With the success of Second Hong Kong Art Fair (HK Art 09), South Asia moves on toward August when India will hold its second edition of a newly created art fair with strong support from galleries like Lisson and Sotheby’s, according to Thaindian.com:

The second edition of the Indian Modern and Contemporary Art Fair 2009, the sub-continent’s official art fair, will be bigger, better and more global this year with 16 international galleries, 64 speakers and 25 media partners from across the globe. The three-day fair will be held during August 19-22 at the Pragati Maidan, the capital’s trade and exhibition hub.

The foreign galleries will include the prestigious Lisson Gallery from Britain, Aicon Gallery and Thomas Erben Gallery from New York, Arario Gallery from Beijing, Gallery Christian Hosp and Anant & Rao Gallery from Berlin, 1X1 Art Gallery from Dubai and HB Galerie from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, said Neha Kirpal, associate director of Hanmer MS&L, which hosts the art fair. [ . . . ]

“The Indian art market has grown by 830 percent over the last decade despite the downturn that slowed down growth in the last quarter of 2008, compared to China whose market has grown by 730 percent,” Kirpal said, quoting the journal Artprice Statistics. The Indian art market is valued at $400 million and is growing at nearly 35 percent annually.

India’s Art Fair Ropes in Big Global Galleries (Thaindian.com)