A Closer Look : Antarang presents ‘A Closer Look’. Akkitham Narayanan and Thota Vaikuntam
A Closer Look takes a step beyond the screen.
What began as a digital series exploring the lives, practices, and artistic languages of significant Indian artists now extends into a physical exhibition format, creating a more intimate way of engaging with their work.
The inaugural edition brings together Akkitham Narayanan and Thota Vaikuntam, two seminal voices from South India whose distinct visual worlds offer rich perspectives on memory, mythology, identity, and modernism.
On view from 5-15 June at The Camellias Clubhouse.
Antarang presents 'A Closer Look', a series that brings celebrated voices of Indian modern and contemporary art into dialogue within the intimate setting of the Clubhouse.
The inaugural display brings together the works of two distinguished artists from South India: Akkitham Narayanan and Thota Vaikuntam. Though rooted in vastly different visual traditions, both artists are equally shaped by strong cultural memory, regional identity, and lived experience.
Born in Kerala and later based in Paris, Narayanan developed a unique visual language that merges Indian tantric abstraction with European geometric sensibilities. His compositions are meditative fields of rhythm and structure, where circles, triangles, and grids become symbolic references to nature, ritual, and elemental energies. Through restrained geometry and carefully orchestrated colour, his works evoke both spiritual stillness and formal precision.
In contrast, Vaikuntam's paintings emerge from the vibrant rural culture of Telangana. Known for his iconic depictions of village men and women, his works are expressive, figurative, and emotionally charged. Using rich primary colours, bold contours, and flattened forms, he captures the sensuality, strength, and theatrical presence of everyday rural life.
Together, Akkitham Narayanan and Thota Vaikuntam present two profoundly different approaches to image-making: one abstract and contemplative, the other figurative and visceral. Yet both remain deeply connected through an enduring engagement with Indian tradition, place, and identity. Each, in their own way, has played a pivotal role in expanding and reinterpreting the language of Indian modern & contemporary art.
