Indigenous Accents: Raj Kishore Gupta’s Solo Exhibition Opens at Bikaner House, Delhi

A new solo exhibition by Chandigarh-based artist Raj Kishore Gupta will open at LTC, Bikaner House, New Delhi, from 2–6 July 2026. Titled Indigenous Accents, the exhibition is curated by Uma Nair and marks the inaugural presentation of the Raj Kishore Gupta Foundation, established by Aashita Gupta. The exhibition brings together works created during the Covid-19 pandemic and reflects Gupta’s engagement with indigenous visual traditions from India, Africa and Australia.

A Practice Rooted in Memory and Place

Created during a period of isolation and reflection, Indigenous Accents draws inspiration from Warli, Gond, Phulkari, Pahadi, African and Australian Aboriginal traditions. Gupta studied these visual languages extensively during the pandemic and found common themes centred on land, community memory, storytelling and cultural continuity. These influences became the foundation of a body of work that also incorporates personal memories, family histories and landscapes connected to his life.

Artworks Shaped by Indigenous Visual Languages

The exhibition presents a dense visual vocabulary featuring butterflies, trees, animals, flowering forms, geometric structures and ancestral motifs. Rather than functioning as isolated symbols, these elements interact across surfaces to create layered narratives that move between abstraction and storytelling.

Exhibition Highlights

• Works inspired by Warli, Gond, Phulkari and Pahadi traditions
• References to African and Australian Aboriginal visual cultures
• Sculptural artworks created on live-edge wood and tree trunks
• Resin-based works exploring memory and landscape
• Portrait series of the artist by photographer Avani Rai

Wood as a Creative Collaborator

A distinctive feature of the exhibition is Gupta’s use of live-edge wood. Working with sheesham and kikar slabs, circular tree trunks and wooden beams, he treats wood as an active collaborator in the creative process. Natural grain patterns, knots, fissures and contours influence the final composition, resulting in works that exist between painting, relief and sculpture.

Among the notable works are a series of vertical wooden beams layered with motifs and symbols gathered through years of research into indigenous traditions. These pieces function as repositories of memory and cultural continuity, reflecting how traditions travel across generations and geographies.

Revisiting Four Decades of Artistic Exploration

Born in 1957 in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, Raj Kishore Gupta has maintained an artistic practice spanning more than four decades. A graduate of the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, he trained in printmaking, developing an enduring interest in woodcuts, linocuts, layering, texture and pattern-making. These concerns continue to inform the visual language seen throughout Indigenous Accents.

Recent coverage of Chandigarh’s art scene has highlighted Gupta’s long-standing presence and contribution to the region’s cultural landscape.

Curatorial Perspective

Curator Uma Nair, an art critic and writer known for her extensive work on contemporary Indian art, describes the exhibition as a dialogue between artistic intervention and the material memory of trees. Her curatorial approach emphasises how Gupta’s retention of knots, bark and cracks transforms the works into sculptural explorations of time and impermanence. Uma Nair has written on Indian art and culture for several decades and has curated numerous exhibitions across the country.

Foundation Launch and Supporting Programme

The exhibition also marks the launch of the Raj Kishore Gupta Foundation. Founded by Aashita Gupta, the organisation aims to support established and emerging artists while encouraging artistic exchange across generations. Indigenous Accents serves as the Foundation’s first exhibition project.

Additional Presentation

• Portrait series of Raj Kishore Gupta by photographer Avani Rai
• Documentation of the artist’s creative process
• Presentation alongside the exhibition artworks

Visitor Information

Takeaway

Indigenous Accents brings together personal memory, indigenous knowledge systems and material experimentation in a single exhibition. Through works that bridge painting and sculpture, Raj Kishore Gupta examines the enduring connections between people, land and cultural traditions. The exhibition also signals the beginning of a new initiative through the Raj Kishore Gupta Foundation, contributing to ongoing conversations around artistic heritage and intergenerational cultural exchange.