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In Search of Travancore’s Forgotten Craftsmen
In the 1970s, during our visits to Palkulangara in Trivandrum, where many of our relatives lived, I used to spend a lot of time in one of my maternal aunt's home, gazing at the wooden almirahs with...
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Contemporary Baroque and the Craft of Painting
A work of art makes a camera out of a human. It makes him move closer, farther away and around it to get a better grasp of the form, theme and technique that have been employed in creating it. Often,...
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‘Vision & Landscape: Aquatints of India’ by Thomas and William Daniell
Yesterday I visited ‘Vision & Landscape: Aquatints of India’ by Thomas and William Daniell, the uncle-and-nephew duo who travelled across India between 1786 and 1793. Presented by DAG at the...
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The Grammar of a Life: Kanchan Chander’s Artistic Journey
“When you come, remind me to give you a copy of the book,” Kanchan Chander said while chatting on WhatsApp. She was inviting me to her solo exhibition, The Grammar of the Self, presented by Gallery...
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Chronicles of the Unseen: Labour, Rust and Vanishing Worlds
After an overdose of familiar modernism at the overground galleries of Triveni Complex, I always prefer to have an antidote at the Art Heritage Gallery in the basement, where good shows are often...
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The Many Lives of Cubbon Park
“When someone has a few hours in hand before their flight, they call me to have a walkthrough at Lalbagh, and I oblige. It has become a routine now,” says Suresh Jayaram, a well-known art historian...
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Art Travels Before Time: Bhupen Khakhar and Salman Rushdie's Portrait
(The Moor by Bhupen Khakhar)Recently, while watching Margaret Hoover’s Firing Line interview with Salman Rushdie, I was struck by something that had little to do, at first sight, with what Rushdie was...
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Lady in Blue: Time to Celebrate and Ask a Few Questions
(Tschabalala Self with her Lady in Blue)Lady in Blue, a sculpture by Tschabalala Self installed on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in London, has caught the imagination of the cultural world....
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Collecting Baroda: Freedom, Form and the Making of a History
'Freedom to Form - Baroda Modern' at DAG, New Delhi, is an enthusiastic survey show of the 'Baroda School' of art, mainly culled from the vast collection of DAG itself. From N S Bendre to Rekha...
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Soliloquy or Ventriloquy?
Work by Rinku Choudhary‘A Soliloquist’s Journal’ is a solo exhibition of paintings by Rinku Choudhary, curated by Prima Kurien at Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi. I have mixed views about the show in...
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Beyond Paper: Dattatreya Apte’s Soft Stone
Dattatreya Apte’s The Soft Stone, presented by Aakriti Gallery and curated by Nanak Ganguly, is at once a surprise and a visual feast. Known for his sensitive prints—he is, after all, an accomplished...
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The Symbolism of Backpacks in E. P. Unny and Ai Weiwei
Social revolutions often throw up symbols that remain fresh in the socio-cultural and political imagination, even though they may not play a direct role in revolutionary acts. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi...
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Dimagee Naxals and the Orwellian Thought Police
“The other is hell,” said Albert Camus. It was quite an existential statement. But in the hands of Edward Said, the “Other” became the one who is forced into hell. For the survival of any ideology,...
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A National Exhibition, or an Affordable Art Fair?
The 65th National Exhibition, conducted by the Lalit Kala Akademi, was formally inaugurated on 21 August 2026. I went to see it yesterday. Densely displayed, and complete with ‘price’ and other...
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Beyond Van Gogh: The Mad Genius of Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama (1929–2026) has passed away. She was 97. When every artist in the world thought that they were ostracised by society for being crazy and, ironically, lived in the midst of that society,...
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Women, Objects and the Memory of Sculpture
(My Sitting Laundry by Sojwal Samant)Saturday. NFCC. New Friends Colony Community Centre. Espace Gallery. The glass wall reflects the pub across the road. I train my eyes and make sure that there is a...
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There Is Nothing That Wouldn’t Change
'There Is Nothing That Wouldn’t Change' is the title of a book of conversations between Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Bezwada Wilson and noted writer Perumal Murugan. For those unfamiliar with Wilson’s...
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Instagram and the Illusion of Being an Artist
“Facebook sucks, so I am shifting to Instagram. See me there @....” has been a common refrain among friends for quite some time. Instagram is longer than X and crispier than Facebook. Period....
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A Weekly Dose of Khalid Mohamed
In my early days in Delhi, living in a one-room set in Laxmi Nagar, Jamna Paar—a location that elicited sympathetic smiles from polite company—weekends meant “hope.” Newspapers published my art...
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Dimagee Naxals and the Orwellian Thought Police
(George Orwell)“The other is hell,” said Albert Camus. It was quite an existential statement. But in the hands of Edward Said, the “Other” became the one who is forced into hell. For the survival of...
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