A living continuum at ShowKeen Mumbai

In Mumbai this April, AstaGuru’s third edition of ShowKeen returns to the Nehru Centre with an exhibition that resists the neat compartments of period and style. Instead, it arranges a conversation across time. Modern masters such as S. H. Raza and M. F. Husain appear alongside contemporary practitioners including Meetali Singh, Krishen Khanna and Tom Vattakuzhy, forming what director Manoj Mansukhani describes as “a continuum rather than a comparison”.

From Ravi Varma’s devotional intimacy to contemporary disquiet, AstaGuru stages a cross-generational encounter

This curatorial instinct shapes the exhibition’s tone. The modernists are not presented as relics to be admired from a distance. Their works press into the present, framing the concerns and material experiments of younger artists who operate within a markedly different cultural landscape. “Bringing them into the same space as contemporary practitioners allows that legacy to be experienced as something living, not historical,” Mansukhani notes. Yet the distinctions remain sharp. “Contemporary artists are navigating a very different cultural and material landscape, and their works reflect new urgencies and perspectives.”

At the centre of this edition sits a rare and arresting presence: Yashoda and Krishna by Raja Ravi Varma. Painted in the 1890s, the work distils the artist’s singular ability to render mythological subjects with an emotional immediacy that feels almost domestic. The scene is intimate. A mother’s gaze rests on a child who is both divine and disarmingly human. The painting carries the polish of European academic technique, yet its emotional register belongs entirely to the subcontinent. Its recent sale at Saffronart for ₹167.2 crore, acquired by industrialist Cyrus S. Poonawalla, reset the benchmark for Indian art at auction, surpassing previous records associated with Husain and signalling a sharpened global appetite for such works. Original works from this period are seldom seen outside private collections, making its presence here an exceptional public moment and a rare chance to study the nuances of the master’s hand.

Mansukhani reflects on its inclusion with a sense of occasion. “It is not merely a painting, but a deeply evocative portrayal of maternal love rendered with extraordinary sensitivity and technical brilliance.” Encounters with original canvases by Ravi Varma remain rare, their imagery more commonly encountered through prints that have long circulated in homes and devotional spaces. Here, the brushwork, the tonal gradations, the physical surface of the work assert themselves with clarity.

If ShowKeen’s earlier editions established its ambition, the Delhi outing sharpened its understanding of audience. There, Mansukhani observed a marked appetite for context. “There was a strong emphasis from audiences on understanding the story behind each work, its context, its place within an artist’s practice, and its larger significance.” This has informed the current presentation, where the arrangement of works invites a slower, more attentive mode of looking.

The format itself departs from the brisk choreography of the auction room. ShowKeen is structured as an experience first, transaction second. Mansukhani describes it as “a space that is centred on experiencing art in its most considered form”. For newer collectors, this offers a point of entry that is less intimidating, more exploratory. For seasoned buyers, it provides a pause, a chance to recalibrate instinct with reflection.

There is, inevitably, a tension between exclusivity and access. The exhibition operates through invitation and registration, yet AstaGuru’s broader platform extends far beyond the room. Mansukhani frames this as an evolution rather than a contradiction. “Accessibility operates on multiple levels, reach through digital, and richness through physical experience.” The two modes do not compete. They accumulate.

Across its rooms, ShowKeen does not seek resolution. It stages proximity. A Ravi Varma canvas holds its ground near the abstractions of Raza, while contemporary works introduce their own fractures and insistences. The result is neither survey nor spectacle. It is something more elusive, a gathering of works that refuse to sit still within history, and instead ask to be met in the present tense.

What: ShowKeen — Modern & Contemporary Indian Art | Presented by: AstaGuru Auction House

When: April 11–12, 2026

Where: Nehru Centre, Worli

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