Exhibitions

T. Venkanna, Sculpture Garden

London, United Kingdom

T. Venkanna reimagines the garden of Eden as a charged site of desire and political tension through luminous egg tempera.

Exhibition view.
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Image credit

Exhibition view. Courtesy of the artist and gallery

Meet the artist

T. Venkanna

The Movement

Contemporary Art, Painting

ArtLovers Tip

Look closely at the figures' backs in the Sculpture Garden centerpiece; they are modeled after specific Renaissance poses but placed within a distinctly Indian socio-political landscape.

Exhibition Highlights - What you'll see

Hyderabad-based artist T. Venkanna brings his intricate, often unsettling visions to London for his first institutional solo show. Using the painstaking Renaissance technique of egg tempera, he weaves together the gilded legacy of Mughal miniatures with the muscularity of European masters like Michelangelo and Dürer. These works explore the friction of contemporary India, where the sacred and the carnal occupy the same vibrating plane.

You're watching a monumental series of panels that transform the gallery's former chapel architecture into a provocative sanctuary. In the altar recess, the titular work Sculpture Garden reveals figures whose bodies seem to dissolve into lush, emerald greenery, while gold leaf glints under the soft London light. The atmosphere is thick with a sense of ritual, shifting from the intimate whispers of lovers to the voyeuristic gaze of a distant, painted crowd.

Worth the trip

  • Renaissance Revival: Witness the rare use of hand-ground pigments and egg yolk to create a luminosity that modern acrylics simply cannot replicate.
  • Architectural Dialogue: The centerpiece is specifically composed to fit the altar recess of this converted Victorian mission hall, grounding the art in local history.
  • Cross-Cultural Synthesis: See a unique fusion where South Asian temple reliefs meet the iconography of Adam and Eve in a bold commentary on modern identity.

How to experience it

Walk slowly through the space to appreciate how Venkanna layers his colors, allowing the light to hit the gold leaf in the Golden Quartet triptych from different angles. Notice the tension between the delicate miniature style and the raw, sometimes abject subjects. After leaving the quiet intensity of the gallery, wander toward the nearby Clapham Common to decompress amidst the open greenery, reflecting on the artist's much more turbulent garden.

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