Empire Of Irony brings together a group of artists, namely Debajit R Paul, Degala Chinnarao, Gargi Chandola, Hardev Chauhan, Ravi Chunchula and Sanjeeva Rao Guthi in a show curated by Rahul Kumar at Art Incept, Gurugram. On view till August 22, the exhibition uses satire, parody, exaggeration and dark humour to examine the absurdities of contemporary life, from digital performance and consumption to surveillance, governance and curated identities.
Rather than treating irony as a punchline, the exhibition frames it as a critical tool. The curatorial text positions laughter as a way of unsettling what appears normal, revealing the hidden structures that shape attention, desire and authority. In a moment when outrage circulates quickly and images are consumed almost instantly, the show asks viewers to slow down and sit with discomfort, ambiguity and contradiction.
That approach gives the exhibition its force. The works move between the personal and the political, showing how systems of media, belief and spectacle structure everyday experience. Instead of offering straightforward condemnation, the artists use humour to expose what lies beneath familiar surfaces : the scripts, performances and hierarchies that govern contemporary life.
The individual practices add distinct registers to the show. Debajit R Paul’s work bridges memory, environment and the surreal, drawing on the layered landscape of Tripura and using sparse, poetic gestures to reflect social experience. Ravi Chunchula’s practice looks to India’s heritage and political undercurrents, often echoing the precision of miniature painting while experimenting through collage, gouache on rice paper and visual contradictions.
Hardev Chauhan turns to agriculture and labour, especially cotton plantations and the worlds of tailoring and garment-making, bringing together illustration, collage and photography to consider the uneasy balance between nature and industrial development. Gargi Chandola draws on a forested surrounding and the behaviour of monkeys as a mirror of human trickery, aggression and desire, using humour as both coping mechanism and critique.
Degala Chinnarao’s work observes rural labour and ritual as living structures of identity and collective consciousness, tracing the tension between devotion and necessity, violence and sustenance. Sanjeeva Rao Guthi, meanwhile, translates social attitudes into visual metaphors, using animals such as zebras, donkeys and elephants to think through ego, belonging, memory and strength. Across the show, satire becomes less a style than a method — one that reveals how power, identity and performance are made and maintained.
The exhibition also fits Art Incept’s wider commitment to presenting emerging artists whose work is grounded in lived experience, regional memory and experimentation. Under curator Rahul Kumar, the show connects sharp conceptual framing with practices that remain materially and emotionally grounded, making Empire Of Irony a timely group presentation for readers interested in contemporary Indian art.
Empire Of Irony
Artists: Debajit R Paul, Degala Chinnarao, Gargi Chandola, Hardev Chauhan, Ravi Chunchula, Sanjeeva Rao Guthi
Curated by: Rahul Kumar
Venue: Art Incept 227, South Point Mall, Golf Course Road, DLF Phase 5, Sector 53, Gurugram
On view till: August 22, 2026
Timings: 11 am to 6 pm; Sundays closed
Exhibition view images. Courtesy of Art Incept
Pari tiwari is a third year english literature student at Delhi University. She is interested in art, Feminism, politics of representation, literature, philosophy, film, and photography.
