Thota Vaikuntam’s Iconic Telangana Figures Reimagined at Chanakya Imagine Atelier

An Immersive Presentation at The Chanakya

Renowned artist Thota Vaikuntam presents an immersive showcase of his iconic Telangana figures at The Chanakya Imagine Atelier 2026, New Delhi, on 21st and 22nd January, 2026. The presentation explores identity, materiality, and cultural memory through a striking reimagining of his visual language across embroidery, bronze, and sculptural forms.

Reimagining Painting Through Embroidery

In a rare and intricate collaboration between painting and craft, Vaikuntam’s signature figures find new expression through silk and zardozi embroidery. Translated onto velvet surfaces, his distinctive colours, symbols, and forms are rendered using fine silk threads and embellished with precious and semi-precious gemstones. This material shift brings tactile depth to his visual narratives, expanding their emotional and sensory resonance.

Bronze Sculptures and Quiet Strength

Moving seamlessly between two and three dimensions, Vaikuntam’s bronze works introduce his recognisable figures into sculptural form while retaining their symbolic intensity. His bronze heads of men and women convey stillness and inner strength, animated by subtle accents of colour against dark bronze surfaces. The balance between stylised abstraction and natural detail lends these works both vitality and composure.

“The Sacred Gaze” in Monumental Form

Rendered in resinated fibreglass with automotive paint, The Sacred Gaze pays homage to the Telangana woman. These sculptural heads are not conventional portraits, but distilled embodiments of identity, memory, and belonging. Monumental in scale, the works merge the contemporary with the traditional, and the spiritual with the everyday—asserting presence through form, gaze, and colour.

Presented by Black Cube Gallery

The presentation is brought to New Delhi by Black Cube Gallery as part of The Chanakya Imagine Atelier 2026, held at The Chanakya. Across material transitions—from embroidery and bronze to sculptural forms—the exhibition highlights Vaikuntam’s enduring engagement with the people and spirit of Telangana.

Tradition Rearticulated Through Contemporary Expression

Together, the works reflect how Vaikuntam’s visual language continues to evolve through material experimentation. Moving fluidly between craft, sculpture, and monumental form, the presentation offers a contemplative encounter with cultural continuity—where tradition is not preserved as static history, but reimagined through contemporary expression.

Exhibition Details

Takeaway

By translating his iconic Telangana figures across diverse material forms, Thota Vaikuntam reaffirms his deep engagement with identity and cultural memory. The presentation at The Chanakya Imagine Atelier 2026 offers a nuanced dialogue between tradition and innovation-where craft, sculpture, and contemporary expression converge to keep cultural narratives alive and evolving.