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The wonder leader -inspiring story of an Artrepreneur Minali N Thakkar

Minali Thakkar – Born in 1975, residing in Mumbai has obtained her Bachelors’s and Master’s 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. She is constantly asserting and pushing herself with a strong belief in the real purpose of art, taking each step towards bringing art out of the conventional gallery space out in open settings. Her passion lies in creating art installations using recycled materials. Not only is art her passion but she uses art as a medium for various social causes including the upliftment of women entrepreneurs and social causes in her daily life.

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 the 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.

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.

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 the 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 related Activities

Minali believes in enriching and empowering the best masterpiece created by THE creator-WOMAN. She Co-Founded the organization “V-Forum” to Enrich…Empower…Encourage her. V-Forum brings together women from various strata and allows them to be economically independent and to take responsibilities apart from being a wife or a mother. V-FORUM believes in Creating an enriching environment for personal escalation, providing holistic growth, and spur women’s life. All the activities curated by V-Forum help women to evolve their thought processes on various social, personal and, legal, and psychological issues. These activities also help them to 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. Sustainable art creation and the use of recycled material in her work is a uniqueness that continues.

Healing eARTh – A flagship art therapy program for the mental health turmoil caused by isolation and treatment. ART APPROACH has provided prepared art therapy kits using the healing power of Mandala Art patterns. This has greatly helped alleviate the happiness and sanity of patients, nurses, police officers, doctors, and others during the pandemic in various hospitals around the city of Mumbai.

With a proven track record, ART APPROACH is committed to providing trusted art expertise and the highest standards for acquiring, managing, and preserving fine art for private and corporate collections around the world. With an established trust, Art Approach offers consultation services to corporates for maintaining restoring, and evaluating international art collections, a service very unique to its portfolio of services amongst global customers. Her company has proven that with passion and focus in the right direction the company has scaled financial heights year after year. The company with its vision n global presence will always strive towards achieving new heights. Today their work ethics and hard work have alone taken the company to these heights.

On a broader note future is filled with hope and promise to strive towards redefining the purpose of art beyond its aesthetic purpose. Mainly in the beautification of urban cities and focusing on the use of art for mental health issues. Another dream project which is on the first stage is curating a 100 all-women dream art show in March 2022 in collaborations with the most recognized art institutions and women forums. Designing new art programs to skill the women and trying new soil and sensibilities for reaction to their work.

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