With the harshest summer month upon us, it’s the best time to find indoor entertainment, and where better to spend your time than at the new art shows in India? Auction house AstaGuru is hosting a 2-day art event called ShowKeen at Mumbai’s Nehru Centre from April 18th to 20th April featuring exhibits, art talks and art walkthroughs. For those heading to London for their summer break, 87-year-old artist Arpita Singh’s Remembering is on display at The Serpentine until July. Art Dubai will showcase the best of South Asian art via a whopping 120+ galleries in the desert city from 18th to 20th April. Here’s our pick of the shows you need to catch this month:
Worlds Within Worlds: Gulammohammed Sheikh, A Retrospective at KNMA, Saket
Octogenarian artist and poet Gulammohammed Sheikh is known for his poetry and his work as an art critic as much as he is known for his intricate paintings. This retrospective show which spans six decades and features over 190 artworks traces the Padma Bhushan awardee’s artistic evolution from his early days to the present as a renowned all-round artist. On display are Shaikh’s gouaches, oil paintings, pen and ink drawings, graphic prints, digital collages, accordion books, poems, photographs, ceramic sculptural objects, large-scale structures and installations. This landmark show is a must-see for its glimpse into both an artist’s mind and the changing face of Indian art through the years.
On view at KNMA, DLF South Court Mall, Saket District Centre, Saket, New Delhi until 30th June 2025
Ya Ghat Bheetar/Rediscovering Form by Haku Shah at Subcontinent, Mumbai
Born in the small town of Valod in Gujarat, the late artist Haku Shah was greatly influenced by rural life, an inclination that showed up in most of his canvases. Subcontinent, a new gallery in South Bombay’s art district, opens its doors to the public with an exhibition of Shah’s works curated by Jesal Thacker. The show exhibits a selection of the artist’s modernist works created over seven decades that explore the synthesis of mati (earth), ghat (vessel) and shakti (feminine energy), highlighting his reverence for artistic traditions. “The exhibition demonstrates how his approach transcended rigid modernist frameworks, bringing forth an understanding of art as a confluence of lived experience and cultural continuity,” explains Thacker about Shah’s oeuvre.
On view at Subcontinent, A-3, 2nd Floor, Apeejay Chambers, Murzban Road, Fort, Mumbai until 30th April 2025
We don’t end at our edges by Ravikumar Kashi at MAP, Bengaluru
Paper is used by many artists to paint on or mould into their artworks to create something evocative. But for Bengaluru-based artist Ravikumar Kashi, paper itself is a language, a medium that signifies connection and permeability. Using paper as his primary medium, Kashi creates unique sculptural forms and delicate textural compositions that form the paper to ‘paint’ letters from the Kannada alphabet. Transforming the letters into metaphors for changing relationships, Kashi challenges the belief of fixed borders of language, culture and community through his pathbreaking creations.
On view at MAP 22, Kasturba Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru until 15th June 2025
Ticket Tika Chaap: The Art of the Trademark in the Indo-British Textile Trade at MAP, Bengaluru
Curated by Singapore-based Nathaniel Gaskell and MAP Academy’s research director Shrey Maurya, Ticket Tika Chaap: The Art of the Trademark in the Indo-British Textile Trade is an ode to the colonial-era labels that accompanied each bolt of cloth that arrived from Britain. Perhaps the earliest form of authenticity certificates, these went by names such as textile ticket, shippers’ ticket, tika, chaap and mark, offering protection against counterfeiting and generating brand recognition amongst buyers. Featuring deities, religious symbols, Indian monuments, portraits of rulers or even European motifs, these tickets—300 of which will be on view at MAP Bengaluru—were also collected, repurposed and valued in homes as artworks or even objects of worship.
On view at MAP 22, Kasturba Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru until 2nd November 2025
Untamed Heart by Laila Khan Furniturewalla at Snowball Studios, Mumbai and Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai
After a hiatus of 18 years, artist Laila Khan Furniturewalla makes a powerful return with Untamed Heart, a deeply personal solo exhibition dedicated to her parents Sundri and the late superstar Feroz Khan, whose creative influences continue to shape her work. Using materials like sand, gold leaf, copper, pigment and acrylic in abstract compositions that explore spiritual themes and the balance of tradition and innovation, she delves into the complexities of identity, emotion and memory, capturing what lies beneath. Speaking about the exhibit, Furniturewalla shares, “My forthcoming solo exhibition is a culmination of my journey as an artist. The works are highly personal and emotive, and embody my search for the mystical and divine without boundaries and definition.”
On view at Snowball Studios, Worli, on 5th and 6th April, and Gallery Art & Soul, Worli, from 16th to 22nd April, 2025
Acid Disco by Jonathan Trayte at Akara Contemporary, Mumbai
A single look at his large, quirky sculptures, and you’d really think you’re viewing them on an acid trip. Acid Disco, UK-based sculptor Jonathan Trayte’s first solo show in India, features a collection of painted bronze sculptures inspired by food, using castings and facsimiles to showcase how we see and utilise our natural resources and indulge in overconsumption. “In Jonathan’s compositions, we contend with what is natural or artificial, cultivated or manipulated, playfully inviting or repulsive, through forms that evoke both delight and distaste,” says independent writer Khorshed Deboo in her essay on Trayt’s intriguingly novel exhibition.
On view at Akara Contemporary, 3C Amarchand Mansion, 16 Madam Cama Road, Colaba, Mumbai until 19th April 2025
In the Land of Dreams by Ebrahim Barfarazi at Gallery Pristine Contemporary, New Delhi
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Sleep is something everyone needs daily, but we seldom see its importance. Is sleep an escape from life’s chaos or just us surrendering to the turmoil? Reputed Iranian artist Ebrahim Barfarazi explores these questions through 18 haunting paintings that delve into the phenomenon of sleep both as a physical act as well as a metaphor for our consciousness as humans. Each painting brings out Barafazi’s mastery of the brush as he plays around with light and shadows, blurring the lines between reality and the otherworldly in his artistic contemplation of our basic human existence.
On view at Gallery Pristine Contemporary, C-3, A 178 Bhisham Pitamah Marg, Kotla Main Road, New Delhi until 10th April 2025
A Garden of the Floating World by Shezad Dawood at Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai
Ukiyo-e or ‘floating world’ was an imagined universe of the pleasure-seeking culture of Japan during the flourishing Edo period in the island country’s history. Drawing parallels between this concept and the current world’s simulations of nature being undertaken by machine learning, London-based artist Shezad Dawood uses diverse media to understand the fluidity between nature and technology. Through his textile paintings, sound score and ceramic work, Dawood showcases new ways of interacting between humans and technology. “The experience of watching your garden grow gives you some idea of how future AI systems will feel when observing human life,” said James Lovelock in his 2019 work Novacene. This exhibition provides just a glimpse of what kind of world that would be.
On view at Jhaveri Contemporary, 3rd Floor, Devidas Mansion, Merewether Road, Colaba, Mumbai until 26th April 2025
तिमंजला घर (Three Storey House) by Anita Dube at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
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Celebrated artist Anita Dube’s latest solo show presents a collection of three recent bodies of work that take up all three floors of the gallery building, alluding to the title of the show that uses the conventional structure of a house to chart out a philosophical movement that rises upwards from the base. Featuring works in diverse media including sculptures, mixed media works and a kinetic installation, Dube’s show explores her ongoing concerns as an artist, from politics and pedagogy to pleasure and even her experience with long Covid, making for some thought-provoking viewing.
On view at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi until 19th April 2025
The Hour of Becoming by Sujith SN at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Trained as a civil draughtsman, Kochi-based artist Sujith SN includes subtle architectural elements in his landscape creations, merging the urban with lush greens. His new solo show in Mumbai brings together a body of work that traverses the verdant landscapes of Kerala and metropolises like Hyderabad and Mumbai, tracing the shifting contours of cities as he visualises them through his memory. Exclusively using tempera in all his creations, Sujith gives the material a sense of magical luminosity that makes each of his canvases seem almost dreamlike.
On view at Sakshi Gallery, Third Pasta Lane, Colaba, Mumbai from 10th April to 3rd May 2025
Artists for Artists at Experimenter, Kolkata
Marking the Kolkata gallery’s 16th anniversary, Artists for Artists is a celebration of Experimenter’s commitment to championing diverse practices and promoting pathbreaking artists. The program has four solo projects running across its two galleries, with the shows selected by artists from the gallery’s program showcasing how collaboration and conversation can yield great results for experimentation and dialogue. The exhibits on display are Ten sounds I cannot hear by Aishwarya Arumbakkam, Sunlight by Sathish Kumar, both selected by Sohrab Hura, If we opened people up, we’d find landscapes by Rupali Patil selected by Rathin Barman and Fever by Rai selected by Bhasha Chakrabarti.
On view at Experimenter, Ballygunge Place & Hindustan Road, Kolkata from 5th April to 14th June 2025
My Peeking, Red Bra Strap at APRE Art House, Mumbai
Almost every Indian woman, whether on public transport, at the workplace or out to party has heard things like “hide your bra strap” or “your bra is showing” at least once from a random stranger or even a family member. A new exhibition in the financial capital aims to showcase how our deeply patriarchal society polices women’s bodies and muffles their identities, with female artists using the “peeking bra strap” as a metaphor to resist these diktats and defy patriarchal norms to celebrate their individuality and bask in their womanhood. Featuring creations by 15 artists including the likes of Mithu Sen, Indu Antony, Sonia Khurana and Kanchan Chander, this hard-hitting showcase speaks truth to power.
On view at Apre Art House, Plot No. 28, Sanghvi House, 3rd Pasta Lane, Colaba, Mumbai until 19th April 2025
Also read:
11 new art shows in India we’re excited about this March
Sagarika Sundaram’s gigantic sculptures may look like aliens but they’re colourful and friendly
