In 2016, the Patna-based organization “Canvas” inaugurated the very first “Bodhgaya Biennale” in Bodhgaya. Among those who arrived was a young artist from Delhi. Though no program had been scheduled for him, the young visitor approached the organizer, Vinay Kumar—himself an art critic—with a request to present a performance. The proposal was received with generous approval, and what unfolded thereafter was a presentation that captivated the gathered audience, artists, and critics alike.
By a stroke of fortune, I too witnessed the performance in its entirety—from its hurried preparations to its moment of realization. Until then, I had known the young artist only through a passing and formal introduction, but this performance revealed to me the measure of his true creative force. What struck me most profoundly was the enthusiasm and immediacy with which, in so little time, he conceived and executed an art performance, drawing solely upon the materials locally at hand. It was a rare demonstration of youthful imagination meeting artistic urgency—an encounter that remains vivid in memory. Time has flowed on, and through these years my connection with the young artist Salman Habib has remained alive. In this period, he has been navigating that inevitable stage in the life of almost every emerging artist—the uncertain stretch that begins once formal art education ends and the struggle to find a foothold in the art world begins. It is a journey strewn with uneven paths, demanding both resilience and vision.
For Salman, this journey took him from Delhi to Aligarh, then to Banaras, and eventually to Mumbai. A teaching position finally anchored him in Delhi, where he now balances the dual roles of guiding students and nurturing his own creative practice. His practice, however, has never been confined to one form. Alongside his drawings and paintings, he continues to explore performance art, carving out a versatile and experimental identity. In this current solo exhibition, though, it is his drawings and paintings that are being presented. He has aptly titled the show “Habab”—the Urdu word for “Bubble.”
The choice of title draws inspiration from the celebrated poet Mir Taqi Mir, whose verse reads: “Hasti apni habab ki-si hai, yeh numaish sharab ki-si hai” (“Our existence is like a bubble, this display like that of wine”). The image of the bubble becomes a metaphor for life itself—fragile, momentary, shimmering with illusion. Even though we are aware of life’s impermanence, we refuse to accept it as eternal truth. Human pride clings to this denial, sustaining the illusion until the very end. It is within this entanglement of desire, illusion, and denial that Salman seeks his artistic voice.
Born in the village of Bangra in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district, Habib’s creative sensibility first took shape in the lap of nature, by the banks of a flowing river. After his early schooling, he pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, and in 2016 completed his Master of Fine Arts from Aligarh Muslim University.
Among the works on display, his drawings stand out most vividly. They evoke the textures of aquatic life—the algae, corals, and submerged structures that form the hidden layers of water worlds. These works embody not only visual finesse but also a philosophical depth. His abstract paintings, on the other hand, blur the lines between painting and installation, reflecting a spirit of experimentation while gesturing towards new artistic possibilities.
As every artist knows, the journey of art is a lifelong struggle: it begins with the search for a personal visual language, and the rest of one’s life is spent refining, reshaping, and deepening it. Salman Habib’s “Habab” is a glimpse into that journey—a conversation between fragility and persistence, between illusion and truth. Childhood memories, it is often said, accompany us throughout life, shaping our imagination and our creative instincts. Salman Habib is no exception. The riverside landscapes and the embrace of nature, which framed his childhood and youth, now resurface on his canvases with quiet insistence.
In these works, black-and-white backgrounds become stages where memory takes form. Through steel constructions, the artist evokes the rippling waves of a river, the steadying image of a boat, and the anchoring presence of moorings. These recurring symbols are not mere representations; they function as gestures of reverence—an artistic homage to the formative experiences that continue to ripple beneath the surface of his practice.
In summoning these memories, Salman is not indulging in nostalgia alone. Rather, he transforms the fragments of his past into a visual language, where personal history, natural symbolism, and material experiment meet. The works suggest that the act of remembering, for the artist, is inseparable from the act of making. With this exhibition, then, his childhood rivers still flow—anchored in steel, traced in monochrome, and carried forward into the evolving journey of his art.
-Suman Kumar Singh