The Next Wave is Indigenous Art: Payal Kapoor on What Collectors Should Watch For
Marking a milestone 25th edition, Payal Kapoor speaks about the spirit of Harvest, the balance between masters and emerging artists, and the growing wave of indigenous art in India
By : Reshmi AR
Update: 2025-09-12 07:46 GMT
Celebrating 25 years of Harvest, Payal Kapoor of Arushi Arts Gallery reflects on the journey of curating India’s masters alongside emerging voices. For her, Harvest 2025 is more than an exhibition — it is memory, rhythm, and continuity, echoing the timelessness of art. In conversation, she shares insights on surprises from young artists, the future of indigenous art, and why a Raza remains her personal choice of inspiration.
Tell us what Harvest is all about?
Harvest is a group show which shows the youngest artists to the different trends in Indian art along with the masters of Indian art.
Harvest is a group show which shows the youngest artists to the different trends in Indian art along with the masters of Indian art.
If Harvest 2025 were a piece of music or a film, how would you describe its rhythm or storyline?
If Harvest 2025 were a piece of music or a film, this would be Meri Awaaz hi Pehchan Hai Gar Yaad Rahe. It's a movie. I hope it remembers. It's like remembering a timeless movie. And it would be one of Guru Dutt's films, specifically the Dev Anand film. The movie I would like Harvest to be linked to would be Guide. That's the movie by Guru Dutt Ji, which reminds me exactly of my 25 years of Harvest
You have worked with both masters and emerging artists — has there ever been a moment when a young artist’s work surprised you more than a veteran’s?
Yes, there have been times where young artists have made some really, really amazing works and have been equivalent to the masters. So yes, there have been many, many times like
You have worked with both masters and emerging artists — has there ever been a moment when a young artist’s work surprised you more than a veteran’s?
Yes, there have been times where young artists have made some really, really amazing works and have been equivalent to the masters. So yes, there have been many, many times like
Art is often seen as timeless, but curating is very much about timing. How do you decide what ‘belongs’ in a particular edition of Harvest?
We look at the artist's career, we look at his decades of work, we keep looking at the art over the time, he should be minimum 10 years or even if he is a brilliant young artist who we think has got a particular style, so I basically look at minimum 10 years for the artist to really be in harvest.
If you could borrow one artwork from your current showcase and live with it at home for a week, which would you choose and why?
The one artwork from my current showcase that I would live with in my home for a week would be the Raza, the blue one, which is six feet by six feet. It is just a stunning work, and it has so many connotations, and I can keep looking at it again and again. And it's about life and about the purpose of life, and it's about germination and it's about the positivity of life. That's why.
You have taken Indian art across the world — has there been a country or audience that interpreted Indian art in a way that surprised or amused you?
The country which surprised me where I took Indian art and they loved it so much was a show in Paris where it was an all-white audience and I was like I'd taken a group of artists to this show where you know there were French artists also and the way they took to Indian art and this the show sold out in a few minutes that's what I remember was a very very momentous occasion in the year 2008.
You have taken Indian art across the world — has there been a country or audience that interpreted Indian art in a way that surprised or amused you?
The country which surprised me where I took Indian art and they loved it so much was a show in Paris where it was an all-white audience and I was like I'd taken a group of artists to this show where you know there were French artists also and the way they took to Indian art and this the show sold out in a few minutes that's what I remember was a very very momentous occasion in the year 2008.
The DK Jain art prize honours young and traditional artists. If you had to predict, what’s the next big wave in Indian art that collectors aren’t yet prepared for?
The wave that I'm predicting is going to be a very big wave in indigenous art and a large wave of indigenous art collectors, which will come to India. It is an art that we are proud of. It's homegrown, it's contemporary, it's relative to today's times, and it is something that is a dying art that we are preserving.
So Indian homegrown art in the tribal artists of our country are to be looked at very, very seriously
So Indian homegrown art in the tribal artists of our country are to be looked at very, very seriously