Shridhar Iyer - Untitled I

"India Contemporary curated by Veer Hooda" presents a rare opportunity for collectors and art lovers in Europe to acquire original works by highly established Indian contemporary artists, and to connect with one of the most vibrant and fast-growing art markets in the world.

India Contemporary is a curated initiative that brings leading Indian contemporary artists directly to European collectors. Each artist is selected personally by Veer Hooda for artistic depth, originality and long-term relevance, and each work is an original, sourced from the artist's own studio and shipped with full documentation. The programme exists because the distance between the Indian studio and the European wall has, until now, been the main thing standing between these artists and the collectors who would want them. India Contemporary closes that distance: no intermediary market, no re-sale mark-up, direct access at an early stage.

India's contemporary art scene is in an exceptional moment - dynamic, intellectual, many-voiced, and growing quickly in both global visibility and investment value. With rising interest from international collectors and institutions, this is a compelling time for European collectors to engage with Indian contemporary art at a pivotal stage of its ascent.

The works are offered exclusively by auction on Catawiki.

The works are curated in Vienna by Vijit Veer Hooda and shipped to you directly from the artist's studio in India. Buyers in the EU enjoy 0% customs duty on original works of art imported from India.

About the Artist: Shridhar Iyer

Shridhar Iyer, born 1961, is a contemporary Indian painter who lives and works in New Delhi and Bhopal. He is a self-taught abstractionist who came to art through Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal in the 1980s, where he worked on the folk and tribal collection of the Roopankar Museum and began to draw under the eye of J. Swaminathan, who called him "certainly one of the most serious" of the draughtsmen to emerge from Madhya Pradesh in that decade. The 1989 essay Swaminathan wrote on his drawings remains the founding text on his work.

He works in pigment, ink, acrylic and mixed media on canvas and paper, and in installation and film. His canvases are built up in textured masses - brushed, poured and scraped - and often carry organic material: khus grass, coir, straw, earth. His subject has stayed constant across four decades: the flow of energy through the universe, mantra and prayer, the spiral and the swirl. As the artist puts it, drawing to him "is like a blossoming garden with chirping birds, ant houses, and the fragrance of flowers."

Iyer has held solo shows since 1989, from the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (1989, 1991, 1996) to the India Art Fair, with further solo exhibitions including Spiritual Sojourn at Art Bull, New Delhi (2014), the Shridharani Art Gallery at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi (2005), Apparao Galleries, Chennai (2008), and the Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata (1996). He has shown in group exhibitions and fairs including Art Konsult's Friendly Strangers, New Delhi (2016), Divine Carriers: Art from India and Nepal at the NIV Art Centre, New Delhi (2013), the Laband Art Gallery, Los Angeles (1998), Art Busan (2016), Homage to Swaminathan at Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi (2008), and India Pinkfest, Jaipur (2024). He has received Junior and Senior Fellowships from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and his works are held by the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bharat Bhavan and the Birla Academy, per the artist. Of his practice, the critic Ranjit Hoskote wrote in 1996: "It is Shridhar Iyer's project to clothe the unseen, however briefly, in the stabilities of form."

About the Artwork

Artist: Shridhar Iyer
Name: Untitled I
Year: 2015
Size: 81 x 102 cm
Technique: Acrylic on canvas

Hand signed by the artist.

About Veer Hooda - ig: @vi_hov

Veer Hooda is an Indo-European (Austrian) contemporary artist based in Vienna, whose practice is shaped by a deep connection to his Indian roots and a great love for his now home, Europe.

Veer Hooda has exhibited across some of the top galleries and exhibitions in the world and recently finished his sold-out show at Art Basel Miami 2025. This year he will be exhibiting at, among others, the Venice Biennale 2026 and ArtExpo New York 2026, in multiple exhibitions across Europe and Austria, and returning to Art Basel Miami at the end of the year.

While his own work reflects a strong conceptual and material sensibility developed over years of creative and professional experience, Hooda is equally driven by a clear mission: to make outstanding Indian artistic talent more visible and accessible within the European art market. Positioned between India and Europe, he acts as a cultural bridge, offering early access to artists and narratives that are already gaining significant international recognition - a distinct insider perspective at a pivotal moment for Indian contemporary art.

Signed and authenticity: The work is hand signed by the artist, and a signed Certificate of Authenticity is provided with every work by India Contemporary by Vijit Veer Hooda.

Shipped from: This work is shipped from India by NIV Art Center and is fully insured on its way to the buyer. Buyers enjoy a 0% custom duty on works coming from India. All our artworks have been delivered without issue and in a timely way to all buyers, no additional fee has ever been applied to any of our shipments. We accompany the buyer through every step, from collection to the door, and are on hand for anything the process needs.

Packaging & insurance: The painting is packaged professionally and shipped rolled in a tube. It arrives unstretched and will need to be restretched onto a frame on arrival - any framer will do this routinely.