Dhoomimal Gallery, one of India’s oldest and most renowned art gallery, was delighted to present LIMINAL LINES, a historic retrospective commemorating the culmination of 50 years of the unusually productive art career of Ashok Bhowmick — a master painter and draftsman celebrated for his extraordinary technique of cross-hatching and unshakeable commitment to socially engaged art..
Curated by Prof. Rajan Shripad Fulari, Dean, School of Visual Arts at World University of Design (WUD), this exhibition brought together an expansive body of Bhowmick’s works from early black-and-white drawings of the 1970s to his large-format canvases and recent forays into Printmaking/Sculpture. It was the first time the artist designs a sculpture specifically for Dhoomimal Gallery to accompany this ground-breaking exhibition.
The preview witnessed the guests including Writer and art critic Prayag Shukla, Neelam Pratap Rudy, Dancer Sharon Lowen, Artist Nupur Kundu, Rachna Agarwal, Manoj Arora, Radhika Manocha and many more graced the exhibition.
In the words of Uday Jain, Director of Dhoomimal Gallery, for more than fifty years, Ashok Bhowmick has perfected the cross-hatching style, turning it into a natural expression of light and shadow. His art pulls you in—the more you look, the more depth, feeling and human truth you find.
I believe that all artists should also engage with literature, poetry, theatre and cinema. The transmutation of a text into image is an alchemy worthy of knowing. Sensitivity grows only when you have let all forms of art speak within you. To produce work of consequence, an artist must be open to receive influence, and yet still speak in his own visual language says Artist Ashok Bhowmick
Curator Prof. Rajan Shripad Fulari says Ashok Bhowmick is not just an artist; he is a chronicler of our times. For over six decades, he has transformed the simplest of lines into instruments of memory, resistance, and empathy. His mastery of cross-hatching is not merely a technical achievement but a deeply human gesture – an act of patience, resilience, and quiet defiance. In an art world often driven by spectacle and market trends, Bhowmick chose a solitary and ethical path, guided by truth and by his unwavering belief in the dignity of human life.
LIMINAL LINES is a landmark retrospective celebrating five decades of artistic practice by one of India’s most respected and resolute visual thinkers : Ashok Bhowmick. Known for his mastery of cross-hatching, Bhowmick has developed a deeply personal and politically grounded visual language that speaks of resilience, memory, and the everyday realities of marginalized lives. The show reveals how his singular use of the line – repetitive, meditative, and resolute has evolved into a vehicle for both formal innovation and humanist reflection. This retrospective also carries a significant importance as it showcases a large number of art works that have never exhibited before.
Event Details
Preview Date – 04th October 2025, 6:00 p.m onwards
Open to all – 05th to 15th of October 2025
Exhibition Time: – 11 a.m to 7 p.m
Exhibition Venue: The CCA Gallery, Bikaner House, Pandara Road, New Delhi
The Exhibition will continue 17th October to 05th Nov, 2025 from 11 am to 07pm at Dhoomimal Gallery.
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