Third Space
ICIA
ICIA presents Under the Changing Skies
Tom Vattakuzhy is a contemporary Indian painter whose work is distinguished by its evocative treatment of light, memory, and the quiet drama of everyday life. His paintings are often built around contradictions—young and old, light and dark, sky and water, movement and stillness, intimacy and distance. Rather than resolving these oppositions, he allows them to remain suspended, allowing a painting to hold two seemingly incompatible truths at once.
For Asia NOW Paris, ICIA presents three works by Tom Vattakuzhy: Evening, Horse Rider and Where We Stand 2. Central to these works is the relationship between land and sky, and the ways in which movement, direction and uncertainty unfold within this space. The land carries the quiet rhythms of ordinary life, while the sky introduces change, tension and possibility.
Taken together, the three works move from the uncertainty of choosing a path, through the exhilaration of moving forward, to a quieter moment of looking, withdrawal and reflection. The land remains the constant, while the changing sky introduces the drama, tension and possibility that give each landscape its particular charge.
Info
Institute of Contemporary Indian Arts, K Dubash Marg, next to Rampart House, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
https://icia.in
For inquiries:
Siddharth Sivakumar
siddharth.sivakumar@icia.in
+918293697797
Exhibited artists
Tom Vattakuzhy
Born in India
Vattakuzhy, born in 1967, completed his BFA in Printmaking from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, in 1996, and his MFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University of Baroda, in 1998. He is known for his figurative paintings, often described as poetic, intimate, and introspective. His works carry a strong narrative depth, evoking moments that seem suspended between reality and dream. With a restrained palette and carefully structured spaces, his paintings draw viewers into a world of domestic quietude, memory, solitude, and contemplation. A painter, printmaker, and illustrator, Vattakuzhy has received several honours, including the AIFACS Award (New Delhi, 1997 and 1998), the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi Award (1997), the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (1996), and the Haren Das Award from the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata (1995).
Following his solo exhibition Song of the Dusk at Aicon Contemporary, New York (2022), Vattakuzhy presented his first major institutional solo exhibition in India, The Shadows of Absence, at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata (2025). Curated by R. Siva Kumar and presented by the Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA) with support from AstaGuru, the exhibition later travelled to Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi. His work was also featured in the foundation exhibition Edam at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (December 2025 – March 2026), further extending the international visibility of his practice. In May 2026, his solo exhibition Where Words End… opened at ICIA Gallery in Mumbai. Tom Vattakuzhy is a critically acclaimed contemporary artist from India, represented by the Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA).
Exhibited works
Tom Vattakuzhy
Evening
2015
Oil on canvas
193 × 155 cm
© ICIA
33 800 €
Tom Vattakuzhy
Where We Stand – 2
Oil on canvas
122 × 91.5 cm
2026
© ICIA
13 600 €
Tom Vattakuzhy
Horse Rider
Oil on canvas
61 × 91.5 cm
2026
© ICIA
8 200 €
