Stillness as an act of balancing

Celebrated Indian artist, sculptor and poet Satish Gupta’s solo exhibition in Ahmedabad encourages one to slow down, reflect and enter a space where seeing becomes listening, and presence leads to deeper understanding. One of Gupta’s most expansive and significant exhibitions to date, its immersive installations propose stillness not as escape, but as survival, as a quiet yet radical act of balance and healing.

Presented by Devin Gawarvala, founder of Bespoke Art Gallery, the exhibition examines Gupta’s practice as an ongoing journey undertaken over several decades, and across many forms and materials, such as paint, ink, copper, gold, and text. His work is shaped through reduction and concentration. Moving from the human body to the cosmos, certain forms return again and again in his work, each time with subtle changes.

Renowned for the spirituality and Zen spirit that permeates his work, Gupta stands among India’s most celebrated and multifaceted artists. While not a practising Zen Buddhist, Gupta feels deeply aligned with Zen thought and experience. Introspection and meditation remain integral to his process.

Once on a cloudy day, Gupta arrived at the top of a mountain where a monastery was. At the edge of the mountain, he saw an ethereal light filtering through the mist in the valley. “I observed that the Shunya that I was looking for was all around me. It was all white, and I was at the centre. I had a Satori-like experience. I felt totally porous; I did not exist. The elements were going through me. I was ecstatic!” he recalls.

In a burst of inspiration, Gupta took his brush and ink and drew the Zen circle in one swift stroke, as if his life depended on it. “At last, it manifested itself on paper. It was the most perfect thing that I had ever created. I didn’t feel the need to paint anymore. My life was complete,” he said.

Each idea arrives with its own demand for expression — sometimes as a sculpture, sometimes as a painting, a haiku, or a large-scale installation. Gupta repeatedly returns to certain motifs — the moon, clouds, lotus, the meditator, and silence. Gupta recalls sketching a small drawing on an old airline ticket during a flight from London to New Delhi — a wave questioning its destiny before dissolving on the shore. That fleeting moment eventually evolved into The Cosmic Wave, a monumental sculpture.

Early in his career, Gupta received the prestigious Sanskriti Award, and his art has been showcased in over 40 solo exhibitions in prominent galleries across India and abroad. His paintings and sculptures are part of the collection of The Museum of Sacred Arts in Brussels and The National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. They were exhibited at the Shanghai Museum of Modern Art and the National Museum in Slovenia. Meditations on a Mandala, his sculpture in copper, was displayed at Art Laguna Prize, Arsenal, and at the India Art Fair in 2023. Notably, he collaborated with India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on a sculpture painting “Om Namo Shivaya” for a charitable cause, which was auctioned by Sotheby's.

His monumental metal sculptures and murals are displayed in museums, hotels, airports and ashrams worldwide. His studios, Zazen in Gurugram, surrounded by a Zen garden of his own design, and Zen Studio 59 in the heart of Delhi, are tranquil spaces for contemplation. Known for their meditative quality, his studios reflect his continuous quest for spiritual enlightenment through art. Interestingly, Gupta was not trained as a sculptor, which makes his thinking out of the box, non-traditional and intuitive. “I was not afraid to innovate and improvise, which helped me devise my own technique. I call myself an accidental sculptor,” he said.

Exhibiting in Ahmedabad holds particular significance for the artist. The city’s rich cultural and philosophical heritage, combined with the distinctive architecture and ambience of Bespoke Gallery, creates a setting uniquely attuned to his work. “Art is about creation after all, in what medium you express yourself is not important. Too many of us limit ourselves once we find a 'style’ and imprison ourselves in our persona. I do not wish to be bound. For me, there is no duality, whether I am creating in two or three dimensions,” he concluded.

A Haiku of a Still Mind: Continuum· Consciousness· Coherence. will continue at Bespoke Art Gallery, Ahmedabad, till March 10.