Posted on 17 September 2025:
Ranjan Kaul’s ‘Within, Without: Tales of Evanescence’—A Provocative Art Exhibition in New Delhi
This September, New Delhi becomes the canvas for a compelling artistic dialogue as acclaimed contemporary artist Ranjan Kaul unveils his sixth solo exhibition, Within, Without: Tales of Evanescence.
Curated with insight and sensitivity by Ina Puri, the show invites viewers to traverse the delicate terrain between visibility and erasure, identity and anonymity.
Through a series of evocative visual narratives, Kaul confronts the social, psychological and political undercurrents that shape our collective experience—rendering the invisible visible, and the forgotten unforgettable.
The exhibition opens at LTC, Bikaner House, Pandara Road, New Delhi, from 19–23 September 2025, between 11 am and 7 pm. And again, the show will continue at Urban Fringe (underground studio) F-15 Basement, Okhla Phase I, New Delhi, from 27 September to 5 October 2025.
Kaul’s work is not merely visual—it is visceral. Each piece is a meditation on the ephemeral nature of existence, the criminalization of identity, and the politics of disappearance. His brushstrokes echo the voices of the silenced, the displaced, and the unseen. Within, Without is more than an exhibition; it is a reckoning. It challenges viewers to confront uncomfortable truths and to find beauty in the broken.
Echoes of the Vanished: Ranjan Kaul’s Art of Empathy and Resistance
In Within, Without: Tales of Evanescence, Ranjan Kaul transforms silence into substance, drawing inspiration from newspaper classifieds and real-world disappearances to craft a hauntingly humane narrative.
His latest works traverse the shadowed corridors of sex and organ trafficking, forced migration, and the invisible scars of conflict—each piece a quiet scream against systemic injustice.
Through oil and acrylic paintings, woodcut prints, collages, sculptures, and installations, Kaul weaves a tapestry of symbolic depth and emotional urgency.
Highlights include Leaving Home, a poignant portrayal of escape from domestic violence, and The Red Room, a chilling collage mapping a girl’s descent into exploitation. A New Identity offers a fragile glimpse of hope, as a sex worker seeks rebirth beyond erasure. From the war-torn landscapes of Cataclysm in Sudan to the digital deceit of Equus Siege, Kaul’s art doesn’t just depict—it demands reflection. Each stroke, each texture, is a testament to lives lost, voices muted, and the enduring power of art to bear witness.
“By layering his compositions with symbolism, metaphor and allegory, Kaul pays homage to the many who have gone missing but remain unforgotten by those they have left behind, especially the artist himself. Resonating with issues that remain without closure or justice, Kaul’s art is both a heart-filled tribute and a lament.” —Ina Puri, Curatorial Advisor
In Within, Without: Tales of Evanescence, Ranjan Kaul crafts a visual elegy where poetry and metaphor entwine with the quiet symbolism of birds and beasts—silent sentinels to stories untold. His sculpture Blackbird stands as a spectral witness to lives lost and reclaimed in memory. With a palette hushed in tone yet rich in emotional resonance, Kaul’s art navigates the blurred edges of identity and absence.
“As in all my work, this exhibition reflects my intense engagement with humanitarian themes that touch my sensibilities. Revolving primarily around missing persons, the visual narratives and portraits in the show explore the many facets of existence, identity and obscurity. While there is diversity in my art, there is an underlying singular, personalized aesthetic in relation to the use of form, texture and the colour palette” says artist Ranjan Kaul.
