After supporting vernacular art and artists with her Must Art gallery, Tulika Kedia, Founder and Director of the gallery, has launched www.gallerymustart.com  with the aim to provide more visibility to indigenous artists, preserve these folk art forms and reach out to larger audience across the world.

The website is divided into several sections like painting, sculpture, mask, photograph and books, it is easy to manoeuvre. Its smart interface has sub-sections like —shop by artist, styles, price, size and material- making it accessible. In this way, it allows the user an easy and simple interface to browse and add the works in the cart. Works from eminent artists like Japani Shyam, Durga Bai, Kalam Patua, Jivya Soma, Jonnalagadda Niranjan, Mayank Shyam, Monimala Chitrakar, Usman Tirandaz among several others are featured on the website.

“Since everything is going digital, we thought it is an opportune time to launch our website. This will help us to reach out to a folk art lovers which is not only based in India but all across the globe. Having a dedicated online platform is extremely important because works of these artists can be showcased under one roof, making it easier for art lovers to see their large body of works,” shares Tulika Kedia, Founder, www.gallerymustart.com

Another important feature of the website is that the art lovers can find the price of artworks in three variants — INR, USD and Euros, making it easier for International viewers to compare prices, without getting into the hassle of money conversion.  Not all the art lovers want to come to the gallery to view works. So, this will give these art connoisseurs an online platform that offers a detailed view of the works. The idea is not to complicate the process of browsing, rather make it easy and convenient.

“I have been trying to trace a particular folk art form of Chhattisgarh, but I haven’t found any artist working in that form anymore. This is so disheartening because these indigenous forms of art are part of our tangible heritage and they should be preserved. I hope people start supporting contemporary indigenous art forms. This will encourage younger generation of artist to continue the family tradition,” she says.

Several vernacular artists have understood the need to adapt the contemporary approach to attract audience and add a new dimension to their traditional crafts. And interestingly, patrons have responded positively to this change. In this show, I had selected a combination of traditional and vernacular styles to document the change the craft is going through.

Gallery recently hosted a group show to celebrate women , "Prakriti: The Creative Feminine" at Visual Art Gallery, IHC that paid tribute to Mother Nature through the traditional form of artworks from around the country. In the "Prakriti" exhibition, Tulika Kedia carefully chose 158 works of around 80 artists from across the country whose artistry have an element of nature—scenes from the village, murals and contemporary interpretations. She had wished to create a visual feast that represented a simpler Indian life and reminded viewers that folk art is capable of adapting to contemporary styles. All the works that were showcased at the show are available on the website.