I'm not a spontaneous painter. I have to make it happen." Although he described his artistic process in a nutshell, the physicality of Jehangir Sabavala's work was anything but instantaneous. The late artist's thoughts were translated into several preliminary sketches to plot and plan his work. Bits of these sketches lead to a master sketch, which finally materialises in the canvases, some of which now find their way into auctions and achieve record-breaking feats. Tomorrow, Colaba gallery Akara Art will present Sabavala's first posthumous solo exhibition in a gallery setting.

Titled Jehangir Sabavala: Pilgrim Souls, Soaring Skies, Crystalline Seas, the show features 15 artworks, many of which have rarely been placed in public view, and traces his seven-decade-old career. Puneet Shah, the gallery's founder, has always wanted to do a Sabavala show. "I had conveyed the same to Shirin [Sabavala's wife] when we opened the gallery [in 2009]. This show took six to eight months of planning. The lockdown gave us a good opportunity to research and reach out to people who possessed works by him," he says.