Stories abound in any conversation with artist and sculptor Satish Gupta. The Delhi-based creator opened his latest exhibition, One Note of Zen, presented by Gallery Art And Soul, at Worli yesterday. With over 20 canvas works, and two major sculptures, it marks one of the larger exhibitions by the artist in the city in recent years.

“A lot of my work revolves around shunya — emptiness. Understand that emptiness and fullness are two sides of the same coin,” Gupta remarks mystically. This mysticism is a theme of his longstanding interest in the philosophy of Zen that dates back to his 20s, when he travelled to Paris on a scholarship. “I remember walking down the banks of the Seine when I came across the famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore. As a student, I could only buy a second-hand book on Zen philosophy. It answered so many questions in my turbulent young mind,” he reveals.