India Art Fair 2025: 5 works of art that define the zeitgeist

Subodh Gupta’ — Mars Kitchen astatine Nature Morte

Renowned for transforming mundane room utensils into striking works of art, Subodh Gupta erstwhile again plays with acquainted forms successful “Mars Kitchen”. Here, helium envisions a futuristic room wherever stainless alloy utensils “glisten similar artifacts from a distant future, their acold precision contrasted.” The portion reimagines the mean arsenic extraordinary, inviting viewers to see however adjacent the astir acquainted objects clasp transformative potential.

A enactment accompanying the enactment reads: “At its core, Mars Kitchen is simply a reflection of mundane rituals, transmuted into thing otherworldly.”

Subodh Gupta’s Mars Kitchen astatine Nature Morte (Photo: Vandana Kalra)

Manu Parekh — Manthan

Measuring an expansive 6.5 x 42 feet, Manthan is the largest canvas Manu Parekh has ever painted. Inspired by Banaras—a metropolis helium has felt profoundly connected to since his archetypal sojourn successful 1980—the enactment bursts with floral imagery, symbolising the timeless rhythm of “joy and sorrow, quality and loss, devotion and celebration.”

Manu Parekh’s Manthan (Photo: India Art Fair)

Also reflecting connected abstraction with Indian elements, Parekh observed however the state is simply a microcosm of divers faiths, each profoundly woven into its fabric. “Few artists person denoted abstraction with Indian elements, and this is my attempt,” helium said.

Rekha Rodwittiya — Home is wherever you are astatine Sakshi Gallery

Rodwittiya, known for her explorations of gender, identity, and societal narratives, presents 2 striking embroidered works astatine the fair. These pieces proceed her long-standing engagement with trade and people practices, an involvement shaped by mentors similar K G Subramanyan and Jyoti Bhatt, who introduced her to India’s affluent traditions of embroidery and textiles.

Discussing the collaboration with Milaaya Embroideries, Rodwittiya said: “This task allowed maine to enactment wrong the structured connection of skilled artisans,who Gayatri Khanna brought unneurotic nether 1 roof.”

Reflecting however she has antecedently worked with the medium, Rodwittiya said, ” In 2007, I did 2 ample Toran textile works titled ‘Home & away’ with the assistance of Archana Shah of Bandhej, for a amusement successful London. In 2010, I incorporated my grandmother’s brocade waistcoat successful a bid of watercolour paintings on with fashionable stickers, titled ‘Letters to the beingness –– erstwhile the prima and the satellite autumn asleep, lone past tin I creation naked’.”

NS Harsha — Sprouting Philosopher astatine Chemould Prescott Road

Mysore-based creator N S Harsha, who won the Artes Mundi Prize successful 2008, revisited his signature motif of the contemplative monkey successful his 2025 bronze sculpture Sprouting Philosopher.

NS Harsha — Sprouting Philosopher astatine Chemould Prescott Road (Photo: Vandana Kalra)

Emerging from a globe-shaped basal imprinted with quality footprints, the monkey symbolises the improvement of quality thought and philosophy. Accompanying the work, Harsha said: “Throughout history, humans person adapted to changing times by processing caller ways of life. Many philosophies person flourished, been challenged, and faded. Sprouting Philosopher is my exploration of this process—the changeless emergence of caller ideas.”

Atul Dodiya — Weeping Ancestors astatine Vadehra Art Gallery

Atul Dodiya’s latest work, Weeping Ancestors, is painted connected mechanically operated store shutters—continuing his exploration of the intersection betwixt idiosyncratic and nationalist histories. The layered creation recalls the aftermath of the 1990s Mumbai riots, wherever shuttered shops symbolised soundlessness and suppression.

Atul Dodiya — Weeping Ancestors astatine Vadehra Art Gallery (Photo: Vandana Kalra)

His protagonists—historical figures specified arsenic Nana Fadnavis, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and Bahadur Shah Zafar—are depicted successful tears, mourning the present. A enactment alongside the enactment explains: “His iconic painted shutters prosecute with questions of security, entree and repression, a bid that grows retired of the ’90s riots successful Mumbai, resulting successful pervasive shutdown of beingness and navigation successful an different bustling city. To Dodiya, the repeated visuals of closed-down store shutters served arsenic an affectional affront, arsenic misgivings of powerfulness and progress, concealing yet revealing the humanities regrets an municipality scenery holds underneath its regular grind.”