• About our founder

    Abhay Maskara is the Curatorial Director of Gallery Maskara in Mumbai. Over the past 15 years, he has curated more...

    Abhay Maskara is the Curatorial Director of Gallery Maskara in Mumbai. Over the past 15 years, he has curated more than 50 exhibitions that consistently challenge preconceived notions of art. In 2012, Maskara authored ‘Collecting Art – An Insider’s View of the Indian Art World’. In 2014, he was invited to serve on the Advisory Board of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and continues to champion contemporary art in India and abroad.

     

    When Maskara is not curating, he is busy making art. Best known for his portraits of the lost tribes of the Lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia, landscapes of Namibia, and globally threatened birds of the Himalayan region. In 2021, he directed the award-winning film “The Last Continent: In Pursuit of Antarctica.” 

     
    "There is no art without a (cultural, political and artistic) context and every artist/viewer has got a certain background, but radical art creates its own context and almost ‘the magic’ of visual art, is that even if you don’t know the source of  inspiration of the artist, an artwork still can trigger imagination, can touch and move a person."

  • About the Gallery

    Founded by Abhay Maskara, Gallery Maskara opened a space in Colaba, Mumbai in 2008 with a clear and compelling mission to exhibit and promote the art of the present.  This free-standing structure with a pitched roof of 14-meters in height and walls that run 30-meters in length was built during the pre-independence era as a cotton warehouse. In 2008 it was completely restored and reimagined as a space for contemporary art.  In the ensuing years, it quickly became known for its cutting-edge program, site-specific installations and super-sized contemporary art. The gallery nurtured emerging artists, most of whom had their first solo shows at the gallery, and many went on to achieve national and international acclaim. 

     

    "I prefer not to think of art in fixed categories such as ‘Indian art(ist)’, ‘European art(ist)’, ‘Brazilian art(ist)’, and so on. For me, it’s always about the art- radical and excellent art, being touched and moved by art, that goes beyond the nationality of the artist."