Nandita Desai Breathes Life into Abandoned Houses

Award-winning artist Nandita Desai takes art connoisseurs in the city on a nostalgia trip with her show, The Stone and the Brick, which will be showcased until the 19th of March, 2023 at the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda. Desai, who took around six months to put the exhibit of 25 paintings together, sought inspiration from her own life, and from author Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul to showcase her works to the world. Interestingly, the houses captured on canvas are mostly abandoned, uninhabited and even dilapidated, primarily from Maharashtra – Mumbai, Lonavala and Khandala.

At the inauguration of her show, Desai took her guests and viewers on a magical vintage sojourn as the gallery came alive with abandoned ‘houses’ becoming ‘homes’ again. On-lookers were seen indulging in arresting conversations over wine and cheese. Present at the do were Mr. M K Srivastava (Chief Secretary – Government of Maharashtra), B N Makhija (IAS Retired Ex-Secretary – Government of Maharashtra), Nidhi Chaudhari (Joint Commissioner of GST), Vinay Khargaonkar (Additional DG – Police), veteran artist-journalist Prakash Bal Joshi, artist-curator and Desai’s mentor Satyendra Rane, artists Anita Goel, Vishwa Sahni and Sonu Gupta, art collector Ru Naimi, art enthusiasts Ashok Malkani, Indrani Malkani, Vijay Desai and Meera Warrier among many others.