November 2010 - February 2011 Curated by Jackfruit Research And Design Pvt.Ltd. 

Vernacular, in the Contemporary is an exhibition that will open at Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi in November 2010. Jackfruit Research and Design, an arts consultancy based in Bangalore, is curating this exhibition of commissioned works by artists categorized as makers of folk, tribal and traditional art. The idea of the “vernacular” shifts the art historical and institutional terms for understanding and theorizing this cluster of visual art. Moreover, the show foregrounds the diversity and contemporary relevance of folk artists’ personas, ideas and concerns through ambitious projects.

At the Devi Art Foundation venue, the exhibition will feature the works of approximately sixty artists who practice a range of painting and sculpture. Most gained their artistic training in the family or community but today seek to explore and stretch their practice. Jackfruit and Devi Art Foundation have created a curatorial agenda, which provides these artists space and resources to develop and execute new projects. The exhibition is also an archival venture since artists were selected, interviewed and photographed in their studios and workspaces. The fieldwork and documentation is now a source of art historical knowledge for the curators as well as for future generations of scholars.

Devi Art Foundation is expanding its portfolio of private institutional support by encouraging vernacular artists of India to magnify their scale of artistic production or to explore new themes.  Devi Art Foundation’s support also seeks to create fresh public discourse and pedagogy through global contemporary and vernacular art today.