22 August 2025, New Delhi: The India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, is proud to present Tyger Tyger Burning Bright, a solo exhibition by Virenpratap Singh Bhaika, curated by celebrated art historian Dr. Alka Pande, opening on 13 September 2025 at the Open Palm Court
Gallery. The exhibition brings together 15 paintings, a 30-minute film titled Roar and Resilience, and the artist’s sketchbooks, offering an intimate journey through his evolving practice at the intersections of art, conservation, and ecology. Currently a Fine Art Scholar at Harrow School, UK (2021–2026), Bhaika’s practice has been shaped by experiences in India’s national parks, conservation initiatives in Namibia and Tadoba, and encounters with the Gond communities of central India. His works weave together painting, collage, and mixed media, combining precision with experimentation to reflect on the fragile balance between human expansion and natural survival.
“My apron tells the tale of a lifelong journey in art: crackled smudges of watercolour, old dabs of acrylic, and flecks of graphite, layered like a palimpsest. Each medium has taught me something. From graphite, I’ve learned the value of preparation. Quick-drying watercolour has trained me
to think fast. Forgiving acrylic has encouraged me to take risks in colour and composition. I’ve always been drawn to the wildlife of India’s jungles. At first, I aimed for accuracy, drawing tigers and elephants over and over. Now, when I depict the same wildlife, I focus on the fragile, and often broken, balance between urban expansion and natural conservation. Lately, I’ve turned to collage to evoke this fragmentation—bringing together radically different figures, like a tiger and an excavator. My interest in human–animal conflict deepened through volunteering in Namibia and Tadoba, where I worked on conflict-mitigation initiatives. Encounters with Gond communities, whose art dissolves the boundaries between nature and culture, inspired me to weave their symbolic language into my own. Contrasts and connections for me, that is not just art, but also my native India and even, in a way, life itself.”
In his projects, Bhaika experiments with form and fragmentation: collages based on his own film on tiger conservation; abstract acrylic works expressing the vibrancy of the jungle; Gond-inspired paintings that capture moments of tension and coexistence; and collaged compositions influenced by Italian classical art and American modernism. His recent works juxtapose the tiger with flames, excavators, and fractured landscapes—poetic yet urgent images of survival.
Curator Dr. Alka Pande observes:
“Contrasts and connections define Virenpratap’s work—the tiger and the excavator, the village and the forest, myth and modernity. His art is not just about wildlife, but about the ways we negotiate our shared existence on this fragile planet.”
Exhibition Highlights
● 15 Paintings spanning collage, abstraction, and Gond-inspired works
● Film Screening: Roar and Resilience (30 minutes)
● Artist’s Sketchbooks tracing thought and process
● Public Discussion on Zoom: Human–Animal Conflict and Peaceful Coexistence,
with the artist and students, Sunday, 14 September 2025, 4:30–5:15 pm IST
In a time of ecological urgency, Tyger Tyger Burning Bright reflects on the resilience of nature and the precariousness of coexistence. Through painting, film, and dialogue, Bhaika transforms conservation into a visual language that is at once deeply personal and globally resonant—an artistic call to reimagine our relationship with the natural world.
The Works
The exhibition presents four key projects that chart Virenpratap Singh Bhaika’s evolving practice.
Project 1 – Documentary & Collage
Inspired by a self-made documentary on tiger conservation, these works use collage to contrast
the beauty of the tiger with the destructive presence of industrial landscapes.
Project 2 – Jungle Vitality
Abstract acrylic collages that capture the vibrancy and exuberance of the Indian jungle,
reassembled into dynamic compositions that stand out against the dullness of urban contexts.
Project 3 – Gond-Inspired Narratives
In this spirit of dialogue with tradition, the exhibition also features three works by Japani
Shyam, daughter of the legendary Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam, whose practice has deeply
influenced Bhaika’s engagement with indigenous visual languages. Their inclusion in both the
exhibition and catalogue situates Bhaika’s works within a lineage of Gond-inspired art while
highlighting the living vitality of the tradition.
Project 4 – Classical & Modernist Dialogues
Works combining influences from Italian classical art and American modernism, reinterpreted
through collage to reflect on ecology, history, and culture.
Exhibition Details
Dates: 13 – 18 September 2025
Venue: Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre
Address: Lodhi Road, New Delhi
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