The art mart

Crime Master Gogo by Mukund Iyer

This weekend, emerging art gets a new exhibition space, courtesy the Junta art network. The Junta Art Market at Bonobo will be a curated exhibition of 15 emerging artists.

What to expect
The day-long event will be an exhibition cum sale of illustrations, graphic art, poster prints, photographs, canvas paintings and digital art, among others. "We will be displaying the works of 15 artists who are not mainstream and create work that is innovative and shows good design techniques," says Laila Vaziralli, 31, founder, Junta.
Some of the featured artists are Krishna Sharma, Saumin Patel, Mukund Iyer, Devaki Singh, Anusha Bhargava, Reishabh Kailey, Anvita Gupta, Aayushi Shah and Newman D'Silva. "The focus is on pieces that are affordable and would look good in someone's home," Vaziralli adds.

Crime Master Gogo by Mukund Iyer

Why it's cool
Think of it as a gallery exhibition, but for affordable art. Expect designs that are quirky, fresh and intriguing - digital artwork that uses old photographs as its base; sketches of whimsical creatures, prints of gods and goddesses clicking selfies, and illustrations of the female form. Besides, this is the best space for buying art that's good and affordable. If you like a print, you can buy the original or get a postcard or smaller print of it. Prices start at Rs 30 for a postcard and go up to '1,500 for an original print. You can interact with the artists, get your portrait painted on the spot or just browse through the display while sipping wine and listening to music. To help you select, here's the guide's curated picks of the lot:

Boy With Red Hat by Jai Ranjit

Monochromatic art
Mukund Iyer, 28, a bio-architect, uses monochromatic colours - black and yellow - and experiments with inks and materials like salt to create surrealist paintings. "I like people to interact with my work and question things. There are optical illusions in it and you have to look closer to find smaller, hidden elements," he says. We particularly love his Metaphysical submarine and Birthing pieces. He will be selling original art prints, sketchbooks and postcards.
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Gods Taking Selfies by Adrita Das

Gods and selfies
It was Adrita Das, 24, a Pune-based digital artist who imagined what it would be like if gods and goddesses were to take selfies. Das is inspired by old Indian portraits, which she transforms into fun illustrations. "I will be showcasing my designs from the Gods Taking Selfies and Everyday People series in prints and postcards," she says. She will also be doing live character portraits of people. We love her selfie series and her hand-drawn colouring book posters.
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Putting pictures to words
In her latest series, Taarika John, 23, an illustrator and graphic designer at Homegrown, created fun illustrations for words used to describe female masturbation. Earlier, John had also illustrated the popular Dr Mahinder Watsa's responses to questions he is asked in his sex advice column. "I like doing social pieces because there is scope to experiment," says John who does a lot of character-based drawings. We love her colourful illustrations. She will be selling canvas prints and postcards.
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Cubist-inspired portraits
Art blogger Jai Ranjit, 28 taught himself to paint in 2006 and a year later, started creating his own artwork. His work is a mix of acrylic on canvas and watercolour on paper. We love his Cubist-inspired portraits. He will be selling portraits, still life paintings and abstracts. "This art market will have the right audience, the right kind of buyers and will bring in bring in much-needed interest," he says.
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