Easel props art in the suburbs

A hop, skip and jump away from Juhu's iconic Prithvi Theatre, The Easel resembles something uprooted from the Iberian Peninsula.

Covering a total area of about 2,500 square feet, including the top floor and the outdoor area, Mumbai's latest culture hub began May 30 with an inaugural exhibition curated by Khushnuma Khambatta that displayed collections by Ajay De, Anjum Motiwala and Brinda Miller among other distinguished names.

It all began with the revival of a family property, says The Easel's co-founder Deep Jhavar. "My brother Dhruv and I are real estate developers and this property was with our family for many years so we decided to revive it and make it a beautiful space for any kind of creative venture. We wanted to make it a good display space where people can come and express themselves."

"We've been to a lot of galleries and display spaces around the world. Our architect, Mr Udyan Bhatt wanted to build something that resembled a Spanish villa and we quite liked the idea. Most display spaces are in commercial buildings so we wanted to give a different look and feel to the place."

Though inaugurated with an art event, Jhavar has a broader vision for the space."We are open to all things. If someone wants to exhibit food, fashion, even technology, we will make provisions in the gallery. We will be doing a wide variety of art events periodically, but we don't want to limit it to fine arts. Art has various forms, there is furniture, there is fashion... There are lots of avenues for arts and a lot of interesting things are happening," he says.

The effort is to host events and exhibitions as frequently as possible. "We're trying to get a few exhibitions every month," Jhavar says.

Buoyed by the successful opening where they were able to sell works by most artists, he hopes to play a role in making the suburbs a cultural entity to reckon with. "Because of the place and location, I think The Easel is a great avenue because art is seen more in south Mumbai in the galleries and displays and basically we want to promote art and culture; a lot of interesting things will happen in this place as time goes by," he says. "We want the place to attract a lot of people in the neigbourhood and community, so we want people with different interests to come to the place."