Pare, Blur and Vibrate

Parul Gupta squares the square to create layered geometrical experiences, reveals Meera Menezes.

- Meera Menezes

“I think through black,” Parul Gupta tells me emphatically. And it shows. In her exhibition Still, on the verge… at Nature Morte’s new space at the Dhan Mill Complex from the 27th of March till the 25h of July in Delhi, one is struck by the colour’s predominant presence in the works. Brighter colours, more often than not, have a secondary role to play. Take, for instance, a series of ethereal works along one of the expansive walls of the central gallery space. Labelled #90 through #100, these complex ink on archival paper works executed in 2020 present overlapping squares. The meticulously rendered fine black lines within them create a dense but blurry weave, lending these geometrical forms a sense of movement and three-dimensionality. In her quest to heighten their vibratory feel and impart more texture to the works, Gupta has injected shades of blue and red into the mix. However, the most striking work in this series, #101, is one in which Gupta shuns primary colours focusing instead on the gradations achieved by black, reinforcing the feeling that the artist is in her element when she pares down colour to a minimum.