Actor Priyanka Chopra’s restaurant Sona which is located in New York’s posh neighbourhood of Gramercy will now be a host to 20th-century modern Indian Art made by some of the most eminent personalities. Heralded by the DAG collection, the curated display would go through a regular rotation. Manish Goyal, a restauranter and partner at Sona said this about the collaboration, “Our vision for Sona has always been to expose our sophisticated New York audience to the full glamour of India—to expand the vision of India people may have when they walk in. The mouth-watering food is the star of course, but no meal at Sona is complete without evoking all of the senses. So, among our award-winning interior design, I dreamt of having spectacular art on the walls that would showcase the wonder and sophistication of Indian and South Asian art.”
The restaurant which serves modern cuisines and flaunts interiors that are heavily inspired by the Art Deco period in India has walls of artwork spanning the 1960s to early 2000s from artists like Avinash Chandra, GR Santosh and Himmat Shah. The showcase also features an Untitled 1970 abstract oil on canvas painted by Ambadas as well as a 1987 acrylic artwork by Dharmanarayan Dasgupta which depicts two women dressed in ornate sarees immersed in a conversation.
While on one hand, Sohan Qadri’s creativity through a DNA-strand-like chain of interlinked units, in his 2003 paperwork gives a coherent testament that life is a celebration, on the other hand, P. Khemraj’s 1993 acrylic embellished with a surreal marble texture is swarming with a mosaic of figures effortlessly floating among moving clouds, swaying to the cosmic rhythm.
The CEO and Managing Director of Delhi Art Gallery(DAG) Ashish Anand who has galleries in Delhi, Mumbai and New York has described this collaboration to be a natural progression. “We have been in New York since 2015 and have offered a glimpse of the diversity and strength of Indian modern art through exhibitions and accompanying catalogues… Our collaboration with Sona feels natural and organic — an extension of this city’s love of Indian flavours as well as art coming together in a celebration that is a feast for all the senses.”
Priyanka Chopra Jonas launched Sona on March 26 of last year. The restaurant features some of the most delectable cuisines from the Indian culture like The New York Naan/Kulcha, Appams, Coconut based food, Kofta Korma [Dancing Ewe Farms Ricotta Dumpling in Cashew Sauce] accompanied by Chili Cheese Naan to name a few.
