ARTICLE
Blueprint.12
Established in 2012, Blueprint.12 is a contemporary experimental art gallery in New Delhi, India, co-founded by Mandira Lamba and Riddhi Bhalla.
Blueprint.12 primarily began with curated exhibitions either held in other art spaces, including TARQ, Mumbai, Gallery Espace and Vadehra Art Gallery, both in Delhi, or during events such as the Delhi Contemporary Art Week and the India Art Fair. In 2020, it opened its own gallery in the Anand Niketan area of New Delhi.
The gallery explores the commonalities in the practices of South Asian artists and, more generally, art across the region. Several of its exhibitions have also focussed on the intersection of art, language and text, especially through the medium of books. Its first show, The Reading Room (2014), examined the aesthetics and experiences of engaging with book art. Curated by Amit Jain, the exhibition’s multiple iterations have been hosted at, among other places, Saffronart, New York, USA (2016); the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK (2015); and TARQ, Mumbai (2014).
Blueprint.12 has exhibited the work of artists — including Kingsley Gunatillake, Mansha Chhatwal, Nihaal Faizal and Youdhisthir Maharjan— whose practice engages with broader themes in relation to books, language and texts,
The gallery has highlighted the works of visual artists from across South Asia, including the Bangladeshi artist Mahbubur Rahman, Nepali artist Youdhisthir Maharjan, Pakistani artist Madiha Sikandar, Sri Lankan artists Gunatillake and Pala Pothupitiye, and young Indian artists including Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai, Chhatwal, Indu Anthony and Vipeksha Gupta. The works of these artists have been displayed in gallery spaces in India and internationally. Between 2013–2017, Blueprint.12 also held an artist residency programme in Vadodara, Gujarat. In 2017, the gallery began its collaboration with Exhibit320, a New Delhi-based contemporary art gallery, to promote Indian vernacular art practices through the platform Tribal Art Forms.
Bibliography
Blueprint.12. “About.” Accessed April 12, 2022. http://www.blueprint12.com/about
Blueprint.12. “Exhibitions.” Accessed April 12, 2022. http://www.blueprint12.com/exhibitions
Jain, Amit Kumar. “Mandira Lamba on her art ventures, collaborations and passion for tribal art forms.” The Punch Magazine, February 28, 2021. Accessed April 12, 2022. https://thepunchmagazine.com/arts/art-design/mandira-lamba-on-her-art-ventures-collaborations-and-passion-for-tribal-art-forms
Kumar, Tanuj. “Tribal Art Forms: bringing ‘Indian tribal arts’ into the mainstream.” Mint, December 22, 2017. Accessed June 28, 2022. https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/1FHpgSovnWKEsnxIqEJuWJ/Tribal-Art-Forms-bringing-Indian-tribal-arts-into-the-mai.html