Aicon Gallery Brothers’ Split Turns Into New York Legal Battle

Prajit Dutta and Projjal Dutta helped build Aicon into a key U.S. gateway for South Asian art. Now the brothers are fighting in New York Supreme Court over who controls the Aicon name, with the dispute spilling beyond branding into claims over paintings, paperwork and market confusion.

Court records show the brothers stopped working together around 2019 after roughly two decades in the business. Prajit Dutta now manages Aicon Art, while Projjal Dutta runs Aicon Contemporary. Both still operate from 35 Great Jones Street in Manhattan, but under separate phone numbers, separate websites and separate branding.

The legal break sharpened in a June 4, 2024 ruling by Justice Arlene P. Bluth, who said the brothers’ breakup agreement did not spell out most of the shared expenses they later fought over, aside from rent. The court also noted that the two entities emerged after the brothers separated, turning a family business into competing firms with overlapping history and a shared address.

By October 2025, Aicon Contemporary had sued Prajit Dutta and Aicon Art, accusing them of false designation of origin, unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. The complaint said the other side was using “Aicon” without “Art” attached in ways that could mislead the market. It also alleged that Aicon Art kept using legacy marks such as Aicon Gallery on letterhead, signatures, fair materials and even promotional pens.

The stakes reach far beyond a family feud. Aicon Gallery, which grew out of Gallery ArtsIndia and opened in New York in 2002, was described as one of the first major U.S. outlets for Indian art and as a longtime gatekeeper for South Asian artists. Over the years, the gallery has shown F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, G.R. Iranna, Bose Krishnamachari, Talha Rathore, Muhammed Zeeshan, Adeela Suleman, Atul Bhalla, Abdullah Syed, Abir Karmakar and Salman Toor.

The split has also moved into harder-edged property disputes. A December 30, 2025 court decision in Aicon Contemporary v. Dutta referred to replevin, conversion and tortious interference claims, along with a sanctions order that had struck the defendants’ answer after discovery disputes. Another filing said the defendants moved to renew or vacate that order and argued they had not known about it because of problems with former counsel. Separate allegations also said defendants took a painting in which they had no interest and claimed it was a fake.

The fight has now widened to Harry Hutchison, identified in court records and trade reporting as connected to Aicon Art. One side accused Projjal Dutta of assault at the shared gallery space, while another account said Projjal Dutta and his company made assault allegations of their own. For collectors, dealers and artists, the deeper risk is not just a fractured family name but a fractured record of ownership, representation and provenance inside a corner of the art market that still relies heavily on trust.