Minali Thakkar – Born in 1975 and a resident of Mumbai, has obtained her Bachelors and Master degree in Fine Arts from the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Arts in 1996 and 1998 respectively. She is a fine art consultant and director of the art advisory firm Art Approach. She is an advocate of Art in the real sense; constantly asserting a strong belief in the purpose of art, and working towards transformational art beyond conventional gallery spaces to interactive contexts. Her passion lies in creating art installations using recycled materials, uniquely serving as a medium for various social causes including empowerment of women entrepreneurs, social change, and equity.

Minali’s accolades stand testament to her commitment to the field and her assortment of projects.

 

Growth story: A brief profile including company

Artist to Art Curator

The culmination of the artist to entrepreneur began with an itch while in the waiting room of the Mumbai CID branch of the FRRO section which is comical in any sense if elaborated. Subsequently, Gallery Art Approach had various branches with a motive of promoting upcoming and fresh artists. Art Approach now is an art advisory firm providing a range of commercial consulting services to corporates national and international both and mentorship of upcoming artists. The firm guides clients through the entire art portfolio selection process for both public and private collections. Using its extensive network of resources, Art Approach provides curated selections to meet client’s budgets, time frames, and sense of aesthetic. The next milestone for the firm is to create larger-than-life installations in unique settings to steer smiles and surprises while bringing art closer to a common man and society.

Curator to Advisor

Minali is not only a fine art collection advisor to corporates and individuals but also conducts art appreciation workshops to truly understand collections. She assists private collectors in navigating the contemporary art world and works with clients to actualize their vision of building their collection through acquisitions within contemporary and secondary markets. Additionally, she assists architects, designers, real estate developers, media houses, hospitality those who wish to create compelling spaces and distinguish themselves through art.

With a proven track record, Art Approach is committed to providing trusted art expertise at the highest standards of acquisition, management, and restoration of fine art for private and corporate collections around the world.

Community-Related Activities

Minali has a strong commitment to giving back to society and pursues this in various ways:

She is the vice president of the Bombay Art Society (1888), a non-profit premier art organization for the betterment of fine artists. It is one of the oldest art institutions in the Asian sub-continent. She was a part of the committee to curate the inaugural show of the new gallery which was inaugurated by Hon. Prime Minister, Shree Narendra Modi in 2017.

In a first, she conducted art therapy sessions in the changing room of a police station where art was used as a de-stressor tool for Mumbai Police to overcome various work-related issues. Art therapy sessions have also been conducted for corporates, cancer patients, and women NGOs to uplift n empower and desk with mental health as a priority.

Her artwork of 40,000 bottles ascending 11 floors of an iconic building sent an alarm bell for environmental issues related to plastic pollution. Many such art installations with social message n conscience have been conceptualized by her for festival n brand events n expos using industrial waste.

Her spin-off, Palette for Change has a caravan of artists and creators who believe in the power of brush and work toward a strong social message through art.

She is the Art Head of Celebrate Bandra, a community festival celebrating local Bandra culture since 2009. With each year of the festival, she is dedicated to taking art closer to the public and adding new experiences curated with artists from all over India.

Her outreach has also extended to a critical concern of our country – HIV – for which she displayed an installation of condoms on the car at a Lavasa Women’s Drive. With her creative and aesthetic sense, the taboo word – ‘condom’ lost all its awkwardness and became the most discussed message in the city.

Through Art Approach, Minali also sponsors awards at various institutes for upcoming artists giving them financial assistance and citations encouraging them for a better perspective.

Her most recent project - Healing Earth - using art therapy believes in the power of art for mental health for covid patients and frontline warriors. Art Approach distributed 4000 art therapy kits to covid centers.

The response has been very positive and truly healing as it helped them to reduce stress and anxiety while boosting immunity and positive engagement.

She is holding art therapy workshop sessions for women dealing with mental and emotional issues during this covid n trying times.

Awards and Recognitions

• Guinness World Award for creating the largest installation with cricket bats, 2019.
• “Most Promising Woman Professional - Mumbai 2016”, Rotract Club of Ghatkopar.
• “Jedal Woman of the year”, Jedal Group, 2015-16.
• Women achievers award by FICCI- The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry 2012-13
• Award for the best-dressed car at Lavasa Women Drive with a strong message on condom use by women, 2013
• Limca Book of Records for her art installation - ‘Bottle Fall’, made out of 40,000 recycled bottles, 2011.

 

Women Empowerment – A Strong Conviction 

Minali firmly believes in enriching and empowering the masterpiece created by the creators - Women. She Co-Founded the organization “V-Forum” to Enrich-Empower-Encourage women. V-Forum brings together women from myriad walks of life and helps them achieve economic independence and responsibilities apart from being a wife or a mother. All the activities help women to evolve their thought process on various social, personal, legal, and psychological issues while simultaneously amplifying their social acquaintances.

Through Art Approach, Minali guides and funds “Mother Help”, a welfare foundation especially working for the benefit of the “Vidhwa Mahila” support program which encourages widows to take benefits of pension plans by the government.

Future in Focus

For a future filled with hope and promise, we must strive towards redefining the purpose of art beyond its aesthetic purpose. Beautification of urban cities and art for mental health issues are emerging needs. A visionary project - curating a 100 all-women art show in March 2022 in collaboration with prestigious art institutions and women forums – is currently brewing.