At Method Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, artist Dheer Kaku presents his latest solo exhibition, “Unstill Life”, on view until 15 February 2026. The show builds on Kaku’s ongoing engagement with the architecture of emotion : where form, memory, and psychological space meet in delicate equilibrium.
Between stillness and unease
Growing up with limited private space, Kaku found solace in terraces, gaps, and architectural nooks, places where geometry offered comfort against disorder. In Unstill Life, this childhood search evolves into a mature inquiry: how can one find stillness when the inner world remains unsettled?
Though inspired by the still-life tradition, Kaku reverses its premise. His drawings and installations capture movement within quiet forms, revealing how even decay and disrepair carry a kind of rhythm. The works layer marks and erasures — drawn, redrawn, and broken again — to chart the transformation of instinct into observation.
“The spaces I draw are more than buildings; they reflect psychological states,” Kaku notes. “By creating and breaking them, I look at tension, grief, and endurance with clarity.”
Architecture as emotion
Across his compositions, Kaku stages an intimate contrast between external and internal landscapes. His fragile interiors echo the disappearance of shared, open spaces in urban life, a shift from collective gathering to isolation. Within this tension, beauty persists. Even in ruined facades, the artist finds traces of meaning and resilience, suggesting that humans continue to seek softness amid fracture.
This sensitive interplay gives Unstill Life both philosophical depth and emotional immediacy, aligning with Method’s curatorial ethos of supporting introspective contemporary practices.
A multidisciplinary lens
A multidisciplinary artist, Dheer Kaku works across drawing, lens-based media, and installation. His practice investigates the human condition through material remnants, blending archaeological and anthropological methods to study time, decay, and consciousness.
An INLAKS Fine Art Award recipient (2015) and alumnus of Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Arts, Mumbai, Dheer has participated in residencies at KHOJ (New Delhi) and Space 118 (Mumbai). His works have shown at Filet Space (London), the Goa Open Arts Festival, Sakshi Gallery, and Project 88, among others. Now based in Goa, he continues to navigate between fine art, design, and filmmaking.
A meditation on breaking and becoming
At once poetic and restrained, Unstill Life captures a revolution of perception. Kaku’s works remind us that to break is to understand, and that beauty often endures where permanence fails.
Exhibition Details
Unstill Life by Dheer Kaku
Venue: Method Kala Ghoda, 86 Nagindas Master Rd, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai
Dates: On view until 15 February 2026
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
