Art, nature, architecture: Palette Gallery features mesmerising works of Om Soorya
In this photo essay, we feature art exhibition highlights from New Delhi’s popular Palette Gallery.
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Palette Gallery recently hosted an exhibition titled Place No Trace, Trace No Place: The Luminous Twilight, featuring the mesmerising works of contemporary artist Om Soorya. See our coverage of earlier exhibitions at this popular New Delhi art hub here.
Soorya’s works blend symbolism, spirituality and modern aesthetics. In this photo essay, we showcase some of his creations representing the human relationship with nature and cosmic energy.
There are influences from Indian traditions along with his personal introspection, with a combination of vivid colour palettes, architectural geometry, dynamic textures, and layered symbolism. They draw viewers in for closer inspection and reflection.
“Om Soorya’s landscapes materialise as expansive, immersive and enchanting realms. From a distance, they register as coherent, monumental structures,” curator Shalmali Shetty tells YourStory.
Palette Art Gallery was founded in 2001 by designers Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna. Located in the Golf Links area, the gallery’s calm environment allows visitors to engage closely with artworks.
Since its inception, the gallery has focused on presenting both emerging artists and established masters of Indian art. This helps create a dialogue between India’s artistic past and its contemporary creative practices.
Palette Art Gallery exhibits works across many media, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and performance art. It reflects the evolving nature of contemporary artistic expression.
The gallery has helped Indian artists gain visibility in the national and international art scene. This leads to sustainable careers and connections to collectors and institutions worldwide.
The generational bridging of creators contributes to a deeper appreciation of India’s artistic evolution within the global art narrative. The gallery encourages experimental and interdisciplinary practices, allowing artists to explore new ideas and materials and audiences to immerse in diverse themes and viewing styles.
For examples, the featured artworks in Soorya’s exhibition fragment upon closer viewing into intricate topographical and architectural details. “They transform the act of viewing into a performative experience, as the eye moves continuously across the surface without settling into a static point of rest,” curator Shetty describes.
Soorya’s large-format contemporary paintings are impressive in size and detail. His works strengthen the belief that art can be a bridge between the inner self and the universe.
Through a balance of tradition and contemporary experimentation, Sooraya’s visual language seems to resonate with a range of viewers. They include spiritual seekers as well as modern art audiences.
“Colour fields are carefully calibrated to produce a restrained visual intensity and a sense of spatial stillness, while simultaneously conveying the passage of time. From within these fields, illuminated cities, manicured boulevards and rhizomatic networks are mapped against misty horizons and fragmented terrains,” Shetty adds.
The artworks also feature vibrant vegetation, forest clearings, and symbolic mandala formations. “These recurring archetypal motifs coalesce into patterned, floating, island-like formations suspended within a cosmic sea,” she describes.
The artworks invite reflection on the rapid transformation of urban habitats. The surrounding context often includes political uncertainty, ecological pressure, and extended instability.
“These works do not offer a resolution. Instead, they open a space to navigate what persists, what vanishes, and what returns,” Shetty signs off.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at Palette Gallery.)