India's first philanthropic, private museum of modern and contemporary Indian art, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) will present a landmark retrospective celebrating the life and works of the award-winning artist, author, poet, and art critic Gulammohammed Sheikh. The exhibition will feature more than 190 meticulously curated artworks, portraying Sheikh’s eccentric creative oeuvre, spanning over six decades and more.
The exhibition will explore the diverse range of his artworks such as gouaches, oil paintings, pen and ink drawings, graphic prints to digital collages, accordion books, poems, photographs, ceramic sculptural objects to large-scale structures and installations such as the Kaavad. It will also encompass Sheikh’s poetry, pedagogical writings, letters, and early publications, such as the magazines he collaborated on with Bhupen Khakhar. KNMA will exclusively exhibit his sketchbooks and notebooks—filled with notations and preliminary sketches that offer a rare glimpse into his creative process.
Sheikh has been an eminent figure in the artistic sphere, who received the Padma Shri in 1983 and Padmabhushan in 2014 for his contributions in the field of art. His artistic approach is a comprehensive integration of the past and the contemporary depiction of cultural and art history that decipher personal realms and foster storytelling.
Viewers will be captivated by the extensive portrayal of Gulammohammed Sheikh’s evolution of art, from early explorations of personal memory of his foundational years in Baroda in the 1960s, to monumental creations, that hold critical reflections on present-day realities and celebrate unity of humanity.
What: Exhibition of artworks of Gulammohammed Sheikh
Where: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA)
When: From February 6, 2025 till June 30, 2025
(Written by Addrita Sinha)