Mumbai’s Baro Art brings beauty to Bengaluru this weekend

Mumbai-based Baro Art is bringing the Affordable Indian Art Show to Bengaluru this weekend

While there seems to be an art exhibition in Bengaluru every other week, it is obvious as to what makes the Affordable Art Show stand out. True to its name, the event features original works by artists from around the country ranging from ₹2000 upwards.

“Baro Art is based on the democratisation of art, something I believe strongly in,” says Srila Chatterjee, founder of Baro Art. “For too long, art has been thought of as the purview of the privileged and priced exorbitantly in a country that abounds in art and has had art forms dating back centuries,”

“In modern day India, a handful of artists are shown in galleries that are frequented by a few. The plan for this show is to get people to enjoy, love and develop a feel for art. They should not think of it as something that sports a price tag or a signature, but to primarily understand what it does to you.”

Baro began in 2016 as a store in Mumbai co-founded by Srila where she would display works of art; in 2020, she floated Baro Market, an online portal which showcased their ever-growing collection.

This is the first time the firm is hosting an exhibition outside Mumbai and in a bid to make it welcoming to people of all tastes, Srila says they have “mixed it up” with exhibits that range from contemporary, modern and graphic art to vintage, traditional and tribal works as well as installations. The show comes to Bengaluru after a stop in Hyderabad, Delhi is its next port of call.

Srila says the aim is to expose visitors to all forms of art and “how you respond to it is based on you, and not on what anybody else tells you to like.”

In keeping with their motto, while the upper limit of prices for the art on display is ₹3 lakh, there is no cap on the works displayed on their website. “We don’t want viewers to feel intimidated. This way, everybody dropping in knows they can pick something within their budget and come prepared,” she says, adding that since it was their first time venturing out of their home turf, they are still working out the logistics of travelling to other cities.