Aicon Gallery, formerly Gallery ArtsIndia, has long been the definitive outlet for Indian art in the United States. With the opening of its new West End location in London it has extended the reach of its artists into Europe. The Gallery aims to transcend the traditional following of Indian art and draw in curators, collectors and critics from the mainstream. This fits with Aicon's philosophy of building bridges through art.
Aicon began as the first online gallery of Indian art based in the United States. Physical locations were added in New York (2002), Palo Alto (2004) and London (2007). Today, Aicon also runs two private equity funds mandated to invest in contemporary Indian art. In June 2002, Aicon acquired a substantial part of the renowned Herwitz Collection, comprising works collected by the eponymous couple over a 35 year period. Aicon has subsequently curated several shows from this collection of works by modern masters including M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza and Laxma Goud. In addition, the galleries in New York and Palo Alto have exhibited works by established artists such as S.H. Raza, Anjolie Ela Menon, Ganesh Haloi, Sakti Burman, Shyamal Dutta Ray and Rameshwar Broota. Aicon has collaborated with museums, loaning works to Tate Britain, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, the Peabody Essex Museum, and to the city of Lille in France. Foremost contemporary artists who have participated in gallery exhibitions include Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Shibu Natesan, Baiju Parthan, TV Santosh, Bose Krishnamachari, Anandajit Ray, Riyas Komu, Anant Joshi, GR Iranna, Harsha Vardhana and Rathin Kanji. Aicon Gallery has participated in contemporary art fairs in Istanbul and Miami – showcasing the works of artists Jayashree Chakravarty, Adip Dutta, Abir Karmakar and Debnath Basu, among others. The gallery has gained extensive media coverage in many publications, notably The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Forbes, The Financial Times, and India Today. Specialist publications such as Art Asia Pacific and Art India have also regularly showcased gallery exhibitions.
Aicon Gallery has hosted Artists' Retreats over the last three years in the United States at which Indian artists have come together to create dialogues and exchange ideas. In the third retreat, Confluence 2006, contemporary American artists joined the artists from India, taking the interaction to a new plane. As part of its mission to introduce new audiences to contemporary Indian art, Aicon Gallery has taken exhibitions to cities across North America, including Dallas, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Orlando and Boston. The gallery locations have become cultural hubs, regularly hosting book readings, art lectures and film screenings.
From its online inception to its current presence on both coasts of the United States and in Europe, Aicon Gallery has helped establish Indian contemporary art firmly amidst progressive art from all over the world. As a new chapter in the history of the gallery begins, Aicon is looking to expand further. It has scheduled shows of Pakistani and Turkish contemporary art and has ongoing plans to feature works from other parts of Asia and the world. Yet through all this growth, the fundamental principle that forms Aicon's bulwark remains the same – building bridges through art.
