Vazda Khan, an artist and poetess, is now showing a solo exhibition at Triveni Kala Sangam, Mandi House’s Triveni Gallery. This show, which began on December 1, will run until December 11. The capital’s art aficionados have gathered every day since the exhibition’s opening. Vazda has blended herself into the modern art stream over the course of several decades, as seen by her work. Her abstract compositions combine the deliberate and the spontaneous. While Vazda clearly appreciates the interplay of textures and colors in her compositions, she also draws shapes on them with great precision. Overall, you might think of it as a collective manifestation of both the expressed and the unexpressed. In the catalogue published on this occasion, Vazda not only writes her personal thoughts, but distinguished poet Ashok Vajpayee also critiques Vazda’s paintings. Sarah Khan, an art critic, has also expressed her thoughts here. The aforementioned comments are made with respect for the readers of Alekhan.in…
In my work, I’m drawn to the idea of capturing what feels elusive, something almost beyond perception. I approach each painting as if layers of time and consciousness are buried beneath the surface, waiting to be uncovered. My process involves creating a balance between spontaneity and control; I allow the paint to take on organic, unpredictable forms while guiding it so that they feel grounded.
Much of my inspiration comes from the natural world—how roots find their way through soil, or how galaxies spiral and evolve. But I’m equally fascinated by the inner world of thought and emotion, the connections that shape who we are. My work is an attempt to merge these external and internal worlds, capturing something that feels simultaneously familiar and otherworldly.
Each painting becomes a space to explore the intersection of the seen and unseen, of logic and intuition. I hope to invite viewers into a place where they might glimpse something about themselves or the universe that was previously hidden. For me, painting is a process of discovering new depths within, revealing fragments of existence that feel both intimate and infinite.
-Vazda Khan
Vazda Khan is a painter-cum-poet who is now well on her way to articulate a personal visual language; a language which confronts the mistiness, the shadowy chaos of reality, and endeavors to invest it with memory. There is a certain maturity in handling the resultant abstraction which still gets punctuated by some remembered figures and shapes drawn sometimes with a charming childlike innocence. Abstraction, memory, and innocence are a tripod on which Vazda’s current art stands- firmly, beautifully, and meaningfully.
Colors are subdued – quiet as if they are exploring the innate silence of existence. As if being is being seen and placed on an expanse of silence. These works are reticent explorations: they do not assert, nor feel any need to speak. They allow a degree of communion, rather than embark upon any attempt to communicate.
Sometimes you feel you are somewhere strangely located in a memory square- images from the past, the artist’s past, and our shared past are looming large. What has been scattered, whether by time or ignorance, is being carefully collected in the textures of the works. Doors are not open; they are being closed. Art makes you see one more time before the scene disappears, maybe forever.
These are inscapes which emerge out of deep contemplation. Art retrieves what is about to be lost. Time is almost pushed out of the painted space. The eternal quietly sings in barely audible low tones.
It is good to see that Vazda Khan has come a long way and the sentimental has been replaced by the emotional, the random by the well-thought, the real by the imaginative. Art now in her works assumes autonomy and enters the difficult and complex territory of visual contemplation. She is now painting what is truly visual poetry.
– Ashok Vajpeyi
Vazda Khan has evolved from direct representations of the female form that dened her early works to a more abstract exploration of feminine identity, interiority, and consciousness. Her signature style combines the fluidity of nature with the order of the cosmos—a synthesis that brings to life a feminine vision, the feminine Eye. Organic elements morph into geometric forms, with textures that feel both viscous and ethereal. This overarching duality is interwoven in each canvas through a cosmic sense of movement, suggesting each work is alive, unfolding before our eyes. The realms she creates feel simultaneously cellular and celestial. Further, the pieces evoke a timeless quality, ancient yet futuristic, infused with memory and potential. Fragmented architectures and cryptic forms create an air of mystery, inviting us to explore—whether an external, forgotten world, or perhaps an internal, sacred space. In fact, several works with circular, central motifs have a sacred, shrine-like quality to them. There is a sense of reverence and mysticism in the way they seem to emerge from a place of deep memory or transcendence. Ultimately, this exhibition offers a meditation on the feminine as a force of cosmic self-reflection.
-Sarah Khan, Art Critic
