Gallery Espace

Deadline Extended: Open Call for Submissions for ArteSpace edition on the theme of friendship We are thrilled by the enthusiastic response to our Open Call, and the wealth of compelling pitches we’ve received. We’re extending the deadline by a week, and you have until May 18th to frame your thoughts and send us a 250-500 word pitch. We continue to be open to submissions that negotiate the shifting boundaries of essay, paper, article, creative fiction and non-fiction. New Deadline: May 18th, 2026 Apply via the link in our bio. #artespace #galleryespace #art #submissions #opencall

📣 Soma Surovi Jannat: Climate Culture Care is now open at the Ashmolean Museum. As her Indian representative gallery, we are incredibly proud to celebrate Soma Surovi Jannat on her first UK museum solo exhibition! 🌟 This landmark show is a significant recognition for the visibility of the South Asian diaspora on the global stage, marking the first time a Bangladesh-based artist has held a solo exhibition in a UK museum. In this fifth edition of the Ashmolean NOW series, Soma draws inspiration from the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and the Ashmolean’s historic collections to address the urgent climate crisis. Through her intricate paintings and drawings, she critiques the profound link between natural disasters and social inequalities, reframing the South Asian narrative with dignity and power. 🌿✨ Highlights of the exhibition include: ~ A monumental 30-foot-long scroll depicting the interconnectedness of life between the sea and the sky. ~ An ephemeral, site-specific drawing completed by Surovi directly across the gallery walls. ~ Reflective works on paper that “resensitize” historical South Asian narratives and explore the sensory intelligence of nature. Soma’s vision is one that champions the resilience of marginalized communities and calls for collective global action, and we couldn’t be more proud to see her work take center stage at such a prestigious institution.🏛️ 📍 Soma Surovi Jannat: Climate Culture Care 🏛 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 🗓 28 March – 1 November 2026 @ashmoleanmuseum #SomaSuroviJannat #SouthAsianArt #AshmoleanNOW #ClimateCultureCare #SouthAsianDiaspora ✍️ Image Details: Between the Sea and the Sky, Who Holds the Ground? (Detail), 30-ft scroll, Soma Surovi Jannat, 2024-25. Archival ink pen on paper, acrylic colour, gold & silver leaf. All images © Soma Surovi Jannat 📷 Photo of Soma (cover slide) is by: Farid Ahmed Rafi

Dear Friends … We are delighted to announce an Open Call for an upcoming edition of ArteSpace on Friendship *curated by Aranya Padil*. Write to us….into poetry, and photobooks, collaborations and Biennales, festivals and paintings, installations, and sculpture, both figurative and abstract, extraordinary and commonplace. Write about imaginariums of filial affection transformed in the theatres of conflict. Write about two friends sitting together and watching the moon. Write about the political, the personal, and the public. Write about the intimate as a shared epiphany. Your email should contain
 i) PITCH (250-500 Words): Concept, Relationship to Theme, and Form of Writing you hope to explore ii) A bio-note (upto 200 words), with links to at least 2 published works For more information on SUBMISSION GUIDELINES : - /artespace/friendship-open-call/ (link in bio). We look forward to your submissions. #artgalleries #opencall #contemparyart #artwriter

Reminiscing a landmark moment as Gallery Espace celebrated G.R. Iranna’s participation at the India Pavilion of the 58th Venice Biennale, Our Time for a Future Caring, supported by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art Iranna’s monumental installation Naavu (We are Together)-composed of hundreds of handcrafted padukas-reflected on shared humanity, movement, memory, and the enduring relevance of Gandhian thought. Presented as part of the Gandhi 150 commemorations, the work stood as a powerful meditation on coexistence, resilience, and collective care. A proud moment for contemporary Indian art on the global stage, and a memory we continue to cherish. G R Iranna NAAVU (We are together) 2500 Padukas 2012 The artist refers to the Dandi March as a deeply spiritual act, one imbued with activism. #venicebiennale #griranna #dandimarch #contemporaryart #galleryespace

Debnath Basu’s artworks bring text, language into the visual field not as explanation, but as atmosphere being layered, whispered, and slowly dissolving into image. What begins as text becomes texture, and eventually, a visual language that resists clarity and leans into the absurd fragility of existence. Text doesn’t just sit still but breathes, shifts, and unsettles. “My images often stem from specific literary sources and begin to take shape visually circumventing the literalness of the idea and emphasizing more on a quirky idiosyncratic visual expression often bordering on absurdity and precariousness of human existence.” - Debnath Basu Drawing from Saadat Hasan Manto’s haunting story, Basu’s “Barbed Toba Tek Singh” reimagines the tragic figure of Toba Tek Singh suspended in ‘no man’s land’- a body caught between borders, identities, and histories. Not quite belonging, not quite leaving. It stays with you-quietly, insistently. Artist Name: Debnath Basu Birth Date: 1961 Title of Work: Barbed Toba Tek Singh Exhibition/Show Details: On Paper: A Group Show (on view till 15th June | Monday–Saturday, 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM) #debnathbasu #galleryespace #onpaper #exhibition #show

Harking back to ‘Bronze’ (2006) Exactly 20 years ago, Gallery Espace mounted a landmark exhibition across two floors of the Lalit Kala Akademi to celebrate the centenary of Ram Kinker Baij. Curated by Madan Lal, the ambitious show traced a century of Indian sculpture, bringing together 34 artists across generations — from pioneers like Somnath Hore and Meera Mukherjee to younger artists such as Arunkumar H.G. and Vibha Galhotra. Aku, Anita Dube, Arunkumar H.G., Dattatraya Apte, Debasish Bhattacharyya, Dhananjay Singh, Himmat Shah, Jaidev Baghel, K. Laxma Goud, K.S. Radhakrishnan, Karl Antao, Krishna Yadav, Latika Katt, Madan Lal, Meera Mukherjee, Nagji Patel, Navjot Altaf, Prodosh Dasgupta, Raghav Kaneria, Rajendar Tiku, Ram Kinker Baij, Ravinder G. Reddy, Riyas Komu, S. Nandagopal, S. Paramasivam, Sankho Chaudhuri, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury, Saroj Kumar Singh, Satish Gujral, Somnath Hore, Subodh Gupta, Sunil Gawde, Trupti Patel, Vibha Galhotra. In the exhibition catalogue, Sankho Chaudhuri recalled how his teacher revolutionized sculptural practice in India: “…A pioneer in modern Indian sculpture, he [Baij] showed the way in more than one direction for the younger generation. At that time even plaster of Paris had to be brought from Calcutta. It was imported and very costly. Ram Kinker found an alternative in cement casting. Taking a cue from the idol makers, he made a skeleton of ordinary bamboo and plastered it with mud and cow dung, to be finally coated with tar… He took to the use of iron rods and a mixture of cement bonded with pebbles from the local ‘Khoai’. He built large figures out of it. Technically, it opened a new door.” #show #exhibition #2006 #throwbackthursday #galleryespace

#Venicediaries Moments from the Opening Reception of the India Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia featuring “Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home”. Set within the historic halls of Palazzo Pisani, the exhibition is envisioned as a “space for collective reflection on the evolving nature of belonging in today’s world” Pictured here are Renu Modi and Rasika Kajaria with artist Sumakshi Singh in front of her installation ‘Permanent Address’; Curator Amin Jaffer alongside Alwar Balasubramaniam’s ‘Drift’ in earth and resin; Ranjani Shettar’s delicate botanical installation ‘Under the same sky’; And the monumental bamboo intervention ‘Chaal’ by Asim Waqif weaving itself through the architecture of the pavilion. The exhibition remains on view from May 9 to November 22 at the India Pavilion, Venice. #indiainvenice #venicebiennale #galleryespace #ministryofculturegoi

Glimpses from the preview night of On Paper: A Group Show. We’re truly grateful to everyone who joined us for the opening of On Paper and made the evening so memorable. It was wonderful to see such an engaged and thoughtful response to the works on view. We look forward to welcoming you again over the course of the exhibition. On view till 15th June Open Monday to Saturday | 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM #onpaper #gallery #onview #fyp #galleryespace

#Repost @sovereignasianartprize with @use.repost ・・・ DAY 11 | Indian artist, Ishita Chakraborty with her work ‘Where The Wild Things Roam, Tea’. Discover Ishita Chakraborty’s Artsy Viewing Room and read our interview with her via the link in bio as she reflects on land, labour, and colonial legacies through textile and botanical imagery. Bid now via the link in bio or email us at [email protected] for enquiries. Vote for your favourite to win the Public Vote Prize via the link in bio!

Glimpses from the preview night of On Paper: A Group Show. We’re truly grateful to everyone who joined us yesterday at the opening if ‘On Paper’ and made it so memorable. We look forward to welcoming you again through the course of the exhibition. On view till 15th June Open Monday to Saturday | 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM #galleryespace #contemporaryart #fyp #art #onpaper

#ThrowbackThursday Long before On Paper: A Group Show finds its place on our walls today, Gallery Espace has been quietly building a rich and rigorous legacy around the medium of paper, returning to it time and again as a site of experimentation, intimacy, and radical thought. From the landmark 1992 Works on Paper curated by Jogen Chowdhury, bringing together stalwarts like M. F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta, and Arpita Singh, to the layered inquiries of Beyond the Surface (2000) under Renu Modi, the journey has unfolded through decades of dialogue. The early 2000s saw In Conversation (2001), curated by Gayatri Sinha, weaving together voices like Bhupen Khakhar, Anju Dodiya, and Vivan Sundaram, followed by Paper Flute (2006) curated by Johnny ML, and The Lyric Line (2006), revisiting the poetic force of early drawings through masters like F. N. Souza and Ganesh Pyne. The conversation continued with Works on Paper (2012), and culminated in the expansive Drawing 2014, celebrating 25 years of the gallery curated by Prayag Shukla alongside Annapurna Garimella and Sindhura D.M., mapping seven decades of Indian drawing. A medium often considered modest, paper at Espace has held some of the most expansive artistic visions. As we open yet another chapter, we look back at the many that shaped it. ✨ #onpaper #groupshow #gallery #galleryespace

ASHIM PURKAYASTHA (b. 1968) is a Delhi-based painter whose work reflects the socio-political landscape of Assam, where he grew up. Trained at Visva-Bharati University under Jogen Chowdhury, he draws from folk traditions and popular visual culture. His layered compositions, often incorporating cut-outs, explore memory, displacement, and the tensions of an industrialising society, moving between the imagery of Assam and the urban realities of Delhi, where he lives and works. We look forward to your presence at On Paper: A Group Show at Gallery Espace. Date: 30 April 2026 Time: 6:00 PM onwards