Kalakriti Art Gallery is delighted to share their upcoming group exhibitions, Prakriti: A Quiet Continuum and Living Lineages, opening with a preview on 2 May.
The two exhibitions will feature contemporary and emerging artists Lal Bahadur Singh, Sumanto Chowdhury, Roy K John, and K. Sudheesh; and folk artists Bhuri Bai, Balu Jivya Mashe, Saroj Venkat Shyam and Venkat Raman Shyam.
Prakriti: A Quiet Continuum introduces viewers to ‘prakriti’ or nature as both an external landscape and an inner state. The works in the exhibition show each artists’ relationship to it through a personal lens. Roy K John depicts rich jungles, vegetation and flowers to portray giant cultivation areas which are used as symbols of sustenance, which are simultaneously under threat due to environmental issues. Lal Bahadur Singh’s subjects like the parrot and cow are easily recognizable creatures in India and are used as a reminder of how urban life has encroached on rural locales.
Sudheesh K’s recent body of work emerges from an intimate and sustained engagement with a lake near his home that serves as both site and subject where he depicts mirrored forms of trees on its surface effectively bridging the visible world and his inner emotional landscape. Sumanto Chowdhury draws inspiration from architectural forms and Indian miniature paintings; his works are devoid of human figures yet include expansive landscapes and skies that bridge nature and human habitation.
Living Lineages brings into dialogue a group of artists whose practices are grounded in indigenous and folk traditions. Their works reflect a continuity of knowledge systems that have been passed down from generation to generation instead of an academic, formal instruction. Repetition, pattern, and gesture become tools through which stories are remembered, reinterpreted, and passed on. At the same time, the exhibition acknowledges the shifting contexts within which these practices exist today. Balu Jivya Mashe’s Warli artworks depict human figures using geometric shapes such as circles, triangles and squares to show life and beliefs of the Warli tribe. His works also include the popular spiral chain of people around a central motif in accordance with his community’s belief that life is an eternal journey with no beginning or end.
Bhuri Bai, the celebrated Bhil folk artist uses bright colours to showcase her village’s everyday life including domestic animals and birds. Her work features elongated, surreal forms that are filled with dots, spirals, and elaborate patterns. Gond artists Saroj and Venkat Shyam draw inspiration from myths, fables, cosmological beliefs and nature. Their works are built through meticulous dots, dashes and rhythmic linear repetitions which creates the illusion of an image in motion. Also on display are Cheriyal scrolls, a regional storytelling scroll painting from Telangana that have been around for centuries that bring local hindu folklore and village life to vivid form.
Gallerist Rekha Lahoti says, “Prakriti: A Quiet Continuum brings together a thoughtful group of contemporary artists engaging with nature in diverse ways. While rooted in the natural world, the works invite a sense of calm and stillness, and open up space for introspection. This quiet dialogue begins within the viewer and gently encourages reflection and questioning. Alongside this, Living Lineages allows us to engage more closely with indigenous practices and ongoing traditions. The exhibition brings together diverse media, from the sculptural presence of Bidri to the narrative scrolls of Cheriyal scroll painting, some extending up to 50 – 60 feet, rooted in Telangana’s rich storytelling heritage. We also present practices such as Gond art and Burli, each reflecting distinct cultural expressions and material traditions. Over time, we’ve often been asked by collectors about the growing visibility of living traditions and how they differ from contemporary practices. Presenting these exhibitions side by side became a natural response, creating a space where both can be experienced together. While they differ in form, process, and context, this juxtaposition allows viewers and collectors to engage more closely and decide for themselves what resonates more deeply. It becomes less about defining differences and more about opening up a dialogue between ways of making, seeing, and understanding art.”
Prakriti: A Quiet Continuum and Living Lineages offers viewers an opportunity to see Kalakriti Art Gallery’s 4,500 space which is intended to provide a stimulus to artistic and curatorial practices in Hyderabad. Developed as a hub for South Asian contemporary art, it will enable the gallery to build on its existing programming acting as a gallery and a space for cultural exchange in South India.
Gallery Address: Kalakriti Art Gallery, Plot 8-2-465/1, Road No 4, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500034 Hours: Open everyday, 11 AM – 7 PM