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Review

The Elemental You

By Archana Khare-Ghose

A special feature of the show were the profound texts that accompanied some of the works. That was another point of convergence for the three participating artists—all of them are remarkable writers, in the words of the curator, who has not shied away from sharing their creative output in the written form as well. The show pushed the boundary of viewing art through our traditionally calibrated lenses and, in doing so, put KNMA in a different league of nurturing Indian art (needless to say, it is already in a different league altogether). With an overwhelming majority of Indians consuming and creating art through conventional tropes, shows such as ‘The Elemental You’ awaken us to the limitless possibilities that we ignore for the sake of convenience.

International Reviews

Ephemeral Visages

By Zahra Jewanjee

Ayesha Sultana feeds off her environment-generating processes that articulate her vision. Her need to not over-narrativize her work is compelling, and sometimes unsettling, as one finds various access points that could point to the potential underlying genesis; however, she is keen to empower the predicaments one offers in favour of her practice.

Review

From the Ghor to the Gallery: Liberating the Feminine Realm in Indian Art

By Aranya Bhowmik

Review Of Spaces of Their Own: Women artists in early 20th century India, Curated by Aparna Roy Baliga and Debdutta Gupta, September 19 - October 15, 2024, Akar Prakar, Kolkata.

Review

The Posthuman In Heaven (And That Other Place)

By Janeita Singh

A Review of Waswo X Waswo's show Heaven (And That Other Place), held during 10 October - 17 November, 2024 at GALERIE ISA, Mumbai.

Column

Kalighat Painting and Kalam Patua: Contemporary Chronicler

By Epsita Halder

Kalam Patua is considered to be a phenomenon to understand the response of a traditional folk visual artist (the patua or the maker of the pata) to the non-academic and popular art practices of urban Kolkata, the Kalighat patachitra. Hailing from the Murshidabad district of Bengal, Kalam Patua is said to have reinvented Kalighat painting to create his own visual narratives and stabilise his rhetoric, style and technique. Patua started as an apprentice in his family of idol-makers in Murshidabad, and learnt patachitra painting which was the hereditary practice of his extended family spread in the two districts of Murshidabad and Birbhum.

Column

Kalighat Painting and Kalam Patua: Contemporary Chronicler

By Epsita Halder

Kalam Patua is considered to be a phenomenon to understand the response of a traditional folk visual artist (the patua or the maker of the pata) to the non-academic and popular art practices of urban Kolkata, the Kalighat patachitra. Hailing from the Murshidabad district of Bengal, Kalam Patua is said to have reinvented Kalighat painting to create his own visual narratives and stabilise his rhetoric, style and technique. Patua started as an apprentice in his family of idol-makers in Murshidabad, and learnt patachitra painting which was the hereditary practice of his extended family spread in the two districts of Murshidabad and Birbhum.

Review

The Elemental You

By Archana Khare-Ghose

A special feature of the show were the profound texts that accompanied some of the works. That was another point of convergence for the three participating artists—all of them are remarkable writers, in the words of the curator, who has not shied away from sharing their creative output in the written form as well. The show pushed the boundary of viewing art through our traditionally calibrated lenses and, in doing so, put KNMA in a different league of nurturing Indian art (needless to say, it is already in a different league altogether). With an overwhelming majority of Indians consuming and creating art through conventional tropes, shows such as ‘The Elemental You’ awaken us to the limitless possibilities that we ignore for the sake of convenience.

International Reviews

Ephemeral Visages

By Zahra Jewanjee

Ayesha Sultana feeds off her environment-generating processes that articulate her vision. Her need to not over-narrativize her work is compelling, and sometimes unsettling, as one finds various access points that could point to the potential underlying genesis; however, she is keen to empower the predicaments one offers in favour of her practice.

Column

Kalighat Painting and Kalam Patua: Contemporary Chronicler

By Epsita Halder

Kalam Patua is considered to be a phenomenon to understand the response of a traditional folk visual artist (the patua or the maker of the pata) to the non-academic and popular art practices of urban Kolkata, the Kalighat patachitra. Hailing from the Murshidabad district of Bengal, Kalam Patua is said to have reinvented Kalighat painting to create his own visual narratives and stabilise his rhetoric, style and technique. Patua started as an apprentice in his family of idol-makers in Murshidabad, and learnt patachitra painting which was the hereditary practice of his extended family spread in the two districts of Murshidabad and Birbhum.

Review

The Elemental You

By Archana Khare-Ghose

A special feature of the show were the profound texts that accompanied some of the works. That was another point of convergence for the three participating artists—all of them are remarkable writers, in the words of the curator, who has not shied away from sharing their creative output in the written form as well. The show pushed the boundary of viewing art through our traditionally calibrated lenses and, in doing so, put KNMA in a different league of nurturing Indian art (needless to say, it is already in a different league altogether). With an overwhelming majority of Indians consuming and creating art through conventional tropes, shows such as ‘The Elemental You’ awaken us to the limitless possibilities that we ignore for the sake of convenience.

International Reviews

Ephemeral Visages

By Zahra Jewanjee

Ayesha Sultana feeds off her environment-generating processes that articulate her vision. Her need to not over-narrativize her work is compelling, and sometimes unsettling, as one finds various access points that could point to the potential underlying genesis; however, she is keen to empower the predicaments one offers in favour of her practice.

Column

Kalighat Painting and Kalam Patua: Contemporary Chronicler

By Epsita Halder

Kalam Patua is considered to be a phenomenon to understand the response of a traditional folk visual artist (the patua or the maker of the pata) to the non-academic and popular art practices of urban Kolkata, the Kalighat patachitra. Hailing from the Murshidabad district of Bengal, Kalam Patua is said to have reinvented Kalighat painting to create his own visual narratives and stabilise his rhetoric, style and technique. Patua started as an apprentice in his family of idol-makers in Murshidabad, and learnt patachitra painting which was the hereditary practice of his extended family spread in the two districts of Murshidabad and Birbhum.

Current Issue

Indigenous

"Engaging with Indigenous worldviews requires the acknowledgement of three interconnected, and ongoing temporalities: ancestrality, coloniality and the experience of the contemporary life. At the centre of this triad lies the notion of ancestrality, a beating heart of Indigenous understanding of sovereignty. As the Geonpul scholar Moreton Robinson explains in the above-mentioned quotation, ancestrality is a key element shared across the Indigenous experience because it encompasses a space of intersubstantiation (between humans, ancestors, the land, and nonhuman entities) that defines their existence." Katya García-Antón, Guest Editor, TAKE Indigenous

Details Buy

Inside Indigenous

Memory as a Method: Textures of Anticolonial Legacy in Birsa Munda Rebellion

We Talk, You Listen

Venkat Raman Singh Shyam (Gond) Santosh Das (Mithila) Tushar & Mayur Vayeda (Warli) Bhuri Bai (Bhil) Jodhaiya Bai (Baiga)

Evolving Knowledge Systems

Reframing Indigenous Art: Voices of Resistance and Fugitive Aesthetics

The Head is a Streaming Pitcher: Rupture, Reclamation and Reinvention of Adivasi Knowledge

Bringing Traditional Artists to the Book

The Sovereign Forest, a collaboration with Sudhir Pattnaik and Sherna Dastur

Sueño de obsidiana (Obsidian Dream)

Exhibition Making and the Question of What Lies Beyond

Decolonization and Art in Bolivia: La Casa Grande del Pueblo (The Big House of the People)

To Be Discriminated Against or Not? Indigenous Drinking Coincides with Dispossession in Health

The Uncomfortable Museum

Ocean and Canoe

Tamba: reflections on revolution and rebirth

Women’s Knowledge in the Art from Indonesia Indigenous Artists

Janjatiya Sangrahalaya: A Paradigm Shift in Museum Curation and Ethnographic Representation

Tracing the Evolution of Banaras and the Role of its Diverse Communities

Gulistan

Himmat Shah Retrospective

The Elemental You

Dhavat and His Jungle

The Posthuman in Heaven (And That Other Place)

Histories Loved and Tempered: What the Nilima Sheikh Archives reveal

When Indian Flowers Bloomed in Distant Lands

From the Ghor to the Gallery: Liberating the Feminine Realm in Indian Art

Ephemeral Visages

Women, Modernism, and Resistance: Reminiscing

Black Noise

The Horizon in Between: Bridging Indian Art and Politics

Belinder Dhanoa: Kasauli Art Centre 1976 - 1991

Art as a Winding River: The Bengal Biennale through Cross-Currents

Latika Katt

Echoes of Fur

TAKE Features

feature

Interview

Of Pichwai Arts and Aesthetic

By Pooja Singhal

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Review

Fragile worlds

By Meera Menezes

Ravikumar Kashi’s ‘Fragile Worlds’ at the Museum of Art and Photography, Bengaluru, evokes the permeability of form, memory, and meaning. Through delicate, net-like sculptures and poetic explorations of language, the exhibition invites viewers into a tactile, immersive meditation on fragility, interconnectedness, and the porous edges of self and society.

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Book Review

The Archetypal Artist, Francis Newton Souza

By Alka Pande

This review by Dr Alka Pande explores 'F.N. Souza: The Archetypal Artist' by Janeita Singh (Niyogi Books), a bold and interdisciplinary examination of one of India’s most controversial modernists. Blending Jungian psychoanalysis, feminist literary theory, and cross-cultural philosophy, Singh offers a fresh, intimate lens into Souza’s work—unpacking themes of sexuality, shadow, and modernity with remarkable clarity and conviction. A compelling contribution to postcolonial readings of Indian art.

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Review

Visceral Realities: Experiencing the Works of Jogen Chowdhury

By Aranya Bhowmik

This review by Dr. Aranya Bhowmik explores In Celebration: Jogen Chowdhury at Art Exposure Gallery, Kolkata. Curated by Soumik Nandy Majumdar, the exhibition traces Chowdhury’s evolving visual language—spanning refugee memories, surreal dreamscapes, and politically charged figures—revealing a deeply personal modernism marked by psychological depth, empathy, and cultural rootedness.

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feature

Review

The Posthuman In Heaven (And That Other Place)

By Janeita Singh

A Review of Waswo X Waswo's show Heaven (And That Other Place), held during 10 October - 17 November, 2024 at GALERIE ISA, Mumbai.

Read More

News & Events

Critical Writing in Collaboration Workshop

- Curating a Dream Project

Piramal Art Foundation, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Issue 21 Launch

Take Fiction

Representing Geographical and Cultural Diversity in the large-scale International Exhibitions

17th April 2025
HUNA LOUNGE, Art Dubai

Art Writers’ Award 2024

14 April–14 June 2025
Villa Sträuli, Winterthur, Switzerland

Launch of TAKE Philanthropy

October 23, 2024
The Quorum, Gurgaon

Launch of Body/Language by Ranjana Dave, winner of AWA 22

12th April 2024
LATITUDE 28

Take Editions

Unique, limited editioned and handcrafted affordable artworks by eminent artists exclusively commissioned for TAKE on Art.

G R Iranna

The Story Which You Have Written, Bronze, 5 x 11 x 4 inches, The Story Which You Have Written by G R Iranna, 2023

Available

Ashiesh Shah

Lingam Lamp, Sculpture Cast aluminium, toggle switch cast in aluminium, Edition of 25, 10 x 7.25 x 14 inches, Lingam Lamp by Ashiesh Shah, 2020

Available

Ganesh Haloi

Untitled , Hand–painting on Papier Mache, 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, Hand-painted book object by Ganesh Haloi, 2021

Not Available

Mithu Sen

Uncalendar Unever, Mixed media work with embossed print, hand and pin drawing on paper, Series of 100, each one is unique and signed, 17 x 20 inches, Uncalendar Unever by Mithu Sen, 2023

Available

Rekha Rodwittiya

My Bonsai Tiger, Stainless Steel, 264.4 mm x 306.6 mm x 1.5 mm, Limited edition of 35 , My Bonsai Tiger by Rekha Rodwittiya, 2022

Available

Shilpa Gupta

Untitled, Mirror Acrylic, Limited edition of of 50, 13 x 9.2 inches, Untitled by Shilpa Gupta, 2022

Available

Gulam Mohammed Sheikh

Talisman (Twin-1), Digital collage printed on rice paper (100 GSM), with wooden boxes for encasing Limited edition of 10, each numbered and signed, 9 x 9.4 cm (h x w), length of spread out 514.5 cm, the attached wooden support covers 2 cm, outer box: 10.4 x 12.4 x 6 cm (h x w x d), A digital collage accordion format book named ‘Talisman’, Second edition, 2022

Available

Vibha Galhotra

Re[construction], Brass ghungroos (trinkets) and steel, 14x 8 x 8 inches, A series of unique sculptures made of brass ghungroos (trinkets) and steel by Vibha Galhotra, 2022

Not Available

Ayesha Singh

Skewed Histories: Amalgamation as sculpture (1), Biodegradable polylactic acid, Limited edition of 10, 21 x 16 x 12 inches, Editioned sculptures made of biodegradable polylactic acid by Ayesha Singh, 2022

Available

Dhruvi Acharya

Drop, Unbleached cotton painted with acrylic paints, aluminium wire, Limited series of 35, 6 x 3 inches approx., wire: 38 inches approx., outer acrylic box: 6.5 x 6.5 x 8.75 inches, A series of soft fabric sculptures by Dhruvi Acharya, 2022

Available

Jayasri Burman

Untitled, Paper mache and acrylic paint Hand-painted Unique Book , 11 x 11 x 2 inches, Untitled, 2016

Not Available

Jagannath Panda

Table Lamp, Mixed Media Unique Series of 12, 20 inches (lamp shade 7 x 12 inches, stand: 12 x 9 inches), Table Lamp, 2011

Not Available

George Martin PJ

Painted Palettes, Acrylic on palette (MFD board) Series of 10, , Painted Palettes, 2012

Not Available

Dayanita Singh

Museum Bhavan, Nine individual ‘museums’ in book form in a handmade box , 3.7 x 5.5 inches , Museum Bhavan, 2017

Not Available

Chittrovanu Mazumdar

Untitled, Etching on copper and carved mahogany wood Edition of 50, 12 x 10 inches, Untitled, 2009

Not Available

Bose Krishnamachari

Stretched Body Series, Watercolour on arches paper-pulp book cast sculpture Hand-painted Unique Book , 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, Stretched Body Series, 2014

Not Available

Anupam Sud

Untitled, Collage, watercolour, graphite on paper mache Hand-painted Unique Book, 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, Untitled, 2014

Not Available

Anupam Sud

Untitled , Collage, watercolour, graphite on paper mache Hand-painted Unique Book , 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, Untitled , 2014

Not Available

Ravinder Reddy

Torso, Hand gilded on polyester resin fiber Exclusive Edition of 30, 9 inches, Torso by G. Ravinder Reddy, 2017-2018

Not Available

Raqs Media Collective

Two Thousand Three Hundred Grams of What?, Acrylic and decoup acrylic Limited Edition of 50, 11.5 x 8.7 x 1.5 inches, Two Thousand Three Hundred Grams of What? by Raqs Media Collective, 2013

Available

Pushpamala N

The Popular Series, Native Women of South India: Manners and Customs, Giclee Print, 5.5 x 8 inches each, The Popular Series, Native Women of South India: Manners and Customs by Pushpamala N and Clare Arni, 2000-2004

Available

Shilpa Gupta

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, Single book in metal Editions of 50, 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Shilpa Gupta, 2011

Not Available

Atul Dodiya

The Book of Sand – II, Watercolour and marble dust on arches paper-pulp book cast sculpture Hand-painted Unique Book, 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, The Book of Sand Series by Atul Dodiya, 2016

Not Available

Atul Dodiya

The Book of Sand – I, Watercolour and marble dust on arches paper-pulp book cast sculpture Hand-painted Unique Book, 11 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches, The Book of Sand Series by Atul Dodiya, 2016

Not Available

Manjunath Kamath

Pink elephant in bathtub, Digital print on archival paper Edition of 50, 5 x 7 inches, Pink Anubhav Highres by Manjunath Kamath, 2011

Not Available

Prajjwal Choudhury

Matchbox, Digitally printed matchboxes, 15 x 15 inches , Series of unique pieces signed by the artist , 2018

Not Available

Pooja Iranna

Forbidden Stories, Paper Mache and acrylic paint on arches paper-pulp book cast sculpture Hand-painted Unique Book , 11 x 11 x 2 inches, Series of unique pieces signed by the artist , 2016

Not Available

Mithu Sen

Anti-clock, Mixed media (water colour on hand-made sheet, velvet etc.), Sizes vary, Series of unique pieces signed by the artist , 2011

Not Available

Arun Kumar HG

Tract, Visual book with 100 images, 1200 gsm, natural evolution hard bound Limited Editions of 100, 12 x 17 inches, A photo book that encapsulates the collapse of ecological terrain to advance the multitude of urban life.,

Available

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