Empress Of Art

NEHA KIRPAL started India Art Fair in 2008 and today, it is the FOURTH BIGGEST ART FAIR IN THE WORLD.

- Shalini Singh

Despite finding fame almost a decade ago, Neha Kirpal, 36, says she still hasn’t learnt how to pose for photographs. “I don’t have a stylist or a hair and makeup person to advise me,” she says. “The only thing I can do well is smile.” The disarming smile can turn politely firm when she has to face tough situations at work. Would resilience be her defining quality? “It comes from my sporting days; I used to play hockey at the national level and badminton at the state level,” she says. “Training for nearly ten hours a day gave me enormous energy and stamina that help me at work even today. But injury to my knees later put an end to that dream.” She pursued political science at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi, worked in events, public relations and marketing before going to study at the University of Arts in London. Struck by the vibrant art scene there, on her return flight to Delhi, Kirpal scribbled a business plan on an air sickness bag and thus, the India Art Summit (later known as the India Art Fair) was born in 2008.

“I was always curious about art, being surrounded by it in some form or the other,” she says. “My grandfather was in the army and painted for fun. But fine art always felt alien and inaccessible, so I started to feel intimidated by it. Looking back, I think it came from how art was taught in school. Nothing kills creativity in a child faster than being asked to copy a vase in class!