Geometry of the Spirit: Akkitham Narayanan’s Infinite Language

Few artists have pursued abstraction with the devotion and clarity of Akkitham Narayanan. Born in Kerala in 1939 and trained in Chennai before moving to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Narayanan’s practice has long transformed geometry into a kind of prayer, a visual rhythm that speaks of time, balance and being. Now, at Geometries of the Infinite, a landmark retrospective at Jehangir Art Gallery (18–26 November), Mumbai audiences are invited to trace the artist’s long arc of contemplation, guided by curator Anahita Daruwala Banerjee of Artworld – Sarala’s Art Centre.

Akkitham Narayanan’s retrospective Geometries of the Infinite at Jehangir Art Gallery reveals six decades of quiet evolution

Narayanan’s relationship with geometry runs deep, rooted in an instinctive understanding of form and order. “Geometry is always in me,” he says. “Whatever we see, almost everything is geometric. Our house, the books, the rituals we do. From childhood, these things stay with you.” His works, often built from layered pigments and textured planes, seem to hold light and silence in equal measure. Whether a small study or a vast canvas, each piece breathes with the same quiet energy, a dialogue between structure and spirit.

For the artist, abstraction has never been about formalism alone. The layers that mark his surfaces, scraped, glazed, sometimes carved, are repositories of thought and time. “The layers in the painting reflect my past and the present,” he explains. “People look at it and start thinking about time, about memory. But this is their interpretation. I cannot interpret my own work in such a definite way.” His paintings resist prescription. Each viewer must find their own meaning, their own stillness within his geometry.

Curator Anahita Daruwala Banerjee, who has spent two years in conversation with the artist, describes the exhibition as a slow and organic process. It was, she says, an act of listening, travelling between his studios in Kerala and Paris, observing how inner silence becomes visual rhythm. The result is a selection that spans six decades, from the early cubist influences of the 1960s to his recent meditative abstractions. The works vary in scale and medium, from intimate watercolours and charcoals to commanding oils on canvas, yet share a consistency of purpose: an insistence on stillness amid flux.

Banerjee’s curatorial approach mirrors the artist’s restraint. The exhibition is designed as a quiet passage rather than a spectacle, encouraging the visitor to pause and engage. “I prefer to let the art speak for itself,” she notes. “I didn’t want to clutter the gallery with too many wall texts or diagrams explaining what people should think or feel.” The display unfolds in rhythm, revealing the evolution of form and thought without imposing interpretation.

At its heart, Geometries of the Infinite celebrates a long and rare relationship between artist and gallery, between trust and freedom. Narayanan has been associated with Artworld – Sarala’s Art Centre for decades, a partnership that has nurtured his evolution with unbroken faith. “They’ve always been there with quiet support, no interference, no pressure,” he reflects. “That kind of space is rare for an artist. They believed in what I was doing. Even when it was difficult to explain to others.”

For Banerjee, now leading the gallery’s 60th-year celebration, the exhibition honours Artworld’s legacy of fostering artists who have shaped India’s visual language since Independence, where modernity grows from tradition.

In Narayanan’s world, geometry is never a grid of logic alone. It becomes a vessel for breath, intuition and surrender. His canvases offer no answers, only presence. As he says, “Abstract work doesn’t tell you a story… It just invites you to stop. To look. Sometimes you understand something, sometimes you don’t. You just stand there. That’s enough.”

In that moment of stillness, the infinite begins.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.