The Greek philosopher, Plato, had said that the highest kind of beauty lies not in the forms of the real world but in geometry. Nowhere is this more visible than in abstract art. An Intersection of The Timeless Moment, an exhibition organized by Aakriti Art Gallery, saw six artists condense form into brilliant interplays of shapes and colour. Avadhesh Yadav balances subtlety of colours with delicate, minimal patterns in watercolours that evoke a sense of wonder, especially in Desert (picture, top) in which the artist captures both the vastness of the sandy landscape and the minuteness of the particles that comprise it using various shades and washes of brown.

An artwork by Sunil De Aakriti Art Gallery

Akhilesh’s works see the world in primitive shapes akin to cave paintings and hieroglyphic tablets. The shapes seem ever-evolving, a collection of beginnings with no ends. His work gives a feeling of being left unfinished and, yet, it does not seem incomplete. Sunil De’s acrylics defy fixity as well; instead, each of them draws the viewer into a cavernous depth of rioting colours and shapes where meaning becomes elusive, even unnecessary (picture, middle).

An artwork by Yogendra Tripathi Aakriti Art Gallery

Vikram, on the other hand, plays with colour. Smearing it, coating the paper with it, scratching at its surface to reveal hidden patterns underneath. Like a detective unearthing a fingerprint hiding in plain sight, he brings to light unique patterns that hint at a divided, bloody world with fleeting moments of tranquility to be found amidst nature. Yogendra Tripathi finds respite in nature too — but this is a harsh, unforgiving landscape where beauty is stark and minimal (picture, bottom).

Samir Aich, as is his wont, refuses to be tied down by definitive ideas of abstraction. There is turmoil, a sense of disaster looming and human suffering — contorted bodies, severed and bandaged limbs lie strewn — but the source of these troubles is abstract, shifting and beyond the grasp of the viewer.