- Home
- Of Worlds Within Worlds
Exhibitions
Alphabet Stories II, 2002-03 Mixed media on paper pasted on board
Speechless City, 1975 Oil on canvas
Tree over Mountains, 1970 Oil on canvas
Tree of Life, 1996-97 Oil on canvas
The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) is honored to present a major retrospective celebrating the life and work of renowned artist, poet, and pedagogue Gulammohammed Sheikh. Showcasing over 190 works spanning six decades, this exhibition offers an in-depth look at his diverse artistic journey.
Sheikh’s practice transcends linear histories, drawing from personal memory, cultural heritage, and global influences. The exhibition features his gouaches, oil paintings, drawings, prints, digital collages, accordion books, ceramic sculptures, and large-scale installations like the Kaavad, mapping his evolution from early works in Baroda to monumental reflections on identity, history, and contemporary realities.
Highlights include iconic works such as Speechless City (1975), City for Sale (1981-84), and Ahmedabad - The City Gandhi Left Behind (2015-16), which critique urban and political landscapes. His deep engagement with storytelling is explored through Kaavads and accordion books, reimagining traditional formats to weave layered narratives. Sheikh’s Kahat Kabir series reflects his engagement with syncretic traditions, using Kabir’s poetry to comment on non-violence and communal harmony.
The retrospective also delves into his experiments with digital media, featuring works like Talisman: Taweez (2001) and Mappamundi series (2001), which reframe cartography as a site of historical dialogue. His latest works, Kaarawaan (2019-23) and Dus Darwaze (2019-24), expand on themes of journey, memory, and transcendence.
Complementing the artworks are archival materials, poetry, writings, letters, and recorded reflections, offering a rare glimpse into Sheikh’s creative mind.
Other Exhibitions
_0.jpg)
MUSEE DES ARTS ASIATIQUES, NICE, FRANCE
19 September 2016 - 15 February 2017
CONSTRUCTS| CONSTRUCTIONS
23 April 2015 - 29 November 2015
WORKING SPACES : around memory and perception
28 January 2015 - 17 February 2015
Drawings, Prints and Watercolors (1970s-1990s)
25 January 2015 - 30 October 2015
visions of interiority: interrogating the male body - A RETROSPECTIVE (1963-2013)
14 October 2014 - 1 March 2015
You can’t Keep Acid in a Paper Bag - A RETROSPECTIVE (1969 - 2014) in three chapters
26 September 2014 - 21 December 2014
Oneiric House/ round about midnight
1 February 2014 - 9 March 2014
IS IT WHAT YOU THINK? - Ruminations on Time, Memory and Site
30 January 2014 - 27 September 2014
An Unfinished Portrait - Vignettes from the KNMA collection
23 January 2014 - 30 November 2014
SEVEN CONTEMPORARIES - Part of Difficult Loves
31 January 2013 - 8 December 2013
The self in making Part of Difficult Loves
31 January 2013 - 8 December 2013
A view to infinity - A Retrospective (1937-1990) Part of Difficult Loves
31 January 2013 - 8 December 2013
ZONES OF CONTACT - Propositions on the Museum
18 January 2013 - 30 November 2013
of bodies, armour and cages
27 October 2012 - 8 December 2012
CYNICAL LOVE - Life in the everyday
27 January 2012 - 20 January 2013
CROSSINGS - Time Unfolded II
23 January 2012 - 19 December 2012
TIME UNFOLDED
1 January 2011 - 31 December 2011
OPEN DOORS
1 January 2010 - 31 October 2010
Enactments and each passing day
9 September 2016 - 8 February 2017
the dark loam: between memory and membrane - A RETROSPECTIVE (1930-2016)
24 August 2016 - 20 December 2016
Anatomy Lessons Artist. Pedagogue. Poet. Scholar
16 July 2016 - 20 December 2016
Exhibition on view at MET Breuer, New York
18 March 2016 - 5 June 2016
hammer on the square - A RETROSPECTIVE (1957-2015)
28 January 2016 - 20 July 2016
Conversation Chambers| Museum Bhavan
18 December 2015 - 1 May 2016
POND NEAR THE FIELD - Five Artists from Kerala
15 November 2015 - 31 July 2016
Pond near the Field Five Artists from Kerala
12 December 2016 - 30 April 2017
STRETCHED TERRAINS - A String of Exhibitions
3 February 2017 - 31 July 2017
HANGAR FOR THE PASSERBY
19 April 2017 - 28 February 2018
EARTH as HAVEN: Under The Canopy of Love
15 October 2017 - 15 January 2018
The euphoria of being Himmat Shah A continuing journey across six decades
30 October 2017 - 15 December 2017
.jpg)
Amruta Kalasha Thanjavur and other South Indian Paintings
14 November 2017 - 15 December 2017
VIVAN SUNDARAM, A RETROSPECTIVE: FIFTY YEARS STEP INSIDE AND YOU ARE NO LONGER A STRANGER
9 February 2018 - 20 July 2018
NEW CONFIGURATIONS vignettes from the collection in recent years
27 April 2018 - 20 December 2018
DELIRIUM EQUILIBRIUM
19 August 2018 - 15 November 2018
Envisioning Asia, Gandhi and Mao in the photographs of Walter Bosshard
1 October 2018 - 31 October 2018
bauhaus imaginista: Moving Away
4 December 2018 - 18 December 2018
Jangarh Singh Shyam: A Conjuror’s Archive
4 December 2018 - 11 January 2019
WHAT PLACE IS KITCHEN? WHAT PLACE COMMUNITY
27 December 2018 - 12 January 2019
ARPITA SINGH | Six Decades of Painting
30 January 2019 - 14 July 2019
over the edge, crossing the line - five artists from Bengal
22 January 2019 - 24 July 2019
AMAR KANWAR, SUCH A MORNING
31 January 2019 - 10 February 2019
Bihar Museum and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art
2 April 2019 - 2 June 2019
Our Time for a Future Caring
11 May 2019 - 24 November 2019
.jpg)
COMMON COURSE
13 August 2019 - 3 November 2019
over the edge, crossing the line - five artists from Bengal
13 August 2019 - 30 November 2019
SIGHTINGS: out of the wild
17 September 2019 - 5 January 2020
SMELL ASSEMBLY
7 September 2019 - 3 November 2019
Structuring Form The Innovative Rigour of Mahendra Raj
19 November 2019 - 8 January 2020
Kiran Nadar Museum of Art presents इस घट अंतर बाग-बगीचे | Haku Shah 1934-2019 Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves
10 December 2019 - 8 January 2020
The Soul (Un)Gendered: Anupam Sud, A Retrospective
12 December 2019 - 7 March 2020
Narrating from the museum archives and collection
25 January 2020 - 31 October 2021
Right to laziness... no, strike that! Sidewalking with the man saying sorry
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
Abstracting Nature – Mrinalini Mukherjee and Jayashree Chakravarty
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
Line, beats and shadows – Ayesha Sultana, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Lala Rukh and Sumakshi Singh
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
Zarina – A Life in Nine Lines
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
Delhi Modern: The Architecture of Independent India seen through the eyes of Madan Mahatta
13 February 2020 - 28 February 2020
Unfoldings: The Route Map of Experience by Jayashree Chakravarty
11 March 2021 - 15 April 2021
Atul Dodiya: Walking with the waves
23 March 2022 - 13 August 2022
K Ramanujam: Into the Moonlight Parade
23 March 2022 - 13 August 2022
INNER LIFE OF THINGS: AROUND ANATOMIES AND ARMATURES
26 April 2022 - 28 December 2022
Somnath Hore | Birth of a White Rose
28 April 2022 - 30 September 2022
Convergence
28 April 2022 - 30 June 2022
Traversing Space: Here and Beyond
30 April 2022 - 30 June 2022
Between Vows and Words: Anupam Sud
24 August 2022 - 22 December 2022
Around The Table : Conversations about Milestones, Memories, Mappings
5 November 2022 - 22 December 2022
Jitish Kallat: Tangled Hierarchy 2
14 December 2022 - 10 April 2023
Jitish Kallat: Covering Letter
14 December 2022 - 10 April 2023
Sitaare Zameen Par
7 February 2023 - 20 August 2023
Pop South Asia
9 February 2023 - 30 April 2023
Very Small Feelings
4 July 2023 - 3 October 2023
Prussian Blue: A Serendipitous Colour that Altered the Trajectory of Art
19 September 2023 - 20 December 2023
MIRROR/ MAZE: Echoes of song, space, spectre, Works from the KNMA collection
26 October 2023 - 4 January 2024
MIRROR/ MAZE: Echoes of song, space, spectre
25 January 2024 - 11 July 2024
A Thousand Lives
1 February 2024 - 15 May 2024
Ganesh Haloi
1 March 2024 - 13 April 2024
The Rooted Nomad: MF Husain
18 April 2024 - 24 November 2024
Walking through a Songline
26 May 2024 - 10 July 2024
If We Knew the Point Amitava
27 July 2024 - 30 September 2024
Magic in the Square Mohan Samant
27 July 2024 - 30 September 2024
Putul Katha
16 August 2024 - 11 September 2024
PURVAEE
13 September 2024 - 15 March 2025
The Elemental You:
15 October 2024 - 9 January 2025
Eckart Muthesius and Manik Bagh – Pioneering Modernism in India
15 October 2024 - 10 December 2024
.png)
Oggetti Tra Le Righe
22 December 2024 - 22 February 2025
Of Worlds Within Worlds
9 February 2025 - 30 June 2025
