Artist Narinder Kahlon brings PRIMAL to Bengaluru, her first solo exhibition in India
Sublime Galleria in UB City has every intent to deliver, especially in its promise of showcasing contemporary art and artists — both established and emerging to the city. This time, on its canvas is artist Narinder Kahlon, presenting her solo exhibit titled Primal. The curation is built on the hope that every individual gets to experience liberation and their untamed creativity through her art and the various textures incorporated into it. Following the success of her work in USA, we get chatty with the artist on her debut in India, her love for wildlife and more notes on the exhibit.
When did your love for acrylics begin?
I think, art found me long before I consciously decided to call myself an artist. I have always been deeply observant and emotionally connected to the world around me. For me, art became a way of processing life, emotion and experience and eventually, a way of expressing things that words couldn’t. My journey with acrylics really developed when I began experimenting with texture. I became fascinated by the idea that a painting could almost become a physical landscape. You could see it, but you could also almost feel it. Over time, my practice became very intuitive. I don’t always begin with a completely predetermined image. I allow the material, the texture and my instinct to guide the work. That freedom is very important to me.
The exhibit is titled Primal. How does that single word embody your curation and the art that will be presented?
Primal is about returning to something essential. The exhibition explores instinct, freedom, power, vulnerability and our connection with the natural world. Before we are defined by society, expectations, roles and circumstances — there is something instinctive within all of us, something wild, honest and deeply alive. The works bring together wildlife, landscapes, celestial elements and abstract forms, but beneath these different subjects is a common thread: energy. I wanted the exhibition to feel less like a collection of paintings and more like an emotional journey, moving from captivity to liberation, from stillness to movement and from darkness towards light.
How does textured mediums of art present that raw, instinctive and untamed energy to the audience?
Texture is incredibly important to my work because it gives the painting a physical presence. I don’t want the viewer to simply look at a painting from a distance. I want the surface to make them curious, to draw them closer and make them want to experience it. I build my surfaces in layers, using acrylics alongside textured materials, including sawdust and wood shavings. I scrape, build, layer and sometimes remove material again. There is a certain unpredictability in that process and I embrace it. The exhibition moves through different expressions of that energy — animals, birds, horses, landscapes, celestial forms and completely abstract works. Some pieces are powerful and explosive; others are meditative and quiet. That contrast is intentional. Nature itself isn’t one emotion. It can be violent, tender, mysterious, still and incredibly powerful and I wanted the exhibition to carry that same range.
Are you excited about your debut in India?
Absolutely! This is an incredibly meaningful moment for me because Primal is my first solo exhibition in India. Bringing the work home and presenting it in Bengaluru feels very special. I would love for someone to stand in front of a painting and feel something before they even try to understand it. For me, that is one of the most powerful things art can do.
We were told you love wildlife and landscape. How does this love translate into your art?
I’ve always been drawn to the natural world because it exists without pretence. Animals don’t perform who they are. A horse is simply a horse. A bird is simply a bird. There is something incredibly beautiful and innocent about that authenticity. Wildlife has therefore become an important part of my visual language. I am particularly interested in the energy and presence of animals rather than simply reproducing them realistically. The same is true of landscapes. I’m interested in the emotional experience of a place, the atmosphere, the energy, the movement, the light, the feeling of standing somewhere and suddenly feeling very small and very connected at the same time. I often translate those experiences into abstraction because sometimes realism cannot capture what a place actually makes you feel.
INR 50. On till October 4. At Sublime Galleria, Vittal Mallya Road.
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