Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum is very pleased to host the launching exhibition Alchemy : Explorations in Indigo of the Arvind Indigo Museum. Seeing indigo as an art form, the exhibition will have national and international artists using indigo in multiple media and forms to create a world of all things indigo.

The natural world comes to occupy a central role in all seven indigo works of Bala—not only as subject matter or even material, but also as a kind of collaborator in their creation. The rings in Still Waves and Lines of the Waves register as much the natural processes of evaporation and the distinct nature of Indigo as they do the artist’s deliberate interventions. Inspired by the wind-swept mountains or rivers flowing over rocks, the organic surfaces of the Wind works and Untitled Earth reflect what would naturally occur over thousands of years. However, Bala created these works in his studio over a period of few months –gradually building each piece by accumulation for the wind works and dispersion for the water work. The resulting “Indigo Landscapes” are then realized by a series of molding, casting and painting processes. Partly an homage to nature and partly a challenge to create something of beauty and simplicity, Bala’s hand is felt as much as seen, present in the ways it moves like the wind through the matter around it or gently guiding the water as it flows through his landscape.