Gallery Espace presents “where does the light fall” by Santiniketan-based artist Tanmoy Samanta, running from October 9 to November 8, 2025. Curated by Lina Vincent, this exhibition marks a significant return for Samanta, showcasing a new body of paintings and sculptural “book” forms distinguished by his signature use of layered rice paper on canvas, combined with gouache, watercolor, and kantha-like embroidery with thread.
Exhibition Overview
Tanmoy Samanta’s works utilize found objects like plastic protractors, creating a textured low-relief surface of irregular blocks of diffused color. His imagery oscillates between the recognizably real and the enigmatic, evoking poetic spaces where imagination and memory meet. The juxtaposition of expansive landscapes and intimate familiar objects forms a surreal, interconnected visual dialogue. His paintings invite viewers to explore the liminal realm between reality, memory, and imagination through layered translucent materials and subtle but precise forms.
Curator’s Perspective
Curator Lina Vincent articulates the exhibition’s essence: “‘where does the light fall’ captures moments of pause and silence, memory, and whispers from the past. It extends Tanmoy’s long-standing engagement with time and transition, human existence, and the journey from fragment to wholeness. The works compellingly intersect internal and external landscapes while redefining paper’s physicality as a medium of translucence and fluidity”.
Artist’s Reflection
Tanmoy Samanta describes his practice: “The forms and images in my paintings reside in the liminal space of real, memory and imagination. The layering of pigments and overlapping of rice paper and canvas whisper moments and history. Then I vacate the history by removing obvious references, letting the image become an intriguing motif floating in fluid statelessness. My paintings occupy a space of solitude and oblivion within fascinating universal dualities such as the familiar and strange, presence and absence, moment and eternity”.
About the Artist
Born in 1973, Tanmoy Samanta holds a BFA and MFA from Kala Bhawan, Santiniketan. Influenced by his alma mater, he works primarily with gouache and tempera on paper, crafting delicate lines and simple forms that frequently depict everyday household objects imbued with an aura of surreal unfamiliarity. His work has been exhibited widely, including solo shows across India and group exhibitions internationally. He has completed notable public art projects, including at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Mumbai’s Terminal 2. In 2002, he received the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation award. Samanta divides his time between Santiniketan and New Delhi.
About Gallery Espace
Established in 1989 by Renu Modi, Gallery Espace is a celebrated contemporary art space in New Delhi, known for nurturing critical and commercial interest in Indian contemporary art. The gallery has promoted under-recognized mediums and emerging talents with landmark shows spanning drawing, sculpture, printmaking, bronze, and video art. It acts as a vital bridge from Modernist pioneers like M.F. Husain to leading mid-career and experimental contemporary artists expanding Indian art’s vocabulary.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition Title: where does the light fall
Artist: Tanmoy Samanta
Curator: Lina Vincent
Dates: October 9 – November 8, 2025
Venue: Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Cover image: Spilling through the cracks 8
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