From the quiet power of Japanese aesthetic traditions to large-scale fresco-like canvases inspired by celestial drama, these exhibitions offer immersive entry points into the creative mind
Art exhibitions across India this week. Photo Courtesy: Special Arrangement
As the year winds down, India’s art spaces are opening portals into worlds shaped by philosophy, memory, and imagination. Two compelling exhibitions, one in Mumbai and the other in New Delhi, invite viewers to experience contemporary art.
Mumbai
Floating World
At the Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences, an ambitious new exhibition titled 'Japanoise: In the Shadow of the Floating World' reimagines how Indian and Japanese artistic sensibilities converse. Bringing together a dynamic lineup of artists—Anju Dodiya, Astha Butail, Dayanita Singh, Manjunath Kamath, Meenakshi Nihalani, Mithu Sen, Parul Gupta, Remen Chopra Van Der Vaart, Shaurya Kumar, Shilpa Gupta, Thukral and Tagra, and Vinita Mungi—the exhibition resists the familiar frame of Japonisme. It highlights deep intersections: ephemeral gestures, atmospheric textures, and the poetic embrace of imperfection.
Visitors will encounter works shaped by Japanese aesthetic concepts such as ma (the beauty of negative space), wabi-sabi (the acceptance of transience), kintsugi (repair as renewal), and the floating world’s meditative attention to the everyday. Sculptures, paintings, installations, and mixed-media pieces collectively evoke stillness, subtle movement, and the quiet drama of natural cycles. The curation leans into shared material affinities and philosophical resonances, inviting audiences to perceive the familiar through a more contemplative lens.
On view: Until 3 January 2026
Where: Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences
New Delhi
Celestial Canvases
In New Delhi, Berlin-based contemporary artist Paul Kuntze presents his first solo exhibition 'Modern Fresko,' in India—an evocative blend of Baroque grandeur and modern abstraction. Presented at Black Cube Gallery in Hauz Khas, the show recalls the sweeping drama of Baroque frescoes: illusionistic skies, divine figures, and architectural expanses that seem to open up into other worlds. Yet Kuntze departs from strict historical fidelity, embracing gestural spontaneity and intuitive mark-making that roots his work firmly in the present.
The result is a canvas that feels both ancient and urgent. Soft washes and bold strokes tug between precision and improvisation, echoing the artist’s own philosophy of blending control with intuition. He describes his process as creating forms that evoke frescoes while inserting intuitive elements—especially figures—to nudge viewers toward their own imaginative interpretations. The paintings carry a sense of suspension, as though fragments of a celestial ceiling have drifted lightly down into contemporary space.
Dates: 5–27 December
Venue: Black Cube Gallery, G12A Hauz Khas, New Delhi
Timings: Tuesday to Saturday, 12–6 pm
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