Abir Karmakar’s first exhibition with Nature Morte presents a compelling body of work that explores the intersection between memory, space, and the passage of time through hyper-realistic painting. Known for his meticulous style that captures both figurative and architectonic subjects, Karmakar invites viewers to slow down and engage with his paintings, which reveal subtle shifts in light, color, and presence over time.
At the heart of the exhibition are two monumental paintings: The Promised Land (8 feet high x 27 feet wide) and Ancestors (7.5 feet high x 44.5 feet wide). The Promised Land presents a singular cloud floating in an expansive blue sky, evoking a view seen from a plane leaving New York. The image feels simultaneously specific yet unplaceable, a suspended fragment symbolizing arrival or dissolution. Ancestors contrasts with an undulating expanse of sand, caught in half-light where shadows and colors mark the passage of time, creating a profound dialogue between air and earth, stillness and movement.
Indoors, Karmakar shifts focus to intimate spaces with his Room series, depicting the blue-walled interiors of his childhood home in Siliguri, blending memory with image to evoke clarity and distortion. The It Was Home series depicts a rented house inhabited by an elderly man and his daughter—a space the artist never lived in but uses to meditate on transient lives and memories tied to rented spaces. He describes it poignantly as “the carcass of a memory,” framing the dislocation felt when revisiting places transformed by time.
Painting, for Karmakar, is a deliberate act of endurance against the speed of modern life. He reflects, “The land can be a witness, and the horizon a silent archive.” Each brushstroke holds space still, resisting the erasure of memory and sustaining a connection with both personal and collective histories.
Art works Featured: Gate and It was home 3
This exhibition, on view at Nature Morte in New Delhi from August 29 to October 5, 2025, is a meditation on presence, absence, and the human trace in landscapes both external and internal. Karmakar’s work envelops the viewer in large-scale, immersive compositions that challenge the fleeting nature of digital images, demanding patient contemplation and emotional resonance.
Exhibition Details
As it is | Abir Karmakar
Dates: August 29 – October 5, 2025
Venue: Nature Morte, Dhan Mill, New Delhi
Gallery Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11 AM – 7 PM; Closed on Sundays
Abir Karmakar’s paintings are powerful reminders of painting as a medium that captures time, memory, and endurance, inviting viewers into moments suspended between presence and absence.
Cover Image: A Promised Land
All images courtesy of the artist and Nature Morte
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