Kani: Garden as First Sight, solo exhibition by Roy K John

A solo exhibition of recent paintings and wooden sculptures by Kerala-based artist Roy K John opened at Bikaner House on September 6. Titled Kani: Garden as First Sight, the exhibition is curated by Satyajit Dave and will remain on view until September 10.

The exhibition draws on the Kerala tradition of Kani, the auspicious first sight associated with beauty, abundance and hope at dawn. Roy uses the idea to look at gardens and vegetation through themes of memory, perception and change.

His paintings combine elements of traditional Kerala mural painting with contemporary approaches. Orchards, groves and botanical forms appear in layered compositions marked by rhythmic lines and dense colour. Trees and foliage are treated almost as architectural structures, with trunks resembling columns and leaves forming screens that partly reveal and conceal memories of domestic spaces.

The exhibition also features Roy’s recent three-dimensional wooden leaf works, which extend his interest in botanical forms beyond the painted surface. The sculptures examine both the abundance of nature and the vulnerability of natural ecosystems.

Born in 1977, Roy trained at the Kalabhavan School of Arts, Thrissur, and later completed a master’s in traditional mural painting at the Temple of Arts, Guruvayoor. His practice brings elements of Kerala’s classical mural tradition into contemporary depictions of landscape and nature.

Curator Satyajit Dave, a researcher and former Assistant Professor at NIFT Gandhinagar, works across art, design, craft and indigenous knowledge systems.

Kani: Garden as First Sight brings together paintings and sculptural works to examine how gardens can function not only as landscapes, but also as spaces where memory and perception are shaped.

When: September 6–10; 11 am to 7 pm

Where: Main Art Gallery, Bikaner House, New Delhi