Chilli, fish and teabags at this art treat

If you’ve been here last year, we’ll tell you the truth — you’ll miss the variety. If you haven’t, though, the United Art Fair this year is a feast of many firsts.

If you’ve been here last year, we’ll tell you the truth — you’ll miss the variety.

If you haven’t, though, the United Art Fair this year is a feast of many firsts. Overwhelming posters reading ‘the biggest artist-driven fair in South Asia’, ‘convert your wallet into an art piece’ and ‘see art, love art, buy art’ welcomed us to the second edition of the event, which opened in the city on Saturday.

Artist Mahula Ghosh’s miniature work on tea bags was a welcome sight

At the entrance, we spotted photographer Ram Rahman, co-curator of the fair, giving the final touches as men moved around the canvasses.

He described putting it together as a “crazy workout session for the whole curatorial team”.

With 283 artists and over 2000 works priced between Rs 5,000 - Rs 2 crore, it’s an equal workout for visitors to walk the four halls that make up the massive showcase of photography, mixed media, pop art, paintings and installations.

And, it is right after the first few steps that you realise there is no dedicated section to any particular line of work. “It’s all mixed up; that’s the beauty of it. You get to see a variety of works from one position,” explained Peter Nagy, artistic director. The rest is for the pictures to say.

The busy city-life of Delhi plays muse to artist Rohit Sharma. In this bronze sculpture, ‘Convincing for destination’ (Rs 3 lakh), a passenger is seen having a tough time pushing an auto-rickshaw driver to ferry him, as is the everyday scene in Delhi