Ashoo Sharma's Mountain Metaphor

Review/Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Ashoo Sharma in his exhibition 

Art is an extension of experience. An artist filters lived reality through cognition and discernment, translating it into visual language. Having spent many years among rugged mountain peaks, Ashoo Sharma first captured these experiences through photography and later began expressing them through painting. His solo exhibition Mountain Metaphor opens on February 20, 2026, at the Convention Fair Gallery of the India Habitat Centre in Delhi.

Ashoo Sharma in his exhibition 

with Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

A distinctive feature of this exhibition is the predominance of black and white works. Some pieces employ coloured ink and pastel, yet it is the black ink and pen works that leave the strongest impression. In these compositions, alongside the height and grandeur of the mountains, a mystical and philosophical dimension emerges.

Ashoo’s creative process operates on two interconnected levels. The first concerns the mountain as a physical form. Here, he renders its morphological structure with precision. In his pen-and-ink works on paper, the physicality of the mountain is articulated through two tonal intensities—light and heavy. Erosion, geological layering, and subtle traces of biological presence become visible. The mountains appear not as static masses but as entities shaped by time and life.

The second level transforms the mountain into a metaphor—not in any literal or illustrative sense, but as a metaphor for life itself. Life, thrilling in its diversity, finds resonance in the mountain’s permanence and vulnerability. In works shaped with brush and ink, Ashoo moves toward abstraction. He loosens the solidity of the mountain form, introducing fluidity. Instead of filling the shape completely, he leaves intentional voids between brushstrokes. These empty spaces destabilise the solidity of the structure, allowing abstraction to breathe within it. The mountain becomes less an object and more an experience.

These works often transcend conventional imagery. At times, the viewer perceives not only mountains but also organic forms—suggestions of living bodies, even human figures—emerging from the terrain. The mountain oscillates between landscape and life.

In Indian cultural imagination, mountains are divine presences. Their existence is not confined to stone, vegetation, and ice; they are receptive to vibrant life and spiritual resonance. For a sensitive and poetic mind, mountains pulse with consciousness. This sense of divinity can also be found in the works of Nicholas Roerich, who depicted the Himalayas in luminous colour. Ashoo, however, rarely relies on colour. His language is more restrained, more distilled.

His background in photography has sharpened his sensitivity to negative space. He brings this sensibility into his ink paintings. The empty space between black strokes becomes a metaphor for movement, for breath—almost a heartbeat within the mountain. It suggests life not through depiction, but through absence.

To internalise this metaphor, Ashoo has travelled extensively in mountainous regions, spending countless nights under open skies. He has observed the shifting colours of rock under moonlight, the play of stars across dark ridges, and the subtle transitions of semi-darkness. His relationship with the mountain feels intimate and inseparable. It is as if the mountain accompanies him—conversing, travelling, pulsating, even humming.

This humming metaphor—of solid stone rippling with inner life—runs through his black ink works as well as his coloured inks and pastels. He avoids watercolour, preferring the brilliance and immediacy of ink. The medium once used to tint black-and-white photographs fascinated him, and he adopted it to express the mountain’s chromatic moods. Though coloured ink lacks the transparency of watercolour, his handling of sky tones and earth hues feels lyrical—almost musical.

In Ashoo Sharma’s paintings, mountains are not merely landscapes. They become metaphors for life, music, and poetry. Through disciplined restraint and deliberate emptiness, he transforms even inanimate stone into a field of consciousness.

Satish Gujral: Exploration of Trauma, Memory, and Identity

Views/Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

In the story of modern Indian art, few possess the strength, determination, and creative range of Satish Gujral. ​​Painter, sculptor, muralist, architect—Gujral wasn't limited to any medium, geography, or artistic fashion of the time. Instead, he created a deeply personal visual language forged from a relentless exploration of trauma, memory, and identity.

Born in 1925 in Jhelum, Punjab (now in Pakistan), Satish Gujral's early life wasn't easy. A childhood accident left him with a hearing loss. The question of what he would do with his life was a pressing one. In a world filled with sounds, he learned to interpret silence. Drawing and his early study of Urdu literature guided his life. Art was most helpful to him because it emphasised seeing and feeling more than hearing. His study of Urdu literature helped him integrate narrative into his paintings. This is why we see a narrative element in his works, as well as a theatrical effect, in which even static characters are brought into motion.

In 1939, he enrolled at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, one of the region's most renowned art institutions. He later continued his studies at the Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay. There, he met members of the Progressive Artists Group, including artists like F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, and M. F. Husain. Souza wanted Satish Gujral to join the Progressive Artists Group (PAG), but he did not approve. The PAG artists emphasised Western modernism, while Gujral believed in the exploration of Indian art. While studying at the JJ School, he studied European art but never allowed it to influence his work.

In 1952, Gujral received a scholarship to study at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. There, he worked as an apprentice under two major names in the muralist movement: Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. This experience broadened his artistic horizons, as Rivera and Siqueiros were renowned for their murals and sculpture, not just their paintings. Gujral learned not only the technical aspects of mural creation but also the importance of an artist expressing their culture and time through their art. In a 2005 interview with this author, he admitted that his trip to Mexico was a turning point for him.

Mexican murals weren't just gallery-orientated art—they were the art of the masses, executed on walls in public spaces, and explored both history and the present on a broad scale. This experience gave Gujral a new direction. Consequently, his later works acquired a narrative and three-dimensional effect. His experiments with materials—burning wood, exploring texture, and mixing various mediums—established his distinct identity. His studies in Mexico introduced him to the importance of sociality in art. He demonstrated how dramatic impact can be achieved in paintings. Therefore, the human and other figures in his works appear more like sculptures than paintings.

His studies in Mexico inspired him to revisit and reflect on the trauma of his childhood, as well as the traumatic experience of the 1947 Partition. He witnessed displacement and violence firsthand. The experience of evacuating his family from Lahore was an unforgettable experience for him. This experience manifested itself in powerful visual compositions in his works. The human figures in his works often appear tense, twisted, or stuck in mid-air—as if history itself were pressing down on them. But this phase was not permanent. Over time, he embraced the exploration of imagination, love, hope, and possibilities in life, expanding his art.

A characteristic of his works from this period is the use of dark colours, especially black, which effectively conveyed the grief and uncertainty of that era. His use of black wasn't decorative. It stemmed from experience. It stemmed from memory—an attempt to give form to darkness without surrendering to it. This continued in his work later. Once, during a major exhibition at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Delhi, he painted an entire gallery black. In that dark atmosphere, his paintings and sculptures had a distinct impact.

A distinctive feature of Gujral's art is dynamism. Whether depicting human figures or horses, his subjects rarely appear static. They bend, twist, tense, and move. Even in sculpture, the forms appear alive and dynamic, possessed by inner power. This dynamism is intensified when he creates a game, composes music, or creates horses and bulls. Just as the movement of an inner voice enlivens each moment in silence, Satish Gujral enabled dynamic vitality in each form and composition of his paintings. Despite his hearing loss, he also created works to music. His works often display repetitions of themes and forms, as if the same story, or a similar story, is repeated again and again, but with variations in each repetition that alter its meaning. Therefore, despite many similarities, Satish Gujral's vast creative world encompasses a vast and diverse world of experience and expression. In his later works, which focused on Partition, we see a greater exuberance of life. A celebration of life is evident there.

Gujral wasn't confined to painting and sculpture. He also made a significant mark as an architect. His most famous architectural achievement is the design of the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi.

Throughout his career, Gujral exhibited internationally and received numerous honours, including three times India's National Award for Painting and Sculpture. In 1999, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian honour.

Images courtesy of The Gujral Foundation, Delhi Art Gallery, and Google. 

SHYAMAL DUTTA ROY: KINGS OF WATERCOLOUR / By Anindya Roy

During my graduation I was excited to search for a perfect professional from whom I can mature my aesthetic sense and get proper guidance to fulfil my goal. One fine morning I went to his rented house in Kolkata; afterwards I spent long years under his mentorship. I like to share as I saw those days. I have an appetite then to learn more and more from a multi-talented visual artist like he is. A very much gentlemanly, benevolent, genuine teacher.

In his youth he was simply influenced by European modernism and the abstraction of objects; figures are his oil colour subject. They did not have much freedom in art college. Like other friends, he also struggles to establish himself. Once, at an evening adda, some friends together formed an artists' group, keeping in mind to work and exhibit throughout India regularly. All of them exchanged ideas and shared experiences of social conditions with strong Indianans in their work. Named 'Society of Contemporary Artists, Kolkata'.

Later, he emphasises watercolour, and within a short time, he creates an out-of-traditional look for his paintings. He used to do layer after layer of soft transparent colour, which never disturbed the character of the medium. He said, ‘All are crazy to do it for oil colour, but I thought, why not watercolour?'. He took the challenge to bring a fresh style and cross texture – which is his salient feature of paintings – and his great contribution to the fine art field.

In the 60s and 70s Bengal went through a severe crisis with famine, then the Bangladesh war, then the Naxal Andolan and lastly the emergency. During that tense situation, artists were smashed by grief and sorrows but did not lose their passion. The rickety skeleton figures of the dark side of society evoke the subjects of Shyamal Dutta Roy's objects of creation.

In the meantime Shyamal DuttaRoy creates a history of his life; his figures have large heads and thin human bodies, and the broken bowl excerpts are from famine-affected people. That scene had a strong impact on him, as Jainule Abedin felt. These broken bowls in watercolour and in graphics are recognised internationally and nationally. Ruined heritage buildings and the plight of schools and teachers are the source of his idea. We were surprised how the ruined social condition could be an aesthetical presentation and simultaneously a message to the world. The talk of time – document.

I repeat, the brilliant graphic ‘Broken Bowl', the symbolic one, had brought fame for him, and the figure style influenced artists of his time. I even heard from him about a few famous artists who also surely enlightened the next generation. Some critics said he was studying the method of British legend Turner’s watercolour. But Nandalal, Ramkinkar’s line and Abanendranath's wash technique are also in his observation.

In his peak time of career, he had  got lots of awards, including Lalit kala, prestigious Aban award, Shiromony Purosker,  All India Annual’s, Dhaka Shilpokala etc., and works are in the collections of so many museums and institutes, such as the Victoria Albert Museum, NGMA, Pratt  Graphic Center etc.

He has so much rare talent that he uses to compose his signature style with the same kind of textures and dimensions and the broken structures as background design in oil, acrylic, graphics and obviously watercolour. A modern presentation where concepts originate from real-life experience in abstract composition by softened treatments of mediums with rhythmic criss-cross lines is his unmatchable achievement, especially as a sensitive medium, watercolour. Once his hand broke from falling down, afterwards he started to paint with his left hand, and nobody can find any distortion in his work. He has such a pretty character towards students that he never forces technique or methodology from his end. He got the best respect from his contemporary artists throughout India for his fresh contribution to Indian culture.

- Images from Google

ALKA BHRUSHUNDI: TOUCH THE INFINITY

ANALYSIS/ DR VED PRAKASH BHARDWAJ

Alka Bhrushundi

The universe we live in is vast, infinite, and always unfolding. Within this vast and unknowable expanse, human life itself becomes a puzzle—deep, layered, and never fully comprehended. Across civilisations and eras, artists have sought to understand this mystery through intuitive means, experiencing it through figurative representations rather than through a concrete image. Art becomes a bridge between the visible and the invisible, the finite and the infinite. Alka Bhrushundi's art emerges from this very thought: a persistent and meditative effort to understand the infinite.

Her journey began in Pune and has continued for nearly three decades in New Delhi, where her artistic language has continuously evolved. Initially trained in traditional imagery, Bhrushundi's early works displayed a structured engagement with recognisable forms. Then, over time, her exploration deepened. What was concrete became abstract; fixed shapes became suggestions. What began as a search for form gradually transformed into a plunge into the formless abyss. Today, her work is at a place where no form seems complete or stable. Everything seems to be in flux—vibrating, dissolving, re-emerging. This shift toward abstraction is not merely aesthetic but also philosophical, reflecting the understanding that the infinite cannot be confined within fixed boundaries.

For more than two decades, Bhrushundi has been engaged with what can be called the structure of the infinite—its energy, its rhythm, and its hidden logic. Her canvases attempt to reveal what cannot be directly seen: the dynamic relationship between cosmic energy and human consciousness. This relationship is so profound that it cannot be described, yet it can be deeply felt. It is felt not as a story but as a feeling, not as a display but as an echo.

The search for cosmic energy has long preoccupied artists from diverse cultures. In Indian visual traditions, Tantric art provides a powerful example of how geometry, colour, and symbolic abstraction can become vehicles for spiritual understanding. These works don't simply depict the cosmos; they serve as meditative diagrams, revealing the interplay between inner and outer energies. Similarly, Western Modernism embraced abstraction as a way to transcend reality. From Hilma af Klimt's spiritualised abstractions to Mark Rothko's luminous colour fields, artists have repeatedly resorted to non-representational forms to access the sublime and the cosmic. In each case, abstraction becomes a language for the unseen.

Cosmic energy presents a unique challenge for the visual artist. It has no stable form, no fixed appearance. It is fluid, shifting, and constantly changing. Yet, it is this instability that allows infinity to exist. Alka Bhrushundi accepts this challenge and abandons solid forms. Her move toward formlessness represents a conscious decision to prioritise sensation over structure and energy over outline. For her, formlessness is not absence but possibility—a field of potential where the meaning of life and the universe as a whole emerges not from definition but from experiencing it.

Her works reveal a dynamic interplay between cosmic energy and the inner power of the soul. They suggest that life is not controlled solely by visible, physical forces. Beneath the surface, an invisible energy constantly flows—in the form of mental, emotional, and spiritual forces—that shapes human existence. Every human being possesses duality: the physical body and the inner, invisible energy that keeps life moving. Alka Bhrushundi attempts to transform the life-giving power of this unseen energy into visible form through art.

On canvas and paper, colour, texture, and the gestures of colour become tools for exploring the immeasurable. Light brushstrokes often evoke feelings of sensitivity, rhythm, and the tenderness of coexistence. In contrast, bold strokes and dense patches of colour convey strength, determination, and intensity. These different gestures coexist within the same visual field, revealing the simultaneous existence of both tension and harmony in creation. The viewer senses a rhythm within the surfaces of colour—like the beat of music.

Just as we live a new life every moment, and nature constantly changes its colours, Alka's works convey a sense of constant change and dynamism at the compositional level. Layers of paint are deposited upon layers of paint, suggesting depth, but without revealing it. The rhythmic brushstrokes create movement on the surface, allowing the viewer to effortlessly move from one end of the painting to the other. For the viewer, this experience becomes a journey in which they feel constantly energised. The energy constantly flows, pulsates, and transforms across the surface of the painting, creating a magical effect on the viewer. Therefore, Alka's works demand deep and patient observation. When a viewer gazes at her creations for a long time, they feel as if something is constantly unfolding before them. The canvas transforms into a living space, where a vibrant connection between human consciousness and cosmic energy is felt.

The abundance of blue in her work holds special significance. According to the artist, blue is a means of exploring infinity, peace, and the unseen. For her, blue is not just a colour but an infinite experience—a psychological and spiritual state. From the depths of the ocean to the vastness of the sky, from the stillness of water to snow-capped mountains, blue permeates everywhere. It represents peace, belonging, and a constant flow of thoughts that propel the mind toward the infinite.

Alongside blue, shades of orange and red often appear in her works, symbolising energy, vitality, and possibility. Some works depict the vast depths of the ocean, while others suggest the infinite expanse of space. Networks of dynamic lines reflect the emotional complexity of human relationships. Feather-like textures often emerge, symbolising humanity's boundless desires and upward-spirited consciousness.

Ultimately, Alka Bhrushundi's art creates a realm that extends beyond the visible to the experienced. It reminds us that, like the universe, human beings are filled with infinite possibilities—and art is a way to touch that infinity.

Ganesh Haloi : Silence, Space, and Emotion By Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Ganesh Haloi expresses the beauty of nature and its mysterious structures through a distinct and newly nuanced artistic language. His solo exhibition at Akar Prakar Gallery, New Delhi, brings to light various dimensions of his art, in which the imaginative quality of his image-making and the autonomy of his design emerge as prominent elements. The paintings, mostly executed on paper, present a remarkable synthesis of the concrete and the abstract in their structural composition. At times, he employs familiar geometric shapes, while at other moments he introduces forms that evoke both geometric and architectural sensibilities. Yet, as cohesive structural entities, the paintings remain fundamentally abstract. 

It is significant that Ganesh Haloi is widely credited with establishing abstract art within the Bengal School. While many of his contemporaries were preoccupied with exploring expression through the physical form of human life and bodily shapes, Haloi chose instead to distil the essence of life through his own unique artistic vocabulary. The current trajectory of abstract art within the Bengal School bears the clear imprint of his influence. In engaging with his works, one encounters expansive colour fields, calligraphic lines, delicate dots, architectural contours, and geometric shapes that collectively invite viewers to perceive and contemplate both the physical and metaphysical dimensions of existence. 

His art appears less concerned with conveying a singular, definitive message and more invested in expanding the viewer’s capacity for observation, reflection, and introspection. Through this process, the viewer is drawn into a realm of experience that, though intimately connected to life, often remains unseen or unarticulated. Ganesh Haloi’s creations are marked by a profound sense of serenity in their elegance and communication, particularly in works dominated by expansive and subtly modulated colour fields. These chromatic compositions often evoke abstracted landscapes. 

However, these landscape-like formations function less as representations of the physical world and more as expressions of inner emotional states. They demand engagement beyond surface perception, resonating instead with the emotional and psychological terrain of human experience. The concrete, when fully resolved, leaves little room for mystery or curiosity; it becomes complete and, in a sense, empty. Haloi’s works gesture toward this emptiness, yet they embody incompleteness rather than finality. Through the introduction of geometric shapes, lines, and points, he disrupts this emptiness, anchoring his compositions within worldly contexts where emotion and feeling take precedence. To evoke these emotions, Haloi incorporates both recognisable and enigmatic motifs. 

It is crucial to note that emotions are inherently fluid and never static or complete; their shifting nature is what aligns them with abstraction. For this reason, human emotions themselves can be described as abstract. Haloi seeks to perceive and represent this emotional realm in an alternative manner, and thus, even as abstraction permeates his work, it remains intentionally incomplete—just as no emotion can ever reach absolute closure. The transparent and semi-transparent layers of colour in his paintings deepen this abstraction, adding complexity and depth to the emotional landscape he constructs. 

A prevailing sense of peace and silence characterises much of Ganesh Haloi’s imagery. Yet within this stillness, he creates possibilities for dialogue on multiple levels: among the juxtaposed formal elements within the paintings, between the artwork and the viewer, and between nature and human consciousness. His work is fundamentally non-narrative; nonetheless, in engaging with his compositions, one senses the presence of fragmented memories and dispersed imaginations. The melancholic resonance of a lost or vanishing landscape, conveyed through translucent layers of colour, often feels poetic—like a soft, distant voice echoing through a deserted valley. At times, it is as though the rustling wind brushing against standing crops permeates the atmosphere with an almost musical cadence. 

Moments of melancholy surface in his landscapes, yet they are neither fixed nor overwhelming; the artist does not allow them to settle permanently. While Wassily Kandinsky consciously propelled his artistic language toward abstraction and sought to translate music into visual form, Ganesh Haloi situates abstraction primarily within the realm of emotion. At the same time, on a formal level, he continuously fragments and challenges this abstraction. Ambiguity—and even more so, incomprehensibility—represents the ultimate stage of abstraction, a stage rarely reached in Haloi’s work. Instead, clarity and ambiguity coexist as two compelling dimensions of his art, captivating viewers through their subtle interplay. 

The transcendental quality often attributed to Ganesh Haloi’s works arises from the conceptual logic and pictorial structure underpinning his compositions. This structure is also deeply aligned with principles of minimalism: his paintings favour minimal forms, openness over density, and an expansion of the invisible. Within this openness, certain visual elements symbolically allude to human existence and consciousness. At the core of abstract art lies the pursuit of the true self—an inherently human essence shaped by the dynamics of nature. Clement Greenberg’s critical perspective is relevant here, as he emphasised the exploration and interrelation of form, space, and surface in abstract art. The presence and interaction of these elements in Haloi’s work can be understood as a reflection of human life itself, since all forms, even those derived from nature, ultimately convey facets of the broader human experience.

All photographs of paintings from Akar Prakar Gallery. portrait of Ganesh Haloi created by artist Uday Shankar

Beauty of Nature: Solo Exhibition of Praveen Saini

Praveen Saini

When the tenderness of nature and the fluid grace of watercolour descend together onto paper or canvas through an artist’s brush, the viewer is inevitably spellbound. The art of senior artist Praveen Saini is infused with this same sensitivity. Nature and spirituality have been his cherished and central themes. His solo exhibition titled ‘Beauty of Nature’ was held from 4 to 10 January 2026 at Gallery No. 1 of the Lalit Kala Akademi in Delhi. In this exhibition, he primarily presented watercolour works created on paper.

During his travels to various places, Praveen Saini often creates small-sized watercolour paintings. In this process, he engages in a direct dialogue with nature, shaping visual images that also carry a poetic sensibility. The remarkable play of light and shadow can be clearly seen in his works. The grandeur of distant mountains, along with the vastness of the landscape, becomes encompassed within a small picture. Within that expansive terrain, one can also sense organic movement and the mysterious play of nature—phenomena that may not be fully comprehensible, yet so deeply captivate the human mind that the viewer feels compelled to keep looking.

Although many artists are active in the field of landscape painting, the depth of feeling, dedication, and commitment with which Praveen Saini works distinguish him from his contemporaries. The presence of imagination in landscape creation is natural, but in Praveen Saini’s paintings, even this imagination appears closely aligned with reality—as if it were a sensitive extension of what has been directly observed.

 

Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj and Praveen Saini

The beauty and sensibility of landscape in watercolour have a long and rich history in human artistic tradition. Across cultures and centuries, artists have turned to nature as a source of inspiration, emotion, and contemplation. However, it is neither fair nor meaningful to compare artists who create watercolour landscapes, as each artist’s vision is deeply shaped by their cultural background, personal philosophy, and relationship with nature.

An Indian landscape and a European landscape are naturally different, not merely in visual appearance but in the very approach and mindset of the artist. In the European tradition, landscape painting has often been rooted in observation, realism, or aesthetic appreciation of nature as an external subject. In contrast, in India, landscape painting emerges from a more intimate and inward engagement with the natural world.

In the Indian artistic tradition, art is not just an act of representation but a holistic and spiritual experience. It is seen as a way of connecting with the larger cosmos, with life, and with the divine presence within nature. Indian landscape artists do not simply depict mountains, rivers, trees, or skies; they experience and internalise them as living, breathing entities. Their paintings often carry a sense of kindness, reverence, and gratitude toward nature for offering a beautiful, nurturing, and harmonious environment.

Thus, Indian watercolour landscapes are not merely visual depictions of scenery but expressions of a spiritual sensibility—where nature is not a separate object to be painted but a sacred presence to be felt, honoured, and celebrated through art.

-Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Collage International Art Carnival Sets a New Benchmark in the Indian Art Scene

Ashwani Kumar Prithvasi, Sanjeev Kumar Gautam, and other guests honouring Bose Krishnamachari.

The Collage International Art Carnival, held at the Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi, from January 13 to 18, 2026, has firmly established itself as a landmark event in the Indian art world. Emerging as a vibrant confluence of creativity, the carnival demonstrated how the vision of a single artist and his institution can bring together diverse artistic practices, generations, and geographies on one expansive platform.

Shri Dalip Singh Hitkari and Naven Kumar Jaggi with Art News India magazine, and editor and artist Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Shri Shuhas Bahulkar at both of the Garhi Artist Studios. 

The journey that artist Ashwani Kumar Prithviwasi, founding director of the Delhi Collage of Art, began two decades ago has now taken on an international dimension. What started as a focused artistic initiative has grown into a large-scale cultural movement, reflecting both perseverance and an unwavering commitment to nurturing art and artists.

Anoop Ratn presenting his thoughts. 

This year, the carnival went far beyond the conventional format of an art exhibition. Alongside an extensive display of artworks, the event also honoured many of the most respected artists, art writers, filmmakers, playwrights, poets, and curators of our time. Eminent personalities such as Jatin Das, Krishnamachari Bose, Aparna Caur, Dr Sachchidanand Joshi, Prayog Shukla, Sandeep Marwah, Alka Pande, Georgina, Vinod Bhardwaj, Kavita Nair, Inder Salim, Harshvardhan Sharma, Anoop Ratn, Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj, Akshat Sinha, Ajay Sameer, Amit Dutt, and Prafulla Sawant, among many others, were recognised for their significant contributions to the cultural landscape. While a major exhibition was showcased in the main gallery of the Lalit Kala Akademi, the Akademi’s grounds were transformed into a dynamic cultural hub with multiple booths. These booths hosted exhibitions by art institutions and galleries from across the country, creating an open, accessible environment where visitors could engage directly with artists and their work.

Honouring Kavit Nayer

Honouring Aprna Caur

view of carnival. 

A large central stage became the heartbeat of the carnival, hosting a continuous lineup of programmes that included music, dance performances, poetry readings, theatre, film screenings, and panel discussions. Prominent institutions participating in this segment included Delhi College of Art, Jamia Millia Islamia, Triveni Kala Sangam, the artists’ group from Lalit Kala Akademi’s Regional Centre Garhi, Kaladham, Bal Bhavan, Urban Fingers, Uchaan Art Gallery, Astitva Art Gallery, Dehradun Art College, Blue Dot Art Gallery, Shankar Academy, and many other institutions and galleries.

young artists presenting their thoughts.

Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj with Aswani kumar Prithviwasi 

Harshvardhan Sharma sharing his knowledge. 

Dr. Sachchinand Joshi addressing artists and art lovers. 

Artists from more than 20 countries took part in the carnival, reinforcing its truly international character. One of the special attractions, particularly for younger audiences, was the display of AI-generated art, which sparked lively discussions about technology, creativity, and the future of artistic expression. Live demonstrations, performance art, and interactive sessions further enriched the experience for visitors. The carnival also emphasised participation and learning. Workshops were organised for both children and adults, offering hands-on experiences in pottery, drawing, and printmaking. 

Live demo. 

These activities attracted enthusiastic participation and allowed visitors to explore their own creative potential. Thousands of art lovers found opportunities to present their creativity across various art forms, making the event inclusive and community-orientated. Several art talks and discussions were organised throughout the week, featuring both Indian and international artists. The sessions conducted by Chawky Frenn, Associate Professor at George Mason University, USA, were particularly impactful, offering valuable insights that resonated deeply with participating artists and students. The many dimensions of artistic creation showcased during the carnival clearly demonstrated that there is a strong and growing interest in art within society—an interest that needs sustained nurturing and meaningful platforms. Speaking about his vision, Ashwini Kumar Prithviwasi remarked that the carnival itself is his art. He noted that contemporary artists often function within isolated groups, disconnected from one another, and that this initiative was an attempt to bridge those gaps. “The enthusiastic participation of people and the wholehearted involvement of ordinary visitors in various workshops prove that when given the opportunity, people do not hesitate to engage with art,” he said. In every sense, the Collage International Art Carnival stood as a celebration of collaboration, inclusivity, and creative exchange—offering a powerful reminder that art flourishes most vibrantly when artists and audiences come together on a shared platform.