About the Exhibition
Artisera
Gurudas Shenoy, who is nationally and internationally acclaimed, has, in an illustrious career, consistently reinvented his creative practice and pushed artistic boundaries. “Journeys Within” commemorates a pivotal milestone as the artist celebrates his 60th year in March 2025. The exhibition features paintings and drawings delineated into two distinct series, through which he conveys his journey of experiences over the past four decades.
The first series extends his “Spiritual Odyssey” narrative through a collection of landscapes rendered with an innovative emphasis on abstraction, spatial composition, and simplicity. Gurudas has, over the years, created a visual language with an artistic vocabulary that renders different kinds of landscapes as urban, rural, heritage and natural, marking his signature style. His approach to its delineation sets him apart from other landscape artists. Technically, his paintings are rendered in gestural brush strokes soft and suffused yet with brilliant intensity of colours that almost seems paradoxical, juxtaposed with textured charcoal black lines that allow for a reading of a structured drawing beneath the layers of oil paints that fluidly changes to the choreography of paint and texture accorded by the artist. Thematically, his landscapes are composite images of memories, perceptions, sight and sounds, and experiences in urban metropolis, ruralscapes and heritage sites, which though appearing as déjà vu, are in fact his imaginative mindscapes of translated and transformed stories from epics, history, and folk tales.
Gurudas’s engagement with the elements of light, space, line, textures and colours play a dominant role in shaping his landscapes. The architecture is addressed in an impressionistic manner with emphatic black lines either carelessly caressing here and there or sometimes meticulously outlined as desired by the artist. His canvases manifest nature as a distinct visual force. For Gurudas, the enchantment of nature resides in its power; indeed, nature itself embodies the essence of spirituality.
In contrast to the landscapes, the second series, “Timeless Narratives,” unveils a reimagined collection of still-life charcoal drawings and oil paintings. Here, elements drawn from previous explorations ranging from the rugged terrains of Hampi and European urbanscapes, to evocative scenes of boats on the ghats of Varanasi as well as domestic motifs, are composed with harmonious precision. The introduction of collage in smaller format works further attests to the artist’s ceaseless pursuit of artistic innovation.
Drawing occupies a place of considerable importance for Gurudas, serving as a seminal medium for his artistic process and expression. As Cezanne had opined “Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct, everything in nature is coloured”. It is this dimension which Gurudas has assimilated intelligently, observing abstraction in nature through his drawings in terms of lines and tones.
Windows have appeared in his present suite of works, serving as a passage from the inside of the room to the outside world, while also suggesting the expansive nature of his imagination and storytelling. The room is symbolically understood as the mental landscape of the artist and the view behind the window is his empirical experiences, which in this instance are his memories, memorabilia and nostalgia of things past and present. The metaphor of the window translates as a form of exploration as well as an escape, a pathway to the outside world, symbolizing the artist’s desire for exploration, freedom and moving away from limitations.
- Dr. Ashrafi S. Bhagat (Art Historian, Critic, Author and Independent Curator)
An empty canvas is where I spill all my secrets and memories, trying to recreate my version of landscapes that are more imaginative than real.
- Gurudas Shenoy
- Installation Views -
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Spiritual Odyssey 11 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 60 x 96 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Spiritual Odyssey 12 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 48 x 48 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Spiritual Odyssey 13 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 36 x 60 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Spiritual Odyssey 14 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 36 x 60 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Spiritual Odyssey 15 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Spiritual Odyssey 16 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Spiritual Odyssey 17 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 30 x 30 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Spiritual Odyssey 18 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 30 x 30 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
We see things in a defined form, but abstraction is all around us. If we scrutinize nature, we can see abstraction in the texture of stones, the patterns of dried leaves, the flow of water, it is everywhere.
- Gurudas Shenoy
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Spiritual Odyssey 19 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Spiritual Odyssey 20 Gurudas Shenoy
Oil on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 12, triptych Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 48 x 48 inches x 3 nos.Gurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 11, diptych Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 48 x 48 inches x 2 nos.Gurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 10 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 48 x 72 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 01 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 48 x 48 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 02 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 48 x 48 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 03 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 04 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 05 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 06 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 07 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 08 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 13 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 14 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 15 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 16 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 36 x 36 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 09 Gurudas Shenoy
Charcoal on Canvas | 24 x 24 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 17 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 18 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 19 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 20 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 21 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 22 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 23 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 24 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 25 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas Shenoy -
Timeless Narratives 26 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold -
Timeless Narratives 27 Gurudas Shenoy
Mixed Media on Canvas | 16 x 12 inchesGurudas ShenoyPrice on Inquiry| Sold
- Artist Biography -
Artisera
Gurudas Shenoy is an acclaimed artist with over four decades of art practice behind him that includes drawings, paintings, murals, and installations. Born in Udupi, Karnataka in 1965, he studied painting at the prestigious Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. The son of senior artist G.S. Shenoy, Gurudas lived and breathed art since the day he was born. M.F. Husain, a close friend of his father's, was a mentor, and has hugely inspired Gurudas Shenoy's journey as an artist.
His love for nature and its brilliant hues, and cities with their vibrancy and multitude of stories, reflects in his art. Gurudas Shenoy’s inimitable style shines through with a dextrous use of colours, lines, light, and textures. His paintings are reflections of memories from his travels and life experiences, as he deftly captures their essence using his distinct visual vocabulary.
Gurudas Shenoy has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in over 200 group shows at leading art galleries. Several of his murals and installations feature prominently in various corporate centres. He is also passionate about supporting young artists through his foundation. The artist lives and works in Bangalore.
