A Solo Exhibition by Om Soorya

Palette Art Gallery presents The Luminous Twilight: Place No Trace / Trace No Place, a solo exhibition by contemporary artist Om Soorya. Opening on 24 January 2026 at the gallery’s Golf Links space in New Delhi, the exhibition will remain on view until 20 February 2026.

Landscape as a Psychological and Cultural Terrain

The exhibition explores landscape not as a fixed geography, but as a fluid psychological and socio-cultural construct—shaped by memory, erasure, power, and transformation. Soorya’s practice reflects on how places are continuously produced, remembered, and reimagined in response to rapid urbanisation, technological acceleration, and ideological change.

Rooted in History and Meditative Inquiry

Born in Kerala in 1977, Soorya trained in History and Painting at Calicut University, the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, and the University of Hyderabad. This layered academic background informs his painterly investigations, bringing historical depth and psychological nuance to his surreal, meditative landscapes.

Liminal Zones of Contemporary Experience

Soorya’s works unfold within liminal terrains where rural and urban, past and present, permanence and transience intersect. Fragmented horizons, floating architectural forms, and disrupted spatial cues mirror migratory identities and the erosion of fixed belonging, positioning instability as a defining condition of contemporary life.

Motifs of Memory, Loss, and Return

Recurring visual elements—pathways, terraced structures, stupa-like forms, and clusters of light—emerge from interior and archetypal landscapes shaped by memory and imagination. These motifs evoke cycles of loss, transformation, and return, suggesting environments on the brink of disappearance.

Light as Metaphor and Signal

 

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Using fluid pigments, layered tonalities, and corroded textures, Soorya creates surfaces that hold the emotional residue of history rather than its documentation. The absence of figuration heightens isolation, while light plays a central role—functioning both as a spiritual metaphor and a contemporary signal that bridges continuity and decay.

Place No Trace / Trace No Place

The exhibition’s paradoxical subtitle encapsulates its central tension. As landscapes vanish under urban development and ecological collapse, cultural memory too erodes. What remains is a suspended terrain where traces persist without stable anchors, allowing multiple temporalities to coexist and meaning to remain in motion.

Exhibition Details

Takeaway

The Luminous Twilight offers a poetic meditation on contemporary existence, where landscapes dissolve, histories corrode, and identities migrate. Through surreal terrains and luminous pauses, Om Soorya invites viewers to inhabit spaces where memory flickers amid decay—reminding us that while places may vanish, meaning remains perpetually in motion.

A Posthumous Solo Exhibition Honouring Mona Bendre

Art Magnum will present The Poetics of the Ordinary, a solo exhibition of works by the late artist Mona Bendre, opening on 1st February 2026 and on view until 14 March 2026. The exhibition brings together 23 artworks, offering audiences a rare and reflective insight into Bendre’s quiet yet deeply resonant artistic practice.

Curated Reflection on a Life of Sensitivity and Discipline

Curated by Subhra Mazumdar and Gayatri Mathur, the exhibition traces an artistic journey shaped by spirituality, discipline, and attentiveness to nature and everyday experience. Rather than spectacle, Bendre’s work embraces stillness—revealing how ordinary spaces and moments can hold emotional depth and contemplative presence.

Finding Meaning in the Everyday

This posthumous presentation showcases how Bendre transformed modest interiors, simple landscapes, still-life arrangements, and floral compositions into meditative visual spaces. Corners of rooms, familiar objects, and quiet moments become sites of memory and reflection, encouraging viewers to pause and look again at what is often overlooked.

A Restrained Palette and Textured Surfaces

A defining feature of Bendre’s work is her earthy, restrained palette. Deep maroon browns, muted ochres, and softened tonal layers create an atmosphere of quiet intensity. Her textured surfaces—built through repetition and thoughtful layering—suggest time, lived rhythms, and emotional accumulation rather than dramatic gestures.

Floral Motifs as Emotional Language

Recurring floral arrangements form a strong emotional and symbolic thread throughout the exhibition. Often composed from fallen blossoms gathered from her own garden, these works reflect Bendre’s bond with nature and her belief in the dignity of small, everyday acts. Each flower is rendered with individual character, mirroring personal memory and lived experience.

Landscapes, Early Works, and Chromatic Contrast

Alongside the floral works, the exhibition includes select landscapes and early paintings from the late 1960s, revealing Bendre’s confident use of impasto and expressive texture. A contrasting still-life series introduces brighter hues—reds, yellows, and metallic tones—offering a sensorial and joyful counterpoint to her predominantly earth-toned compositions.

A Family-Led Act of Preservation

The exhibition has been made possible through the sustained dedication of the artist’s family, particularly her son Padmanabh Bendre and granddaughter-in-law Sonia Bendre. Their commitment to revisiting and sharing Bendre’s work has brought this significant body of art into public view.

Exhibition Details

Takeaway

The Poetics of the Ordinary stands as both a tribute and an invitation—honouring Mona Bendre’s lifelong belief that meaning resides in attentiveness to the familiar. Through restrained colour, textured surfaces, and quiet subject matter, the exhibition encourages slowness, reflection, and an intimate engagement with everyday life.

A Centenary Presentation Honouring Satish Gujral

Gujral Within: An Introspection is an exhibition of works by the late modern master Satish Gujral(1925–2025), presented in the centenary year of the artist. The exhibition is organised by RGAL | Raseel Gujral Art Legacy in collaboration with Dhoomimal Art Centre, and will be held at Bikaner House. 

An Acquisition-Led and Inward Journey

This marks the first acquisition-led presentation of works drawn entirely from the private collection of Raseel Gujral. Rather than functioning as a retrospective, Gujral Within is conceived as an inward journey—entering the distilled, reflective terrain of Gujral’s later decades. The exhibition offers collectors and institutions a rare opportunity to encounter original works and editions that have never been exhibited publicly before. 

Works from the Artist’s Final Decade

The exhibition brings together a carefully edited body of paintings, drawings, and sculptures, focusing largely on the final decade of Satish Gujral’s artistic practice. During this period, form was reduced, gestures became deliberate, and meaning was carried with quiet authority. These works reflect an artist who no longer sought to persuade or explain, but to observe, refine, and hold complexity with restraint. 

Enduring Themes and Deepened Inwardness

The lifelong concerns that shaped Gujral’s work—identity, displacement, political conscience, architecture, and the human condition—continue to surface in these works, though with heightened inwardness. Speaking less through declaration and more through internal resonance, the works are reflective, uncompromising, and acutely aware of the distance between the artist and the world he observed. 

Drawn from a Private Collection

Assembled not for spectacle but for proximity, the works on view were lived with and returned to over time. Selected for their capacity to hold thought, memory, and moral tension, the exhibition invites viewers to linger and encounter Gujral not as an icon, but as a thinking and questioning presence. 

RGAL and a Longstanding Gallery Association

The exhibition is presented under RGAL | Raseel Gujral Art Legacy, an initiative dedicated to preserving, contextualising, and extending Satish Gujral’s artistic and intellectual legacy. The collaboration with Dhoomimal Art Centre acknowledges a long-standing association that supported Gujral’s work through significant phases of his career—making this centenary co-hosting a gesture of reflection and continuity. 

Centenary Limited Edition Prints

As part of Gujral Within, five works from the private collection have been selected for release as centenary limited edition prints, marking the first such edition under RGAL. These works, never previously editioned, are reproduced on museum-grade archival paper using archival pigment processes. Each artwork will have nine reproductions in the first edition, with a total of 99 per work released in carefully measured phases over time. 

Stewardship, Authenticity, and Access

Individually numbered and authenticated, each print is issued with formal certification under RGAL. A limited number of artist’s proofs and institutional copies are retained within the archive. Conceived as extensions of Gujral’s inner vocabulary rather than conventional reproductions, the editions aim to extend access while remaining anchored in authenticity, provenance, and curatorial care. 

Exhibition Details

Takeaway

Gujral Within: An Introspection offers a contemplative encounter rather than a monumental survey. By bringing together unseen works from Satish Gujral’s later years, the exhibition foregrounds restraint, silence, and moral weight—allowing form to speak quietly and inwardly. In the centenary year of the artist, the presentation stands as an act of stewardship, extending Gujral’s dialogue into new collections with integrity and intent.

A Rare Dual Opening in the Capital

A truly rare artistic moment arrives in New Delhi this February with the simultaneous opening of two ground-breaking solo exhibitions—The Enigma of Jaipur and The Jadugar of Jaipur. Presented by The Crites Collection in collaboration with ICA Gallery – Jaipur, the exhibitions offer a deep dive into Rajasthan’s “outsider” art movement through the works of the late Nannu Singh and contemporary visionary Nagdas.

Curatorial Vision Rooted in Indigenous Art Scholarship

The exhibitions are conceptualised by indigenous art scholar Minhazz Majumdar and renowned American expert Mitchell A. K. Crites, alongside the Bansal family of ICA Gallery, Jaipur. Crites has spent over 55 years in India working with folk, tribal, and tantric artists, while the Bansal family has been custodians of one of Jaipur’s most significant collections of Sanskrit documents and traditional miniatures for three generations.

The Enigma of Jaipur: Nannu Singh’s Visionary Legacy

The Enigma of Jaipur showcases the work of the extraordinary self-taught artist Nannu Singh (1905–2005), often referred to as the “Picasso of India.” His contemplative paintings—created on handmade paper using stone-ground and mineral pigments—bridge folk and tantric traditions with modern abstraction. Stylised yet deeply spiritual, Singh’s works evoke mystery and inner conflict, situating identity and belief between past and present. Crites regards him as one of the most significant and creative Indian artists of the last century.

The Jadugar of Jaipur: Nagdas and Mythic Imagination

In contrast, The Jadugar of Jaipur presents the powerful black-and-white paintings of Nagdas, a young self-trained artist whose work channels the spirit of the “jadugar” or magician. His hypnotic compositions are populated by therianthropes—hybrid beings merging human, animal, and mythical forms—drawn from folk myths, oral traditions, and personal vision. Working intuitively without preparatory sketches, Nagdas treats art as spiritual worship, constructing worlds where the real and the mythical coexist.

A Shared Creative Pulse from the Pink City

While distinct in tone and approach, both exhibitions are united by their engagement with the protean creativity of Jaipur—celebrated here as a true City of Artists. Together, the shows reveal how folk memory, spirituality, and imagination continue to inform contemporary outsider practices.

Hosted at India Habitat Centre

Spread across the Visual Arts Gallery and the Open Palm Court at the India Habitat Centre, the twin exhibitions underscore the curatorial mission of The Crites Collection and ICA Gallery – Jaipur to foreground significant artist voices and foster meaningful conversations within contemporary Indian art.

Exhibition at a Glance

Conclusion

Together, The Enigma of Jaipur and The Jadugar of Jaipur offer two singular yet complementary journeys into the artistic soul of Jaipur. By bringing together visionary works by Nannu Singh and Nagdas, the exhibitions promise an immersive experience for collectors, scholars, and art enthusiasts—revealing how outsider art continues to shape and challenge narratives within contemporary Indian art.