Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition titled तिमंजला घर : Three Storey House by Delhi-based artist Anita Dube, opening at our D-53 Defence Colony gallery space on 15 March 2025, on view until 19 April 2025. The exhibition comprises all three floors of the gallery building and features a collection of three recent bodies of work, including sculptures, mixed media works and a kinetic installation. 

Anita Dube’s conceptual practice explores the biopolitical nature of our identities, often turning to text, poetry, and symbolism as tools of resistance that evoke our personal and political engagements with the world at large. It also addresses a contemporary moment in which truth to power is prevalent within cultural imagination. Her work centers on the ‘gaze,’ exploring erotics and politics through memory, history, mythology, and phenomenology. Dube adopts an approach rooted in assemblage, using materials from found objects to velvet fabrics and votive eyes, often playing into the sensuality of colour as a form of pleasure, or a kind of visual madness. This exhibition presents a diverse body of recent works, reflecting her ongoing concerns as an artist—politics, pedagogy, pleasure, and personal experiences—the latter particularly during the long-tail of the COVID-19 experience. 

Anita Dube writes: ‘The exhibition Three Storey House uses the conventional [architecture] structure of a house to chart out a conceptual/philosophical movement rising upwards from the base – along a pathway of pleasure and pedagogy to ascend to a meditative sublime celebration of love in all its wonderous hues. The movement is also an ascent from black-and-white towards a pure sensuality of colour; from the cacophony of dirty politics to the heraldic grandeur of flags and banners, and onto a pared-down simplicity of materiality and abstraction. The timeline of the works reveals a reverse movement here: the catastrophic isolation of the pandemic experience [a deep excavation of interiority], the need for Eros as an antidote to the raging Thanatos, moving down to truisms and wisdom sayings that welcome interiority and still further down to an “Animal Farm”, a “Dada” place – with carnivorous leopards and snake-charmers cheered on by foot soldiers, while alienated individuals drunk on an unmindful “me” culture climb on each other’s back to create a mountain of aspiration on the peak of which stands a larger-than-life supreme leader.’ 

An e-catalogue with more information on the exhibition, artworks and artist is available on request. For general inquiries, please write to art@vadehraart.com. Please do extend proper credits and citations to the artist and gallery when making use of any material shared by us. 

Address
D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110024, India

Gallery Hours
Monday – Saturday | 10 AM – 6 PM

Artist
Anita Dube

Exhibition Dates
March 15 – April 19, 2025

Website
https://www.vadehraart.com

Contact
+91 11 4610 3550 / 2461 5368
art@vadehraart.com

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Born in 1958 in Lucknow, Anita Dube completed a bachelor’s of arts in history from Delhi University in 1979, and a master’s in visual arts with a major in art criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda in 1982. In 2018, Dube was the curator of the Kochi–Muziris Biennale in India. 

Dube’s work has been on view at the Barbican Centre, London (2024), as part of a seminal show for Indian art titled The Imaginary Institution of India, curated by Shanay Jhaveri. Her select solo exhibitions include Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2023); Nature Morte, New Delhi (2014); Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai (2013); Galerie Dominique Fiat, Paris (2011) and Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (2011). 

Her recent group exhibitions include Art Heritage, New Delhi (2023); Lakeeren Gallery, Mumbai (2023); Kamalnayan Bajaj Gallery, Mumbai (2022); 1 x 1 Art Gallery, Dubai (2021); Aicon Gallery, New York (2021); Galerie Mirchandani & Steinruecke (2021, 2016); Queens Museum of Art, New York (2015); and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2013), among others. Dube’s work has also been exhibited at several biennales, including the first Kochi–Muziris Biennale, India (2012); Biennale Jogja XI, Jogja National Museum, Indonesia (2011); 3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia (2009), to name a few. 

The artist lives and works in Noida, near Delhi, India. 

ABOUT THE GALLERY 

Founded in 1987, Vadehra Art Gallery is a pioneer of South Asian art, representing artists across four generations from the Indian Subcontinent and its diaspora, helping to shape it as a celebration of culture, identity and intellect. As a confidante to art history and a champion of contemporary creativity, the gallery nurtures a dynamic and flourishing ecosystem where the artist and their work take centre stage, promoting a legacy of artistic expression that resonates with global audiences. 

The gallery is recognized for its early support of modern masters such as M.F. Husain, Ram Kumar, S.H. Raza, and Tyeb Mehta, alongside subsequent generations of post-modernists like Arpita Singh, A. Ramachandran, Nalini Malani, Gulammohammed Sheikh, and Rameshwar Broota. Its expansive contemporary programme emphasizes influential names such as Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, Anju Dodiya, N.S. Harsha, Gauri Gill and Sunil Gupta, as well as emerging talent like Zaam Arif, Biraaj Dodiya and Ashfika Rahman. 

With a commitment to active engagement and thoughtful curation, Vadehra Art Gallery presents regular exhibitions across two prominent locations in New Delhi, complemented by events, dialogues, and workshops along with a consistent digital presence, including an online shop. With a maturing global presence, the gallery participates in major international art fairs including Frieze and Art Basel, while also hosting frequent exhibitions in London and collaborating with institutional venues worldwide. 

The gallery’s publishing arm, launched in 1996, addressed the vital need for comprehensive documentation, critical writing, and high-quality reproductions in South Asian art. Over the years, Vadehra Art Gallery has published numerous books and monographs in collaboration with major publishers like Penguin, Prestel and König, along with innumerable exhibition catalogues, contributing significantly to a growing archive of South Asian art and history. 

(Text and images courtesy of Vadehra Art Gallery)