An exhibition titled Line as Witness, bringing together decades of work by artist Yusuf, is currently underway at Sanya Malik’s Black Cube Gallery in Sunder Nagar. On view until April 11, 2026, the exhibition presents a wide range of acrylic paintings, mixed media works and sculptural forms, tracing the artist’s sustained engagement with the idea of the line.
Rather than treating the line as a mere formal element, Line as Witness positions it as a central tool of perception and inquiry in Yusuf’s practice. Across the works, the line emerges as both subject and method—measuring space, recording movement and shaping form, while also carrying the memory of gesture and time.
Yusuf’s compositions oscillate between movement and stillness. In some works, lines appear as rhythmic waves, creating a sense of energy across the surface; in others, they settle into quiet grids that stabilise the composition. This shifting visual field produces a contemplative tension, where the viewer’s gaze moves between dynamism and calm.
Within these linear structures, the artist introduces organic, often ambiguous forms that seem to hover or dissolve within the pictorial space. Suggestive of natural processes such as growth, erosion and sedimentation, these forms do not depict nature directly but evoke its underlying rhythms. The works thus operate within a space that may be described as abstract realism, where memory and perception intersect without relying on literal imagery.
Yusuf, born in Gwalior in 1952, trained in painting and sculpture in the 1970s and has since held over 25 solo exhibitions. He has participated in major shows including the VII Triennale in New Delhi and the Bangladesh Biennale in Dhaka, alongside exhibitions in Japan and Korea. A recipient of the Raza Award and the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award, he has also been associated with the Graphic Workshop at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
Seen together, the works in Line as Witness reflect an ongoing dialogue between discipline and spontaneity, control and freedom. The exhibition underscores how a single, elemental gesture—the line—can hold within it a vast range of meaning, experience and possibility.
When: Until April 11; 11 AM to 6 PM
Where: Black Cube Gallery, Sunder Nagar, New Delhi
