Shows to See During Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024
By The Editors
Mumbai Gallery Weekend (MGW) is set to run from January 11–14 with more than 34 participating venues across the Indian financial capital. In addition to exhibitions in the city’s leading galleries, the Mumbai Gallery Association has planned a series of public events across the four days including artist talks, walking tours, and panel discussions. Here’s a look at some of the shows to see during MGW 2024.
SUDARSHAN SHETTY, One Life Many, 2022, still from single-channel video: 30 min 21 sec. Courtesy the artist.
Jan 6–17
Sudarshan Shetty: One Life Many
IFBE
Space
Sudarshan Shetty’s latest film work One Life Many (2022) restages a mythological tale from medieval India in which a sage is transformed into a woman and experiences life as a mother and wife. The 30-minute film is accompanied by Shetty’s sculptural installations that pair real-world objects with their facsimiles through forms of material transformation, suggesting the coexistence of multiple intertwined versions of reality.
Installation view of NIKHIL CHOPRA’s Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157, 2017, 48-hour performance, sleeping, eating, drawing, at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. Courtesy Museum of Science and Industry.
Jan 10–Jan 28/Feb 28
Nikhil Chopra: Line of Fire
47-A: Design Gallery
Chatterjee & Lal
In a three-part exhibition, Goa-based multidisciplinary artist Nikhil Chopra will stage a four-hour performance on January 10 at 47-A: Design Gallery, which will host his installation Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157 (2017) and a number of his cloudscape drawings. In addition Chatterjee & Lal gallery will host the exhibition “Line of Fire,” across two of its spaces, marking Chopra’s first exhibition in Mumbai in five years.
MUHANNED CADER, Island in the Sky #9, 2023, oil on plywood, 20 × 20 cm. Courtesy the artist and Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai.
Jan 11–Feb 17
Muhanned Cader: Island in the Sky
Jhaveri Contemporary
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1966, Oxford-based Muhanned Cader makes small vibrant, fragmented paintings depicting landscapes inspired by his travels and serendipitous encounters. Using layers of charcoal, acrylics, and jewel-toned oil paints, Cader collages natural scenes into majestic vignettes.
ANANT JOSHI, Hour Glass, Glass Hour, 2022, 376 cm x 274 cm, acrylic paint, silver gift-wrapping paper, tar paint, UV varnish on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai.
Jan 11–Feb 10
Anant Joshi: Raised Eyebrow
Chemould Prescott Road
After nine years, Mumbai-based Anant Joshi returns to Chemould Prescott Road for a major solo exhibition. Presenting mixed-media works consisting of sculpture, painting, and light boxes, Joshi evokes political satire through his unique visual language, which often incorporates child-like shapes and subjects.
ASHWINI BHAT, Self Portrait, Nagalinga Pushpa, 173 × 61 × 61 cm, 2023. Photo by John Janca. Courtesy Project 88, Mumbai.
Jan 11–Mar 2
Ashwini Bhat: Her Nature
Project 88
Hailing from a background in literature and classical Indian dance, transdisciplinary artist Ashwini Bhat transcends the confines of Western art-making. The solo show “Her Nature” features the artist’s biomorphic sculptures, installations, and videos, questioning the premise of human individuality whilst evoking ecological interdependence.
SOHRAB HURA, The Last Goodbye, 2023, gouache on paper, 20 × 26 cm. Courtesy the artist and Experimenter, Kolkata/Mumbai.
Jan 11–Mar 16
Sohrab Hura: Ghosts in My Sleep
Experimenter Colaba
Primarily known as a photographer, Sohrab Hura presents recent gouache paintings and color pastels in “Ghosts in My Sleep.” Across dozens of small paintings and drawings, Hura depicts moments of familial intimacy and memories of childhood in expressionistic colors. At times humorous and at others tender, Hura reflects on the passing of time in these snapshot-like, hand-rendered images.
REKHA RODWITTIYA, At the Graveyard of my Childhood, 1994, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore (MAP).
Jan 11–Feb 10
Rekha Rodwittiya: We are meant to survive . . . beyond our stories
Sakshi Gallery
Vadodara-based artist Rekha Rodwittiya’s solo show will exhibit selected works from more than four decades. Known for her allegorical, figurative paintings that integrate Hindu and feminist iconography, “We are meant to survive . . . beyond our stories” demonstrates the enduring power of Rodwittiya’s practice.
AREEZ KATKI, Oneiria: Night 5, 2022, cotton embroidery on khadi towel, 53.5 × 28.2 inches. Courtesy TARQ Gallery.
Jan 11–Feb 24
Areez Katki: As this chin melts on your knee
Tarq
In this solo exhibition, Mumbai-born multidisciplinary artist Areez Katki presents the culmination of his research into the Mesopotamian odyssey Epic of Gilgamesh. Inspired by a poem in Tablet IV, Katki forged his Fragments series in five panels experimenting with ancient Sumerian symbols, and his Oneiria series, large-scale, embroidered khadi panels of surrealist dreamscapes.
Installation view of CAMP ’s Bombay Tilts Down, 2022, seven-channel video with sound and music: 13 min 14 sec, at Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022-23. Courtesy the artists.
Jan 12–21
CAMP: Bombay Tilts Down
Sassoon Docks
The collective CAMP’s seven-channel video installation Bombay Tilts Down (2022) was created with a CCTV camera positioned on top of 35-story building in South-Central Mumbai. Beginning with views of the clouds and the sea, the camera pans down and zooms in to reveal the living textures of the city and its inhabitants from the perspective of this panopticon.
