Genesis

Sanchit Art presents Genesis – a solo show by Nandan Purkayastha curated by Uma Nair

Sanchit Art is delighted to present Nandan Purkayastha’s solo exhibition Genesis at Bikaner House on 17th January 2024. Curated by art historian and scholar Uma Nair, on view, for the first time ever in the city of Delhi will be an epic series of drawings and painted coloured works on paper as well as a monumental wall mural-esque drawing with thousands of hand drawn figures in animated conversations. Purkayastha is a self-taught artist trained in fashion design.

On both floors of CCA at Bikaner House the drawings will belong to a series that transcend time and space. The monochrome, sepia and crimson tinted series look like lacquered elements from an album of time past and time present.

Curator Uma Nair says: Nandan’s figures move from antiquity to present poise, his carefully orchestrated angles and scales meet the human gaze gently, permeating the walls, with a dynamism and an invisible force that radiates from the beginning towards the end of the works on paper.”

With more than 80 drawings including two large canvasses titled As Time Goes by I & II, that captures the beauty of Indian history and antiquity, this show promises to create an inclusive and immersive experience for art lovers in the city. The most monumental work in the exhibition- Time and Being, spans 17 ft x7 ft and becomes a drawing that takes on the mirror image of a mural that has been created like a cinematic continuum. At best the show Genesis will reveal the interdependence between humans and our surrounding worlds, as it recreates animated tableaus of feminine and human fables all wrapped up in the contours and colours of Purkayastha’s past memories and experiences.

Deeply influenced by the Bengali alphabet’s curled contours and the Durga puja pandal preparations in Assam where he grew up Nandan’s album of drawings spring from his observations as well as fantasia. Spread on two floors of CCA, Bikaner House’s best space to showcase art, the show promises to continually inspire us to further our ecological consciousness in the canvas of our lives in the eternal connections between man and nature and time and tide.

Purkayastha will have a live drawing exercise each day with a circular canvas shaped like a mandala. These works will create their own synergy between the evocative essence of the past and the present and the beauty of human figures in art.

Sanchit Art, one of India’s finest art galleries, deal mostly with Indian Masters, have recently finished brilliant shows in Singapore as well as Hong Kong along with a historic retrospective by Manoj Datta in Kolkata now brings Nandan Purkayastha’s major show to the art lovers of the capital city. A series of curatorial talks will be held for college students and art lovers along the week. The show runs from 17th January to 23rd January 2024.

Preview and Cocktails : Wednesday, 17th January 2024 (5 pm onwards)

Exhibition continues from 18th January 2024 – 23rd January 2024 (Timings: 11 am – 7 pm)