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Holding the Gaze is built on a simple idea. Stay longer than you usually would.

The exhibition brings together works that unfold through time. Muted surfaces. Reduced forms. Subtle shifts in tone and material. Nothing competes for attention. Each work holds its ground and asks the viewer to meet it there.

The show draws from the idea of Eigengrau, the colour seen when the eyes are closed. That field between darkness and perception. A space where vision slows and adjusts.

The exhibition values presence. It asks for patience. It invites you to stand, look, and allow the work to reveal itself gradually.

Holding the gaze becomes an act of care. A way of seeing that deepens through duration.

Artists: ABHIJIT PATHAK, BALASAHEB CHAUDHARI, RUBKIRAT VOHRA, KIYOMI TALAULICAR, HARPREET NARULA AND MALCOLM FERNANDES

A journey inward, both distant and near.

I keep returning to my shadow. It follows without asking. It appears when I stand still. It stretches when I move. In earlier images, I began noticing it as a quiet companion. Now, in these new photographs, it feels more deliberate. Less accidental.

A shadow is distance and closeness at once. It is attached to the body, yet separate. It mirrors form without revealing detail. It carries presence without identity. I see it as a reminder that we are always in dialogue with parts of ourselves we cannot fully understand.

Near enough to recognise. Distant enough to question.

A good art practice needs exposure beyond its own lane.

Being at India Design ID was that for me. A chance to step into the design world and observe how material, function and space are approached with a different mindset. The conversations are different. The pace is different. The audience looks at objects with a question of use before emotion. That shift matters.

Walking the fair gave me perspective. It pushes me to think about how my work occupies space outside the white cube.

Design sharpens you. It forces clarity. It asks how something lives in the real world.

I want to thank everyone who showed up and engaged with my work. Fellow artists who shared honest conversations. Collectors who trusted the work enough to live with it. Viewers who spent time, asked questions, looked closely. Family and friends who stood quietly behind the scenes. Every response mattered.

The experience left me humbled. It reminded me why I chose this path. The energy in the space was rare. Thousands of visitors stopping to take photographs. Buyers choosing works with care. Endless curiosity around process, material, and technique. Real dialogue. Real attention. This is what artists dream of.

It felt surreal and grounding at the same time. A moment where effort meets grace. I hold deep gratitude to the almighty for allowing me to witness something like this. These moments stay with you long after the lights come down.

This response gives me fresh vigour. It raises the bar for the work ahead. I feel a stronger responsibility to go deeper, to stay honest, to keep pushing the practice forward. Thank you for believing in the work and in the journey.

This February I will be at the India Art Fair with my gallery Art Explore. You will find us at Booth C10 from the 5th to the 8th.

I am bringing a new body of abstract works on wood. These pieces carry my ongoing interest in memory, architecture, and lived experience. Wood remains central to my practice. It holds time. It resists control. It asks for patience and honesty in return.

Alongside these, I will also present smaller, more intimate works on paper. These works feel closer to the hand and to the moment. They allow space for quiet gestures and subtle shifts. They sit somewhere between thought and instinct.

This is my debut at the India Art Fair. It feels meaningful to share this work here, at this point in my journey. I am excited to show, to meet viewers, and to have real conversations around the work.

If you are visiting the fair, I would love for you to stop by, spend time with the works, and see how they speak to you.

Art Explore, Booth C10
India Art Fair
5 to 8 February

I look back at my journey with a kind of quiet astonishment. Life rarely gives clear signposts. You sense a shift only when you see how far you have travelled. My entry into Art Explore arrived during a phase when my inner world felt blurry. As it is with most artists. My mind carried too much weight and my emotions moved with little structure. Art stayed steady while everything else kind of wavered. That steadiness kept me alive as an artist and as a person.

My first meeting with the gallery still feels fresh. The atmosphere eased me. I had walked in with hesitation layered over me, half expecting scrutiny or formality. Instead there was warmth, ease, simple conversation, and a feeling that I could breathe. I had spent years building my practice and I knew of the gallery through peers and fellow artists. Even so, the idea that they had been following my work long before reaching out surprised me. It felt like a quiet validation that came at a time when my self belief occasionally flickered.

Trust takes time. Faith takes longer. There is always a slow dance between an artist and a gallery. Each is figuring out the other. With Art Explore the rhythm settled almost naturally. Their mentorship shaped my thinking in ways I had been craving without fully realising it. Guidance came through questions, conversations, provocations and reminders. My ideas gained structure. My concepts found sharper edges. My work moved with a clearer pulse.

Before this phase my subconscious spoke in whispers that I struggled to decode. My intentions for each piece floated without full form. Over the past months something within me has opened. I have begun to understand my own mind with more clarity. Expression feels deliberate rather than scattered. The emotional residue that once clouded my thinking has eased. I still search, still question, still confront uncertainty, yet the search carries a stronger spine. Clarity does not arrive in a single moment. It unfolds. Working with the gallery has accelerated this unfolding.

Support came in many small ways and some large ones. Exhibitions, logistics, art fairs, feedback, introductions, honest conversations and simple reassurance. Each part matters. It is rare to find a team that cares about the full life of the work and the person behind it. The timing felt guided. I was ready for direction even if I was unaware of it. Some journeys align with an almost uncanny precision and this was one of them.

Art Mumbai affirmed all of this. Standing in that space and watching viewers interact with my work brought a rush of energy I had been missing for years. The warmth from collectors, buyers, visitors and peers gave me the sense that my efforts were finally reaching the audience I always hoped for. Each conversation added a spark. Each sale carried encouragement. Each moment of engagement grounded me again in the reason I create.

The fair renewed my spirit. It also showed me that a community surrounds my practice even when I retreat into solitude. That community includes people who support my journey silently, those who challenge me, those who invest in the work, and those who simply feel something when they encounter it. Art grows through this shared exchange. I left the fair with fresh direction, a stronger sense of purpose and a deeper commitment to the path ahead.

Looking back at the past year I see a kind of quiet destiny at play. I walked into Art Explore during a fragile phase and ended up finding an ecosystem that strengthened me. My ideas gained weight. My voice gained steadiness. My work gained freedom. A shift like this is rare and I feel grateful for it.

To everyone who engaged with my work at Art Mumbai and beyond, I feel a deep sense of appreciation. To the collectors who believed in the pieces, to the viewers who paused long enough to connect, to my fellow artists who shared space and energy, and to the gallery team that stood with me, thank you. You have all shaped the next chapter of my journey.

This phase has pushed me forward. I feel ready for larger risks, deeper research and a more open exploration of the ideas that keep calling me. The journey continues with renewed strength.

Q1. The past two years seem to have been an important phase for you. How have they shaped your practice?
The past two years have been rejuvenating. I’ve had time to step back, look at my work with distance, and return to it with more energy. The conversations with the gallery have been refreshing. Having someone see the work from another lens has brought a new rhythm to my thinking. My process feels more grounded now. I’m working with intent rather than habit.

Q2. Where do you feel your work stands today?
It feels more cohesive. There’s more clarity, less noise. I’ve stopped worrying about how it should look and started paying attention to what feels honest. The idea is to be as true to myself as possible. When that happens, everything else falls in place—the materials, the forms, even the silences within the work.

Q3. Conceptually you have relied on architecture, history and the Mehrab. Can you elaborate?
As an artist I’ve always relied on architecture and history, especially the Mehrab, which is close to me in symbolic ways. These have been at the core of my exploration from the start. They give my work a sense of continuity and anchor. As I evolve, I’m working with different aspects of the same broader theme—personal perspectives within these larger ideas. Some pieces draw directly from architectural motifs, others from how memory holds space. As I go deeper, I might define these elements further or leave them more open. The key is to enjoy the process and express freely. Let’s see where it takes me.

Q4. Your material choices are expanding. How do you approach them now?
The material is important, but it’s not the centre of everything. I see it as a language that carries the idea, not define it. Conceptual depth matters more to me. For the first time, I’m working with copper and wood alongside other metals, paper and cement. Each brings a different weight, both physically and symbolically. Copper, for instance, feels alive—it changes with time. Wood brings warmth. The mix creates an interesting dialogue within the work.

Q5. Tell us about the new elements we might see in your upcoming works.
There’s a lot happening with scale and form. I’ve been playing with sharper lines and larger shapes—they create a tension I like. I’ve also been exploring the Abugida script. It came into the work almost intuitively. It adds another layer of depth, a way to speak without saying too much. It’s a visual code, something between text and abstraction. It allows the work to hold a sense of quiet language.

Q6. You’re also preparing for your solo soon. How are you balancing that with the fair?
It’s intense but exciting. I’m in the studio every day, building towards both. The works for Art Mumbai are part of the same larger body that will continue into the solo. There’s continuity in the thinking, but each piece has its own presence. I like that the fair will give people a glimpse of what’s coming next. It feels like the right moment to share where the work has arrived.

Rubkirat Vohra’s works can be seen next in Art Mumbai at Booth C42. 13th to 16th November.

Used with permission from Art Explore

Drops of rain and silence — sometimes that’s enough.

I found myself in the pauses, not the plays.

“Medieval arches and urban steel,
Art emerges, impressions revealed.”

A journey inward, both distant and near.

“In the embrace of the horizon, the earth breathes in whispers of stoic grace,
Each shadow and light a verse, carving eternity into transient space.”

Exposed chiseled layers of wood in Rubkirat’s latest series echo the strength and stoicism of her previous series, Fragments of Living, crafting spatial narratives that resonate deeply. Each layer is carefully sculpted to reveal unique textures and forms, drawing from her architectural inspiration. These linear impressions on wood go beyond mere form, as they reflect an intentional narrative that connects the past and present through abstract spatial elements. Rubkirat’s trademark aesthetic remains unmistakably intact. Her precision in revealing each layer speaks to her longstanding engagement with architectural forms, especially the Mehrab motif, which she frequently revisits in her practice.

Each layer and material component—whether metal, charcoal, or wood grain—exists with a distinct presence, yet they collectively coalesce to form a unified whole. Rubkirat’s meticulous attention to individual layers speaks to her understanding of both independence and coexistence within her work. The resulting compositions, with their earthy tones and organic contrasts, offer a meditative experience that invites viewers to consider the interplay between structure and fluidity, connection and solitude.

The series brings forward an expressive spatiality, where each chiseled segment contributes to a larger dialogue about space and existence. Her choice to work with natural materials such as wood and metal reinforces these themes, grounding the work in elements that feel both eternal and temporal. This sense of connectivity across individual layers elevates her work, transforming it into a cohesive narrative of form, memory, and architectural reverence.

Source: art dose, text used with permission.

I am free

Mehrab: Rubkirat’s Architectural Inspirations

Gallerist Reshma Chordia’s visit to my studio brought a refreshing depth to my work. Her thoughtful perspective and genuine connection left me inspired to share my vision more openly.