‘Grammar of Seeing’: Ratan Parimoo retrospective

Gallerie Splash presents Ratan Parimoo: Grammar of Seeing – A Retrospective of Becoming, a major exhibition celebrating the artistic journey of one of India’s leading art historians, educators and modernist painters. Curated by Satyajit Dave, the exhibition will open at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Bikaner House, New Delhi, on June 12.

Bringing together paintings, prints, drawings, collages, archival documents, photographs, letters and personal writings, the exhibition traces Parimoo’s evolution from his early academic studies and Kashmir-inspired works to the development of a distinctive abstract visual language. The display examines themes of observation, memory, pedagogy, material experimentation and abstraction that have shaped his decades-long engagement with art.

A key feature of the exhibition is the integration of archival material into the curatorial narrative. Personal correspondence, photographs, lecture notes, catalogues and writings are presented alongside artworks, offering insight into Parimoo’s parallel roles as artist, scholar, teacher and institution builder.

Organised across three thematic sections — The Observed World, Between Memory and Method, and Abstraction Becomes Language — the exhibition highlights Parimoo’s pioneering explorations of abstraction and his experiments with materials such as sand, pigment, glue, pebbles and textured surfaces.

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Born in Srinagar in 1936, Parimoo is a co-founder of the Baroda Group of Artists and former Professor and Head of the Department of Art History and Aesthetics at the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. He is widely recognised for his contributions to Indian modern art discourse and art education.

When: June 12–16; 11 AM–7 PM

Where: Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Bikaner House, New Delhi