शम्भु नाथ गोस्वामी की एकल प्रदर्शनी

नई दिल्ली की शांता आर्ट गैलरी में इन दिनों शम्भु नाथ गोस्वामी की एकल प्रदर्शनी कला-प्रेमियों के लिए एक विशेष अनुभव बन गई है। इस प्रदर्शनी में उनके पिछले कई वर्षों की सृजनात्मक यात्रा को समेटती रचनाएँ प्रदर्शित की गई हैं, जो उनके कलात्मक विकास और दृष्टि के विस्तार को स्पष्ट रूप से दर्शाती हैं। शांता आर्ट गैलरी के डायरेक्टर दलीप सिंह हितकारी ने प्रदर्शनी के उद्घाटन पर अतिथियों का स्वागत किया। प्रदर्शनी का उद्घाटन  शिल्प कलाकार बीमान बिहारी दास, वरिष्ठ कलाकार प्रेम सिंह, नीरेन सेन गुप्ता, अपर्णा कौर, जितेन हजारिका, अनिल सुतार व अन्य कलाकारों के हाथों हुआ। इस अवसर पर अनेक कलाकार व कला प्रेमी उपस्थित थे जिनमें नवीन कुमार जग्गी, मोहन सिंह, संजीव सिंह, कमल सेठ, रामकृष्ण अग्रवाल, रूपचंद, अजय समीर, नीरज शर्मा, रितु बिसारिया सक्सेना, आनंद मोय बनर्जी, सुनीता लांबा, प्रकाश चांदवडकर, कविता राजपूत आदि उपस्थित थे। 

प्रकृति, कल्पना और मानवीय आकांक्षाओं को केंद्र में रखकर बनाई गई ये कृतियाँ दर्शकों को एक बहुस्तरीय संसार में ले जाती हैं। कहीं प्रकृति के सूक्ष्म रंगों का विस्तार है, तो कहीं मानवीय भावनाओं की गहरी परतें। प्रत्येक पेंटिंग अपने आप में एक संपूर्ण कथानक प्रस्तुत करती है—मानो रंग और रेखाएँ मिलकर कोई मौन कहानी कह रही हों।

आकृतियों की प्रधानता के बावजूद कलाकार ने अमूर्तन का सशक्त प्रयोग किया है, जिससे रचनाओं में प्रतीकात्मकता और व्याख्यात्मक विस्तार दोनों जुड़ जाते हैं। कुछ पेंटिंग्स में ड्राइंग का अत्यंत सुंदर संयोजन दिखाई देता है, जो उनकी रेखांकन क्षमता और संरचना-बोध को उजागर करता है। समग्र रूप से यह प्रदर्शनी न केवल दृश्य आनंद देती है, बल्कि दर्शकों को विचार और अनुभूति के स्तर पर भी सक्रिय करती है।

Between Surface and Depth : Exhibition by Bharati Verma and Ruchi Chadha

Review / Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

From 3 to 9 March 2026, the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery will host Between Surface and Depth, a two-person exhibition by Delhi-based contemporary artists Bharati Verma and Ruchi Chadha. With artistic practices spanning nearly three decades, both artists have cultivated distinct yet philosophically resonant visual languages. Their works explore human experience, the philosophy of nature, and the layered dimensions of existence through deeply contemplative painterly approaches.

The exhibition title is not merely metaphorical; it articulates the shared conceptual ground of their practices. Surface and depth—form and formlessness—visibility and invisibility—these dualities structure the curatorial premise. Between these polarities unfolds the continuous movement of life itself.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

Painting by Bharti Verma

                                                    

Nature appears expansive and open in its outward manifestation, yet inwardly it is layered and enigmatic. The same dynamic shapes human existence. The human being—man or woman—inhabits multiple strata, negotiating constantly between social frameworks and interior consciousness. This interplay between the visible and the concealed finds compelling expression in the distinct artistic vocabularies of the two artists.

Through the imagery of the lotus and the submerged aquatic world, Ruchi Chadha explores the philosophical unfolding of life. Through symbolic renderings of the human body, Bharati Verma reveals the interior landscape of inner experience. Together, their works create a dialogue between external nature and internal truth.

Painting by Bharti Verma

The Inner Geography of the human

In Bharati Verma’s paintings, the human figures occupy a central presence—yet not in a literal or portrait-like manner. The human body appears as a symbolic structure rather than a descriptive form. Faces are frequently absent, veiled, or indistinct. This erasure is not a stylistic gesture alone; it reflects a social condition.

Painting by Bharti Verma

In many contexts, a human’s independent identity remains circumscribed by prescribed roles and inherited expectations. The obscured face becomes a metaphor for a presence simultaneously visible and erased. The curvature and torsion of bodies in her compositions suggest psychological and social burdens rather than mere physical movement. Bent and interwoven, these forms evoke compressed emotion—bodies bearing the weight of lived experience.

Painting by Bharti Verma

Her figures rarely exist in isolation. They appear intertwined, overlapping, and merging into one another. This visual interlacing signals shared experience. Human struggle, though deeply personal, is also collective. Through bodies that support, lean into, and dissolve within one another, individuality expands into a broader social condition.

Painting by Bharti Verma

Her restrained palette—dominated by greys, deep blacks, and mineral blues—intensifies the emotional atmosphere. The monochromatic tonality creates a sense of silence and gravity. Layers of pigment and textured surfaces render the canvas enigmatic, almost puzzle-like. The viewer is offered no immediate interpretive key; engagement demands patience and introspection.

Ultimately, these works transcend depiction. They function as threshold spaces—sites where memory, endurance, vulnerability, and self-inquiry converge. The body moves beyond fixed gender identity to become a vessel of shared human experience.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

Water, Life, and the Will to Bloom

In Ruchi Chadha’s practice, the lotus serves as a central motif, yet it extends beyond its traditional associations with purity and spiritual awakening. Rather than emphasising only the blossom that rises above water, she directs attention to the unseen world beneath the surface.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

Her canvases reveal submerged stems, aquatic plants, fish, and the diffused luminosity of underwater space. In certain compositions, the lotus appears to bloom within the water itself, subtly inverting conventional spatial expectations. This inversion offers a profound insight: growth is not solely an upward ascent; it is equally a descent into inner depth.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

The half-bloomed lotus carries as much meaning as the fully opened flower. The former suggests potential, becoming, and anticipation; the latter conveys fulfilment and confidence. Through this duality, the artist underscores life as a continuous process rather than a fixed culmination.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

The aquatic elements in her paintings are not ornamental. They constitute an ecological network that sustains the lotus. Beauty, she intimates, does not emerge in isolation; it arises through invisible interdependencies. This vision resonates strongly with contemporary ecological consciousness, positioning nature as an interconnected web of coexistence.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

Light and shadow further amplify the philosophical dimension. The muted depths below and the relative luminosity above construct a visual metaphor for consciousness—an ascent from obscurity toward illumination. The upward movement of the lotus stem becomes a quiet emblem of resilience and self-transcendence.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

Thus, her lotus-centred works move beyond aesthetic celebration to articulate a meditation on interconnectedness, perseverance, and the journey from darkness toward light.

Painting by Bharti Verma

A Dialogue Between Surface and Depth

Viewed together, these two artistic visions reveal a compelling parallel. One renders life’s philosophy through aquatic depth; the other charts emotional and existential terrain through the symbolic body. In one, the lotus rises from shadow toward illumination; in the other, silent figures search for identity within obscurity.

Painting by Ruchi Chadha

In both practices, the visible surface unfolds into an interior landscape. Form gradually dissolves into essence; silence acquires voice; beauty carries within it struggle.

The dialogue between surface and depth—outer nature and inner consciousness—defines the curatorial spirit of this exhibition. Art here is not merely an object of sight but a medium of reflection—an invitation to perceive life in its fullness, complexity, and quiet resilience.

 

Between Gesture and Silence

Analysis/ Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Rajendra Kadia explores the quiet tension between revelation and concealment. Every face speaks, yet it often hides more than it discloses. In his paintings, faces appear—but rarely in their entirety. They emerge as fragments, partially obscured, interrupted, or withheld. Through this deliberate incompleteness, Kadia reflects on the layered nature of human personality. Identity, in his work, is never fully accessible; it remains shifting and unresolved. The absence of the whole becomes a metaphor for the human condition itself—our instinct to guard certain truths, to reveal selectively, and to withhold what lies beneath the surface. His fragmented faces remind us that what we see is never the full story. Beneath every visible expression exists a deeper, unspoken narrative—complex, private, and profoundly human?

Forceful, assertive lines combined with the fluid movement of black ink and colour generate enigmatic images on canvas and paper in the work of senior artist Rajendra Kadia. His visual language emerges from instinct and spontaneity, where drawing becomes a meditative, intuitive act rather than a premeditated construction. Often beginning with a single impulsive line, he allows it to travel freely across the surface. As the line evolves, it gradually gives rise to an image that remains deliberately ambiguous—resisting immediate identification and inviting sustained engagement.

He works primarily with acrylic and ink on paper. He first wets the surface—whether paper or canvas—then permits colour and ink to flow organically. He rarely relies on a conventional brush; instead, pieces of wood or thick paper serve as his tools. Through this unconventional approach, he produces lines of varied density and texture, allowing ink and water to merge into translucent layers that breathe within the composition.

Within this process, countless unknown forms begin to surface—as though the painting itself determines its final shape. Abstract faces frequently emerge. Each possesses a distinct identity, yet this identity does not reside in anatomical structure but in emotional presence. The faces seem to hold moods rather than features.

At times, these forms carry architectural echoes; elsewhere, they suggest the rugged density of a forest. In some works, aspiration appears to grow like untamed grass; in others, a river seems to murmur through rhythmic movement. A profound poetic sensibility pervades his practice—one that resists easy articulation. It is perhaps this quiet intensity that makes his seemingly minimal compositions unexpectedly challenging experiences.

The emerging forms may resemble a human visage, a fragmented landscape, or remnants of architectural ruins dissolving across time and space. These shifting images exist in a continual state of transformation, oscillating between recognition and abstraction. Impermanence becomes central to Rajendra Kadia’s practice, reflecting both the fragility of memory and the constant flux of lived experience. His compositions resist fixed narratives, instead encouraging viewers to project their own associations and emotional histories onto the surface.

Black remains his dominant medium—embraced not as the absence of colour but as a field of depth and resonance. In his hands, black unfolds into a spectrum of tonal variation, ranging from dense, commanding strokes to fragile, nearly vanishing traces. This restrained palette heightens emotional intensity, ensuring that every gesture carries psychological weight. The monochromatic language lends his work a timeless quality, stripping away distraction and directing attention toward line, rhythm, and interior tension.

Beyond their visual impact, Rajendra Kadia’s works function as psychological terrains. They articulate inner states rather than external realities—capturing contemplation, solitude, unease, and introspection. The layered surfaces seem to hold accumulated memory, touching upon vulnerability and existential reflection. His images do not provide resolution; instead, they remain open, mirroring life’s inherent ambiguity.

Through decades of sustained practice, Rajendra Kadia has cultivated a distinctive visual language that balances discipline with freedom and structure with accident. By dissolving the boundary between abstraction and representation, he invites viewers into an intimate dialogue—one that unfolds gradually, revealing meaning through silence, suggestion, and the subtle cadence of the line.

Delhi Art Gallery's Photography Show : Typecasting of time and society

Review / Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj 

Photography has long been an essential tool for documenting human life and preserving moments that later acquire historical significance. The Delhi Art Gallery's "Typecasting" exhibition, shown at Bikaner House in Delhi, offers an authentic document of life during that period. Bringing together photographs from 1855 to 1920, the exhibition undoubtedly offers a rare visual history of India's diverse communities under British rule. However, the exhibition also raises several questions. One question is what the photographers and the authorities of the time were trying to convey by depicting such communities, especially the lives of tribal people or those working at the lower levels. It seems that these photographs reflected the colonial policies of the British rulers, which sought to justify India's exploitation by portraying India as backward to the world. In this context, it is noteworthy that many have attempted to prove that British rule was necessary to modernise India. It's unlikely that this exhibition will be analysed from this perspective or that any sociological study will be conducted. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising if it ends up being merely documentary evidence.

In any case, the exhibition itself spans a wide geographical range: photographs from the Lepcha and Bhutia tribes of the Northeast to the Afridis of the Northwest Frontier Region and the Toda and Vedda tribal communities of the South Belt. These were accompanied by portraits of talukdars and wealthy Parsi figures, as well as dancing girls, porters, barbers, and snake charmers. Seen together, the photographs paint a distinct sociological picture—an attempt to present a social map of contemporary Indian society through caste, clan, and work types.

However, beyond their ethnographic surface, the photographs reveal the ideological framework within which they were created. Colonial photography often served as a means of controlling power. By dividing communities into visual "types", British colonial policy attempted to portray Indian society as static, hierarchical, and backward. The act of photographing was inseparable from the act of cataloguing—the fixing of identities within rigid visual categories. The exhibition subtly highlighted this aspect, encouraging viewers to recognise photography not simply as documentation but as a political tool.

Over time, the meaning of these photographs has changed. Separated from their original colonial context, they now serve as essential historical documents. Today, they invite critical scrutiny rather than tacit acceptance. Details of clothing, posture, gestures, and atmosphere provide insight into the reality of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century India. The books and printed materials displayed alongside the photographs further strengthened this archival commitment, demonstrating how closely photography was intertwined with publishing, research, and systematic documentation at that time.

From a contemporary aesthetic perspective, many photographs appear structured and rigid. Subjects are often formally posed, sometimes against neutral backgrounds, emphasising clarity and classification rather than spontaneity. In contrast to today's creative photography—which places a premium on experimentation and subjectivity—these early works appear relaxed. Their visual language prioritises legibility over expressive detail.

Yet such restraint must be understood within its historical context. Photographers were frequently guided by ethnographic and administrative objectives rather than artistic ambition. Technological limitations of early photographic processes, combined with the colonial desire for systematic representation, shaped their compositional choices. In several instances, the emphasis on impoverished or marginalised communities suggests an underlying narrative strategy designed to reinforce colonial claims of civilisational superiority. The camera was not neutral; it operated within a discourse that framed difference and destitution as defining characteristics.

At the same time, the images inadvertently preserve moments of dignity and individuality. A fleeting expression, the texture of traditional attire, or the quiet assertiveness of a stance resists complete typification. Contemporary viewers may find themselves drawn less to the colonial taxonomy and more to the human presence that endures within the frame. The very rigidity that once served administrative ends now allows for a meticulous reading of historical detail.

Ultimately, “Typecasting” demonstrated how photographs transform across time. What once functioned as instruments of classification now serve as archives of memory. They reveal not only the diverse lives of Indian communities but also the mindset of a colonial administration that sought to define and regulate them. By revisiting these images within a contemporary gallery context, the exhibition encouraged viewers to engage critically with both the subjects depicted and the structures that shaped their representation.

Not just this exhibition, but all such photography must be viewed and understood from a new perspective. The agenda of our parallel cinema was often to showcase the negative aspects of Indian society, and this continued after independence. Therefore, there should be no doubt that the photographers nurtured by the British rulers took photographs that were exactly what their masters desired. In many cases, the emphasis on poor or marginalised communities is indicative of an internal plan designed to strengthen colonial claims of civilised superiority. Much has been written about these photographs, but most of them treat the photographs as objects, without attempting to examine the reasons behind them.

All photographs are Delhi Art Gallery's property.

Shruti Gupta Chandra : felt rather than seen

Review/Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

Artist: Shruti Gupta Chandra

Abstraction, as a visual language, seeks to move beyond the immediate experience of the visible world and arrive at something more essential—something felt rather than seen. This impulse finds compelling expression in the recent paintings of Shruti Gupta Chandra, where form is no longer the primary vehicle of meaning. Instead, she ventures into an emotional and perceptual realm, dissolving the physical body and allowing sensation, rhythm, emotion, and psychological space to take precedence.

Earlier in her practice, Shruti explored the ph

Mixed media on canvas

physical dimensions of existence by abstracting the human figure within structured compositions shaped by light and shadow. In her new body of work, however, she steps further away from corporeal references. Familiar identities and symbolic markers gradually recede, giving way to an open, fluid space where emotion becomes the central presence. The body is no longer articulated through gesture; it is replaced by what may be described as a melodic vibration across the canvas.

Mixed media on canvas

Her longstanding engagement with music and classical dance subtly informs these works. Rhythm becomes a structural principle. Colours and abstract forms seem animated, almost performative—like a dancer occupying a stage. Significantly, much of that stage appears empty. Yet the emptiness is not absence. Just as the still air around a dancer holds the resonance of movement and sound, the spaces between forms in her paintings are charged with invisible interactions. These intervals are alive with tension, pause, and continuity.

Mixed media on canvas

Reflecting on this series, the artist notes her desire to explore the unknown and unseen, moving beyond traditional compositional frameworks. What emerges instead is a dynamic relationship between space and form—a rhythm that unfolds perceptually rather than narratively. Her inquiry turns inward: where does the mind situate itself within an emotion, and where does the external world begin? Between these two poles lies an undefined yet palpable connection, an oscillation between interior awareness and outward reality.

Mixed media on canvas

Her forthcoming solo exhibition at Shridharani Art Gallery in Delhi will present works that blur the boundaries between the concrete and the abstract. These paintings resist single-point narratives; instead, they unfold as experiential fields. By breaking away from conventional constraints, she enters a freer expressive terrain, one that allows for deeper philosophical engagement with the interrelationship between human existence and the physical and metaphysical realms.

Mixed media on canvas

A notable aspect of this series is her shifting compositional strategy. In some works, layered structures accumulate, producing dense surfaces where forms overlap and dissolve. In others, she pares down colour and gesture, allowing expanses of blank space to dominate. These contrasting approaches are not merely formal decisions but reflections of life’s inherent contradictions. Density suggests emotional intensity, turbulence, or psychological complexity. Emptiness evokes silence, solitude, or existential clarity.

Mixed media on canvas

Shruti often breaks the rhythm of her creative process. She transforms the same materials and compositions. In one such painting, she creates a painting using hand-stitched fabric, which breaks her creative image. This painting, which moves towards minimalist art, expresses that amidst the complexity of human life, there comes a time when it becomes so simplified that it becomes impossible to confine it to a single meaning. Shruti's art, however, defies any boundaries of meaning. Her abstract works offer an open sky of meanings, in which the viewer can access meaning according to their experience and receptivity. This kind of openness, from the form to its meaning, gives Shruti's work new breadth and potential. In her figurative works, she experimented with achieving this, which is now moving towards perfection in abstraction. 

Watercolour on paper

Through this interplay of fullness and void, Shruti Gupta Chandra articulates a vision of life as oscillation—between presence and disappearance, order and fragility, abundance and absence. The abstract field becomes a site where perception transcends language, inviting both artist and viewer into a deeper, more contemplative encounter with being. Life is not all about being full; that which is empty is also life because it holds greater potential for life. This emptiness holds a kind of invitation and a sincere commitment to always making room for others in life. Shruti expresses this sentiment through innovative experiments in composition in her art. The empty space on the canvas is, in reality, filled with something that can be felt, not seen.

Watercolour on paper

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.