Retracing a masterful journey through art and design
Srishti Art Gallery brings to the city an extraordinary exhibition that pays tribute to one of India’s most influential creative pioneers—Dashrath Patel. A founding member of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Patel was an artist, designer, photographer, educator, and collaborator whose multidisciplinary brilliance shaped the very foundations of modern Indian design. This exhibition, showcasing his early paintings, photography, collages, and pen drawings, offers viewers a rare opportunity to experience the depth of his artistic thought and the evolution of his practice.
Curated by Sadanand Menon, the show brings together selections from a larger trove of more than two hundred works—oil paintings, prints, pastels, and watercolours—discovered in Patel’s home after his passing in 2010. The oil paintings, in particular, reveal Patel’s mastery of the knife painting technique, where layers of colour intersect playfully yet purposefully. His palette shifts seamlessly from delicate, airy hues to bold, assertive tones, each stroke reflecting an artist fully in command of his medium. The collages and prints further illuminate his early leanings toward contemporary visual expression, long before such styles became mainstream in India. Patel’s career extended far beyond the canvas. He collaborated with global icons like Charles and Ray Eames, Frei Otto, Buckminster Fuller, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, absorbing and contributing to some of the most significant dialogues in design and architecture. His lifelong commitment to design education resonates strongly in his own words: “Function is a casualty when design becomes fashion. You have to keep function absolutely primary.”
Born in 1927 in pre-independence India and active until his final years, Dashrath Patel remains a towering figure whose ideas feel strikingly relevant even today. This exhibition, on view until 7February 2026, is an essential experience for everyone connected to art, design, or the history of Indian creativity.