The art of painting Urdu

Source Scroll.in by Shweta Upadhyay, Impart
It was Zarina Hashmi (1937-2020), known professionally as Zarina, who first used Urdu text prolifically in her works. Ahmadzai acknowledges Zarina’s influence on Nafas; in fact, one of the letters in the series is titled Zarina ke Naam, in which she pays homage to the artist. The wounds of Partition had left a profound, pit-deep sense of homelessness in Zarina. Her works are replete with whimsical borders, skeletal houses, pitch-black margins that drag you in their vortex of darkness. They refer to the deracination wrought by Partition that separated her from her parents and siblings who moved to Pakistan. In an interview, Zarina had noted that words preceded images in her practice. Some of Zarina’s works that foreground Urdu language are part of the show Urdu Worlds (2026) at the Ishara Art Foundation in UAE. Curator Hammad Nasar writes in the curatorial note that Zarina thought she was “too Muslim for the US and India, and too Indian for Pakistan.” Instead, she considered herself an “Urdu artist.”
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Christie’s London Sale Confirms Growing Appetite for South Asian Art

Source Artnet by Richard Whiddington
In its first London sale of South Asian modern and contemporary art in seven years, Christie’s achieved £18.9 million ($23.9 million). All of the 93 lots, which came from a single private collection, sold above their presale estimates, resulting in the most successful sale of its kind that Christie’s has staged in the British capital. The collection had been formed across the 1990s and 2000s and included statement works from some of the pioneers of modern South Asian visual culture. “The sale reflects something deeper than strong material,” Varun Kaji, a prominent South Asian art advisor, said over email. “This collection was assembled with real conviction, and the market responded accordingly.”
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This is Indian art’s golden moment. It’s important to not stay stuck in the past

Source The Indian Express by Trisha Mukherjee
Having made a big splash at the Venice Biennale after seven years, Indian art is ready for its next major milestone with yet another landmark exhibition: ‘The Meeting Ground’, presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) at Christie’s London. An impressive survey bridging “modern and contemporary practices with folk and indigenous artistic traditions from South Asia,” it is perhaps the biggest showcase of Indian artists since ‘The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975–1998’ at the Barbican Centre, London, in 2024. The KNMA show does attempt to diversify by including folk and indigenous traditions through the works of Jangarh Singh Shyam and Jivya Soma Mashe.
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Indian Summer: As regional tensions grow, South Asian artists make connections in London.

Source Ocula by Debika Ray
For Venkanna himself, whose first solo institutional exhibition in London follows a presentation at Frieze in 2025, London is attractive because it brings together audiences from many parts of the world. “But as an artist, I try not to think too much about markets,” he says. “Last year, I met collectors from Europe, the United States and Asia, as well as curators and museum professionals. The response gave me confidence that, while the work emerges from my own experiences and surroundings, the questions it asks are not limited to one place.”
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