Komal Shah at the Making Their Mark exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Archive (October 27, 2024–April 20, 2025), with Trustworthy–Masked Eyes by Haegue Yang on display in the background. Photo: Lauren Segal.
Komal Shah Never Settles
As “Making Their Mark,” which debuted in New York in 2023, goes on the road, the philanthropist shares her ambitions for taking her collection and the exhibition to the next level
- By Stephanie Sporn
- Collector Interview
When Making Their Mark debuted in New York City in 2023, Komal Shah never could have guessed that this exhibition—presenting her and her husband Gaurav Garg’s art collection for the first time—would be such a smashing success. During its five-month run at Dia Chelsea’s former outpost, more than 50,000 people visited the show, which brought together 80 significant women artists from the last eight decades. Shah has since been honored with numerous awards, ranging from a spot on Cultured magazine’s inaugural CULT 100 list to being the fifth annual Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award recipient.
“What I was most afraid of was that the show would seem like a vanity project and that that would come in the way of delivering our message of excellence by women artists. But that did not happen, and I’m supremely grateful,” shares Shah, emphasizing that certain visitors were so happy to experience the exhibition that they would be moved to tears. Prior to establishing the Shah Garg Foundation, which amplifies the voices of women artists, the California-based collector was a tech engineer and executive. “The positivity that the exhibition has brought has been life affirming.”
Sheila Hicks’ Taxco (c. 1970s) and Sonia Gomes’ Sol maior (2023). Photo: Lauren Segal.
A testament to Making Their Mark’s impact, as well as the integrity of Shah’s mission, is that several of the featured artists have subsequently experienced a resurgence. “A lot of people were not familiar with many of the artists’ works before they came to see the show, so there was a real sense of discovery,” says Shah, noting dealers have thanked her for supporting the careers of undersung artists, such as painters Joan Snyder, Kay WalkingStick, and Carrie Moyer, painter and sculptor Suzanne Jackson, painter and ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu, and fiber artist Kay Sekimachi. “I’m not the only reason why they’re resurging—thank God— but they are, and it’s really amazing to see recognition for these artists.”
Shah’s path toward becoming one of the world’s most influential collectors was not exactly conventional. However, she is increasingly appreciating how her upbringing shaped her. Shah was born and raised in Ahmedabad, India’s textile capital (her father was a textile trader). Many cultural luminaries have visited or lived in this city, including Le Corbusier, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Lynda Benglis, who considered it to be her third home, says Shah. “There’s something about the city which makes your eye attuned to color and pattern.”
Work by Toshiko Takaez, Simone Fattal, Magdalene Odundo, and Judith Scott alongside Kay Sekimachi’s Amiyose (1965), Etel Adnan’s Untitled (2014), and Trude Guermonprez’s Untitled (Space Hanging) (c. 1965) on display in Making Their Mark. Photo: Lauren Segal.
Though Garg, a tech entrepreneur, whose father was a professor at UC Berkeley, was also raised in Ahmedabad, the two met in America—Shah had moved to the country in 1991 to study computer science at Stanford, where she was one of three women in her class of 100. They bonded over a love of abstract art, visiting museums as often as possible, and beginning to collect more formally in the 2000s. Shah’s turning point came in 2014 when she attended the Whitney Biennial with the Tate North American Acquisitions Committee—her board and acquisitions affiliations currently include SFMOMA, the Hammer Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and MoMA. Shah was particularly mesmerized by the “scale and raw power” of Laura Owens’ and Jacqueline Humphries’ paintings.
“There was something that made me want to completely dive into collecting,” recalls Shah, who has since made building relationships with the artists an integral part of her process, not just to enrich the collecting experience but to learn how she can actively support their practices. “Getting to know the artists was so important in terms of eventually realizing the gender disparity in their recognition, valuation, and perception. That’s when [amplifying women artists] became a mission.”
Komal Shah at the Making Their Mark exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Archive (through April 20, 2025), with Trustworthy–Masked Eyes by Haegue Yang on display in the background. Photo: Lauren Segal.
Today Shah is proud to call Owens and Humphries, as well as their peers—Amy Sillman, Charline von Heyl, Dana Schutz, and Mary Weatherford—friends. A decade ago, their recognition paled in comparison to popular artists like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. Looking back, Shah is grateful she pushed against “common collector wisdom,” opting to support artists whose work and journey resonated with her. Research is also paramount for Shah, who is indebted to scholars and curators, including Mark Godfrey, Gary Garrels, and Katy Siegel, for imparting their art historical knowledge to her.
Of the some 400 works in her collection, which represent more than 200 women artists, Shah considers Joan Mitchell the “cornerstone.” Indeed, in Making Their Mark, the abstract expressionist’s jubilant Untitled diptych (1992)—one of her final paintings—is a standout work, and one that many visitors may recognize from the artist’s international 2021–2023 retrospective. Benglis is also a “forever icon” to Shah, who admires the artist’s notion of “performance and gesture” encapsulated in her “pours” or “fallen paintings.”
Detail of Amy Sillman, Untitled (Little Threesome), 2005. Photo: Lauren Segal.
Emma Amos’ Star (1982), as seen through details of Françoise Grossen’s Contact III, 1977. Photo: Lauren Segal.
As an “artist who appeals to all of the senses,” Von Heyl is another talent Shah considers key to her collection: “There are so many complex philosophical topics in her work, while on the other hand, her paintings look incredibly beautiful and fun. You just keep mulling them over because there are so many directions you can go.” Finally, Shah calls Sarah Sze “one of the most important artists” and a “mad scientist.” “There are so many layers and stories built into her work, which is about time and materiality,” says Shah, who also enjoys the immersive artist’s paintings. “I love that she has compressed three-dimensional space into a painting, so it still feels like it’s coming off the wall. Sarah is able to transport people to a different place and time like nobody else.”
Shah’s recent acquisition and wish list run the gamut. They include a new work by Sheila Hicks (Shah’s collection currently has a historical piece), and range from late American abstract painter Shirley Jaffe, whom Von Heyl and Sillman have long admired, to Beijing-born, London-based rising artist, Vivien Zhang. “I’d also love to go deep with Simone Fattal,” she adds.
Firelei Báez, For Améthyste and Athénaïre (Exiled Muses Beyond Jean Luc Nancy's Canon), Anacaonas, 2018. Photo: Lauren Segal.
As for Making Their Mark, the show traveled to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in fall 2024 and will travel to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis in fall 2025 with more iterations at US institutions planned. While Cecilia Alemani (the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. director and chief curator of High Line Art, and artistic director of the 2022 Venice Biennale) curated the inaugural show in New York, she will continue working with curators from the other institutions to build “a version of Making Their Mark that appeals to the people who live there,” explains Shah. Expect an emphasis on artists in the collection who are local to the corresponding region and who discuss social issues prevalent in such cities.
Going forward, Shah hopes to be more “rigorous” in her collecting. “With over 200 female artists in the collection, it’s not a straight line. There are always tradeoffs one makes when deciding whether to acquire emerging artists or overlooked artists, or wanting to go deep,” says Shah. In an increasing landscape of shows devoted to women artists, what makes Making Their Mark so revelatory, however, is its diversity. Alongside monumental paintings and sculptures are quilts and ceramics, all of which prove Shah’s collecting criteria is investing in works at the A+ level. “I wish I had 100% discipline, but I make rules, and then I break them.”
The exhibition “Making Their Mark” will be on view at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis from September 12, 2025 through January 5, 2026.
Copyright on works of visual artists affiliated to a CISAC organization has been arranged with Pictoright in Amsterdam. © c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2025.
