20 shows to see beyond India Art Fair

Find yourself in a painting
Atul Dodiya returns to the Capital with a new solo, titled The Gatecrasher, after six years. The artist creates layered narratives in 12 large-scale oil paintings such as Portrait of an Artist and Gatecrashers by weaving in elements from pop culture, art history and personal memory. Most of these works were developed in the past year and leave the works open to interpretation by the viewer by complicating the act of looking. “We are seeing paintings of viewers engaging with works that themselves emerged from acts of looking. This recursive framing prompts a central question: who, ultimately, is the gatecrasher?” mentions the gallery note. On view at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony, till 10 March, 10 am to 6 pm.

Restless in the city
Artist Sudarshan Shetty has long engaged with the urban milieu of Mumbai. In a new body of work, on display at GallerySKE, he expands his scope by exploring intersections between voice, body and the city. The exhibition, A Breath Held Long, features a film and a new body of sculptural works. Together they look at “the act of breathing as a metaphor for a life within an urban landscape”. For the film, he has collaborated with singers and actors, who perform single-line narratives about personal events without any punctuation. “The video acknowledges the impossibility of silence within a city,” states the gallery note. Along with this, Shetty presents steel sculptures with a body of texts. On view at GallerySKE, Defence Colony, New Delhi, till 17 March, 11 am to 7 pm (closed on Sunday).

Going beyond the colonial gaze
At the Bikaner House, nearly 200 sepia-toned images and photographic material come into view. These photographs, taken between 1855 and 1920, hail from one of the most significant collections of colonial ethnographic photographs. Taken by photographers like Benjamin Simpson, Hurrychand Chintamon and James Waterhouse, these images present a colonial view of ethnic communities and cultures ranging from the Lepchas and Bhutias to the Afridis and the Todas. Titled Typecasting: Photographing the People of India 1855-1920, the show calls for a critical review of the “histories and errors of typecasting and makes available the historical photos for reflection on the systems of classification created during the colonial period,” states the gallery note. Curated by Sudeshna Guha, the show is accompanied by a publication with a foreword by Professor Christopher Pinney. On view at the Bikaner House till 15 February, 11 am to 7 pm.

Reimagining practices
The Kolkata Centre for Creativity is hosting Convergences: A Shared Ground—Lineages, Practices, Futures. This show is part of the seventh edition of the annual symposium, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, organised by the institution. Convergence examines artistic and architectural practices from the east and northeast. Some of the participating artists and collective include Anshu Kumari, Artisans’ Sustainable Development Foundation x Leshemi Origins, and Simi Deka. “The methods, materials, and their use, reuse, and repair are also central to the exhibition's conceptual framing,” states the curatorial note. On view at KCC, Kolkata, till 14 February.

Life in a ‘jhoola’
In January, Mumbai’s expansive design space Nilaya Anthology unveiled a retrospective of Pinakin Patel, the eminent septuagenarian architect and interior designer. Titled, The Turning Point: Five Decades of Form, Feeling, and Fearless Reinvention, it showcases 11 signature pieces defining his artistic journey. For instance, the playful four-poster Jhoola Bed; and the experimental Brahmaputra Dining Table with a water channel on its surface. A section of the exhibit features selected works of his mentor and Padma Bhushan awardee Dashrath Patel. A film and a book on Patel will be released later this month. On view at Nilaya Anthology, Lower Parel, till 31 March, 11 am to 7:30 pm.

‘Like a cat’
Shibu Natesan’s captivating water paintings, an interplay of light, shadow and atmosphere, are on display across two floors at Art Alive Gallery in Delhi as part of its twenty-fifth anniversary celebration. As the title suggests, Mirror Man, Mirror Me, Part II, it is the second edition of this exhibit featuring a decade-long showcase of his art. The first part was on view last year in the same space. The showcase unveils a collection of landscapes and open air paintings underscoring the evolution of his practice. In the gallery note, Natesan shares, “Watercolour as a medium, is like a cat. It is hard to tame. Each work is a new beginning.” On view at Art Alive Gallery, Panchsheel Park, till 1 March, 11 am to 7 pm.

One artist, two parallel shows
The world of Satish Gujral’s seven decades of art and architecture practice is enormous. Therefore, there are two spaces in Delhi, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and The Gujral House, that will showcase his vast collection. At NGMA, the show Satish Gujral: A Century in Form, Fire, and Vision curated by Kishore Singh, brings out the moments that defined his practice that are reflected in his choice of materials. The Gujral House officially opened on 31 January with an architectural retrospective curated by Rhea Sodhi. Apart from this, it will host design exhibitions and events linked to the ongoing India Art Fair. On view at NGMA, Shershah Road, till 31 March, 10 am to 6 pm; and The Gujral House, South Delhi, till 15 March.

Opposing forces
Exploring the Anthropocene through counterforces–creation and depletion, empathy and excess–is at the centre of The Teeming Earth, curated by Girish Shahane for Gallery Anant Art in Delhi. It brings together 26 contemporary artists with varied creative pursuits from across India. There’s theatre practitioner Ladiang Artimai Syiem from Meghalaya, surrealist painter Laxmipriya Panigrahi from Orissa, urban landscape painter Sudhir Patwardhan, visual artist Pritish Bali from Amritsar, to name a few. On view at Gallery Anant Art, Safdarjung Enclave, till 14 March, 11 am to 7 pm.

Living art
In the rural district of Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh, mudhomes are decorated with wall murals to mark prosperity and fresh starts during harvests and marriage. These women-led artistic pursuits, known as Sohrai and Khovar, are rendered in paper and canvas in the ongoing exhibition Auspice and Abundance: Ritual Paintings from Hazaribagh. It is curated by Pramod KG who partnered with Delhi’s OPS Gallery and brought women artists Malo Devi, Putli Ganju, Parvati Devi, and Rudhan Devi to present a creative practice rooted in inheritance, culture and memory. On view at Gallery Vayu, Lodhi Road, till 15 February, 11 am to 7 pm.

Painting the energy of the universe
At the Alliance Française Gallery, New Delhi, you come across canvases pulsating with energy. Artist Sujata Bajaj creates immersive environments around the visual and spiritual expanse of the cosmos and interprets them in her paintings. Nebulous spurts of colour, bursts of light and cosmic matter at different stages of creation and destruction are visible in her show titled Spacescapes. Her first solo of abstract works in the city after 16 years is being presented by Alliance Française and Institut français under the patronage of the French Embassy of India. It is being hailed as her more ambitious body of work till date. On view till 14 February at Alliance Française Gallery, New Delhi

Remembering a master
Vadehra Art Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition of the late modernist Manjit Bawa featuring ten canvases and eighteen works on paper, including his interpretation of the Narsimha avatar. “The protagonists of Manjit Bawa’s paintings are humanized figures of mythological deities, alongside animals depicted either in narrative service to these gods or asserting a divine temperament through their anthropomorphic anatomies,” states the gallery note. Drawn from the collection of Bawa’s children, Bhavna and Ravi, these works showcase the diversity of his oeuvre, with the artist working with pastel, pencil, charcoal, ink and tempera throughout his lifetime. On view at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-40, Defence Colony, New Delhi, till 2 March, Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm.

Ai Weiwei in India
Nature Morte is presenting Ai Weiwei’s first solo in India in collaboration with Galleria Continua, Italy. The artist is presenting works across sculpture, installation, film, photography, ceramics, and more. Especially interesting are his interpretation of pichvai paintings and S.H. Raza’s Surya Namaskar in Lego. These works “reflect his long-standing investigation into material evidence, cultural memory, and the politics of images,” states the gallery note. On view at Nature Morte till 22 February.

A creative mix
Latitude 28 is presenting a group show featuring both contemporary artists and modern masters such as Sohan Qadri, Prabhakar Barwe, Alexander Gorlizki, Desmond Lazaro and more. Titled Evolution/Involution, the exhibition revisits a significant artistic movement, which emerged post-1960s, when creative practitioners reinterpreted ancient symbolic forms through modernist abstraction. “Through geometric vocabularies—circles, triangles, grids, and fields of meditative colour—the works function as visual pathways to inwardness, energy, and consciousness, dissolving binaries between the spiritual and the material,” states the curatorial note by Khushboo Jain. On view at Latitude 28, New Delhi, till 15 March.

Towards freedom
Gallerie Nvya at Delhi’s Triveni Kala Sangam is hosting the exhibition With Her Hair Running Wild by the sexagenarian artist, Seema Kohli. It puts together pivotal phases of her artistic journey—from pen and ink drawings in the eighties to her experiments with colours in the nineties and bold strokes that define her mature practice later. Each of these transitional milestones reflect themes of feminine energy, selfhood and regeneration.One of her key pieces examines a woman’s role in the spiritual realm with a meditative female form wearing the sacred thread reserved for Brahmin men. On view at Gallerie Nvya, Triveni Kala Sangam, Friends Colony, till 15 March, 11 am to 7 pm.

Talking faces
The illustrious Sri Lanka-based Belgian artist Saskia Pintelon’s solo show No One Can Silence Me, is on view at Delhi’s Gallery Pristine Contemporary. Each canvas is a portrait accompanied by slogan-like texts. There’s a yellow face with text that reads ‘to the peak of her powers’; a brown face with ‘you have to be your own inspiration’; and a face with grey head proclaims ‘reaching self acceptance.’ There’s much to see, read and ponder. On view at Gallery Pristine Contemporary, Kotla, till 28 February, 11 am to 6 pm.

Framing nature
Multidisciplinary artist Ravi Agarwal’s solo exhibition Historia Denaturalis, Latin for the history of undoing nature, is on show at Gallery Espace. It is a significant showcase as part of India Art Fair Parallel 2026. The collection of photography, digital works, installation and moving image outlines Agarwal’s critical review of how natural history is displayed in museums. To wide the scope of engaging with ecology he collaborated with Patagonia-based glaciologist Dr Paulina Lopez to create a moving-image installation capturing changing ice and the future of freshwater. On view at Gallery Espace, New Friends Colony, till 14 March, 11 am to 7 pm.

Two by two
Every art piece has two perspectives. This concept is the focus of the show Double Consciousness by artist Lubna Chowdhary at Jhaveri Contemporary. The exhibition also draws from her third culture upbringing. She was born in East Africa and raised in the UK. The works, Verso Recto 1 and 2, relooks at the Western order of a book by changing the sequence from right to left prevalent in the scripts of South Asian languages such as Urdu. On view at Jhaveri Contemporary, Colaba, Mumbai, till 21 February, 11 am - 6:30 pm.

Feminist coded
Multidisciplinary New York-artist Alida Sun’s solo show RITES, that explores the history of women in computer software, is on view at Method Delhi. It presents her daily coding practice through custom software used to question Big Tech’s extractive models. Coding is represented through embroidery and tapestry created in collaboration with women and children NGO Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute.
On view at Method Delhi, Defence Colony, Delhi, till 10 March, 10 am - 6 pm

Hitting the club
An abandoned nightclub in Delhi turns into a temporary, experimental art destination, known as The Radial, for the show Party Is Elsewhere. The intention of the curators, Reha Sodhi and Amit Kumar Jain, is to take art beyond the ‘white cube’ environment of a traditional gallery, into an innovative space for an elevated experience. The collection includes renowned contemporary Indian and international artists such as Shilpa Gupta, Zarina Hashmi, Subodh Gupta, Ayesha Sultana, Atul Dodiya, Rana Begum, Jyoti Bhatt, among others. On view at The Radial, F 14/15, 2nd Floor, Inner Circle, Connaught Place, till 28 February from 11 am to 7 pm

Find your rhythm
Sacred Amritsar, a festival of mystic traditions, devotional music and cultural immersion returns to the city of the Golden Temple. There will be performances by Usha Uthup. Padma Shri Kailash Kher and Kutle Khan Project that’s known for folk and Sufi music. February 20–21, Qila Gobindgarh, Amritsar.

(Compiled by Avantika Bhuyan and Jahnabee Borah)