Art Exhibition: Not Just a Doodle

Gallery Ragini is currently hosting “Not Just a Doodle”, a landmark art exhibition of drawings, animations, and tapestries by acclaimed Sri Lankan artist and designer Tilak Samarawickrema. Curated by eminent cultural archivist Ina Puri, the exhibition opened on April 9 and continues through May 31, at the gallery’s Lado Sarai location. It is open daily from 11 AM to 7 PM.

This is Samarawickrema’s first major showing in India, and it brings together over five decades of his richly multidisciplinary practice. Spanning drawing, etching, animation, and handwoven textile, the exhibition offers an intimate look into the artist’s singular visual language—one shaped by architecture, folklore, and deep cultural memory.

Samarawickrema, who trained as an architect at the University of Melbourne and was influenced by the design legacy of Geoffrey Bawa, has long moved fluidly between disciplines. His early works from the 1970s, created during his time in Milan, are among the highlights of the exhibition. These expressive, archetypal line drawings—sometimes genderless, divine, erotic, or wounded—are neither sketches nor studies but meditations rendered in gesture.

“In these drawings”, says curator Ina Puri, “we see the birth of a language—a line that breathes and listens. There is rhythm here. And above all, there is humanness.”

The exhibition also features the rare screening of Samarawickrema’s animated film Andaré of Sri Lanka, an artistic tribute to the 18th-century court jester of the Kandyan Kingdom. Entirely drawn in the artist’s signature line style, the film was commissioned by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and earned critical acclaim at international festivals.

Another key section of the exhibition showcases his monumental handwoven tapestries, created in collaboration with traditional weavers in Thalagune, Sri Lanka. These are not replicas of drawings but vibrant reinterpretations—infusing local craft with modernist aesthetics. They draw inspiration from Buddhist temple murals, Sinhala script, and ritual diagrams, reflecting Samarawickrema’s lifelong commitment to cultural preservation and artisan collaboration.

“The threads are not decorative,” the artist explains. “They are like veins—carrying blood, memory, and the warmth of the human hand.”

Gallery Ragini, known for championing artists who bridge art, craft, and design, considers the exhibition a timely statement on sustainability and slow-making. “Tilak’s work reminds us that beauty, ethics, and tradition can co-exist—and even thrive—through meaningful collaboration,” the gallery notes.

Rather than a chronological retrospective, Puri has curated the exhibition as a spatial experience. Visitors are encouraged to move freely between intricate drawings and expansive textiles, between sound and silence, line and colour. Photographs, quotes, and archival material from the artist’s career are woven throughout the display.

Tilak Samarawickrema’s work has travelled across continents—from Colombo to Tokyo, Milan to Melbourne—but this exhibition reveals his most personal terrain: the intersection of memory, ritual, and imagination.

Also Read: Symphony of Strokes: A group exhibition of paintings and sculptures

“Not Just a Doodle” is now on view and continues until May 31, offering viewers a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in the work of a truly singular artist.

Where: Until May 31; 11 AM –7 PM

Where: Gallery Ragini, F-208, Ground Floor, Lado Sarai, New Delhi