Drawing In

An ongoing exhibition in Delhi showcases how connections across generations and mediums are established through drawings.

Written by Vandana Kalra

Mumbai | July 25, 2015 12:00 AM IST

3 min read

Shilpa Gupta, Shilpa Gupta India, Shilpa Gupta India map, DelhiArt Gallery, Delhi Vadehra Art Gallery, Mumbai talk

Shilpa Gupta’s India has travelled the world over — from Montreal to Ecuador, Italy to Hong Kong. The sketch of India on carbon tracings does not have the exact physical boundaries that we recognise, but Gupta intended it to be notional. She had asked 100 people to draw the map-logo of India by memory, none of which matched. “The work is about the different ways the idea of a nation is imagined by those who live there. The project sought to rethink relations of power inherent in cartography, to take it away from institutional forces and use it for reconsidering existing boundaries,” says Gupta.

In the ongoing exhibition “Impulses in Drawing”, at Delhi’s Vadehra Art Gallery, Gupta’s celebrated work questions not just the topographical borders but also the bias for mediums in art. “It is an exercise in understanding and philosophising the process, the physicality and the temporality of making a drawing,” says curator Shivangi Singh.
So works have been paired across the display, establishing links between artists. If Gipin Varghese’s The Wind Blows Wherever it Pleases is juxtaposed with Bhupen Khakhar ceramic sculptures, Gupta’s 100 Hand Drawn Maps of My Country is paired with Ram Kumar’s 1961 pen drawings. Through the former, Singh comments on the process of creating a sculptural form where drawing could play an important part, while in the latter, the discussion is around the landscape.

Comprising works across mediums and generations, the collection delves into the instinct for drawing, a medium that has often scored below others in the art mart. “For several artists, the form of expression is the starting point for their work,” says Singh. In the exhibition, she has brought together 14 artists, including the likes of Aami Atmaja, Zakhir Husain, Arpita Singh, Chameli Ramachandran and Jagannath Panda. “We are moving away from the definition of drawing as something on paper, to it being a process,” adds Singh.

While she successfully interweaves a display, questions are raised regarding the very basics — Aruna Rao pulls a leaf out of a rule book, deciphering the alphabet from the known to gibberish in “Say,Trace and Write!”. Rakhi Peswani, on the other hand, is deconstructing the human body. In “Envisioning the Seer (Studies on Seeing)”, she picks the needle and thread to study human anatomy.

The exhibition is on till August 25.

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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