in 2017.

While Hati's feat is sure to have made Kolkata proud, Delhi-NCR too can lay claim to being the home of talented emerging artists considering that two of the five finalists of the prestigious award belonged to this region. We present to you 10 most promising artists that Delhi-NCR has to offer.

Nikheel Aphale

The Delhi-based artist has worked on several calligraphy projects and sees "letterforms as imagery". Aphale's fascination with letters began when he was a child - he often used to decorate the blackboard inside the classroom.

This fascination turned into a passion while the artist was in college. Since then he has been designing commercial products as well as displaying works in group art shows.

What Next: He is working on calligraphy-based concepts.

Anni Kumari

The Ghaziabad-based artist questions dimensions, scales and movement through her works.

Kumari, who was one of the finalists of this year's Emerging Artist of the Year award, did her masters in fine arts from the College of Art in the Capital and bases her art on the in-built design in nature.

Next Show: Anni is looking forward to a solo show at the India International Centre in the next few months.

Vibhu Galhotra

A third-generation photographer, Galhotra has always used images to communicate.

Later on, he took piano lessons to gratify the musician in him. Now, he creates artworks that have a musical element in them. He recently participated in a group exhibition, 'Fibre Fables', where he conceptualised and created a musical instrument equivalent of a kilim loom.

He looks forward to making more sculptural-cum-musical instruments.

What Next: Vibhu is working on some new concepts that combine art and music

Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi
A self-taught artist who began focusing on art from June 2015, Rohatgi was a lawyer by profession. Bahaar's work is truthful and self reflective, whether it is incandescent murmurings from the animals filled with a flurry of colours and quirk, her meditative abstracts which are loaded with texture or the tranquillising faces.

What Next: She has an ongoing exhibition titled 'Conversation' at IGI Terminal 1.

Sahaya Sharma

Her works explore a concept called the 'synchronicity of colours', wherein "colours resonate with one another to create a meaningful harmony". In Sharma's own words, her works have an abstract/surrealist quality to them. When it comes to her artistic process, she has a very spontaneous stride and is heavily influenced by music and nature in New Delhi.

What Next: Sahaya has a show coming up at Gallery Articulate at the end of the month.

Tarini Sethi

A fine artist and illustrator, Sethi works mainly with pen and ink. Her work, largely revolving around human intimacy and discomfort, is based on making intricately detailed figures, webbed together in an architectural form, while also focusing on the negative space, the body, and the romance between the figures.

What next: Tarini has a tentative show planned in September at the Portret Project in New Delhi.

Shivani Aggarwal
Her works are quite distinctive, wherein she often uses the image of sewing and knitting to put across her thoughts. In her own words, "It has connotations with warmth, home, protection and childhood." Sometimes, a thread might symbolise blood vessels and at other instances, it may represent the social fibre itself.

What Next: She has a tentative solo show coming up in the next few months.

Pallav Chander
Pallav Chander was diagnosed as a dyslexic child during his school days. His mother encouraged him to join theatre workshops and later, he realised his penchant for art. Thus Chander's artworks are a collaboration of art and theatre. He went on to get a degree in Fine Arts & Honours (2012) from Birmingham City University, UK. He was part of the group show titled 'Expressions' at Art Heritage last year.

What Next: Chander is part of a group show, 'On the threshold of time', which on till May 25, at Art Heritage.

Niraja Bhuwal
The 1988 born artist, and product of Benaras Hindu University, considers Buddha to be her muse and loves to create works based around symbols. One of the finalists of this years Emerging Artist of the Year award, Bhuwal lives and works in New Delhi.

What Next: The artist will be part of an upcoming group show at Art District XIII this year.

Dhvani Behl
After graduating in the Printmaking programme from Rhode Island School of Design, Dhvani began working with traditional printmaking techniques. Her love for fabric made her combine the two and she started an artistprinting studio, Flora For Fauna, which focuses on textile printing. Apart from screenprinting, FFF gives Behl the freedom to experiment in various mediums such as machine knitting, stone inlay, woodcut, hand embroidery and digital printing. Her most recent show in Mumbai, titled ENSO, was an exhibition of her handmade garments, wall hangings and paper prints.

What Next: She plans to hold a solo show in Delhi this September.