A major retrospective titled 'Grammar of Seeing: A Retrospective of Becoming' dedicated to Padma Shri awardee and artist-scholar Ratan Parimoo has opened at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Bikaner House, New Delhi. Curated by Satyajit Dave and presented by Gallerie Splash, the exhibition runs from 12 to 16 June 2026 in Delhi, then continues at Gallerie Splash, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon, from 17 June to 15 July 2026. It brings together paintings, prints, drawings, collages, archival documents, photographs, letters, and personal writings spanning several decades, organized into three thematic sections: 'The Observed World', 'Between Memory and Method', and 'Abstraction Becomes Language'. The show integrates archival materials to illuminate Parimoo's roles as artist, educator, researcher, and institution builder.
This exhibition matters because it reassesses Ratan Parimoo's legacy within Indian modernism, arguing that his early material experiments—using sand, pigment, glue, pebbles, and textured surfaces—significantly contributed to the development of abstraction in post-Independence Indian art. Parimoo, a founding member of the Baroda Group and a former professor at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, is one of India's foremost art historians and educators. The retrospective seeks to secure his place in broader narratives of Indian modernism, especially following his 2025 Padma Shri honor, and underscores the importance of research-driven curation in contemporary art.