Celebrating Carmine in Contemporary Indian Art
A brilliant splash of red takes centre stage at Art Musings, Mumbai, in a visually riveting group exhibition titled A Touch of Carmine. Running until June 30, 2025, the show is an ode to the rich, sensuous hue of carmine—a colour that has fascinated artists for centuries and continues to inspire contemporary creators. Known by many names such as cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake, this deep, vibrant red has long symbolised vitality, emotion, and artistic intensity.
Art Musings’ thoughtfully curated showcase explores the versatility and emotive strength of this singular hue, presenting an eclectic mix of works that demonstrate how colour alone can serve as both subject and symbol. The gallery’s walls are alive with reds that range from fiery and passionate to dark and introspective, each artist using the pigment to express their distinct visual language.
Among the highlights is the work of Chittrovanu Mazumdar, whose layered abstractions absorb the viewer in a trance-like experience. His engagement with carmine is both poetic and powerful—creating a sensation that goes beyond form, inviting introspection and evoking emotion. Mazumdar’s treatment of red appears to flicker and move, forming an immersive dialogue between colour and canvas.
Reena Saini Kallat contributes a stunning four-panel piece that speaks to her practice of weaving memory, history, and identity into visual art. Using carmine as a unifying motif, Kallat’s work bridges organic and cartographic elements, creating a tension between borders and belonging. The panels are a harmonious mix of form and pigment, where the richness of the red amplifies her thematic concerns around connection and fragmentation.
Paresh Maity, known for his dynamic, angular faces and bold compositions, brings a theatrical energy to the show. His carmine-touched figures radiate vitality, their expressions heightened by the intensity of the palette. The angularity of form contrasts strikingly with the fluidity of red, making his canvases pulse with life.
Other participating artists, each with their unique vision, have explored the many moods and metaphors that carmine can evoke. Some use it to symbolise desire, others to depict conflict or celebration. The unifying thread is the emotional power the colour brings—a visual warmth that transcends cultural and temporal boundaries.
The historical significance of carmine is also worth noting. Once a prized pigment extracted from cochineal insects and used in royal textiles and Renaissance paintings, it has long been associated with luxury, passion, and artistic excellence. In A Touch of Carmine, this legacy is transformed through modern sensibilities. The artists reinterpret the colour for today’s audiences, making it speak anew in the context of contemporary concerns—identity, globalisation, nature, memory, and the politics of colour itself.
The exhibition is not just about colour as an aesthetic choice, but as a central player in storytelling. Carmine is no longer background—it’s the main character. The artworks on display are a testament to how a single hue, when handled with skill and emotion, can carry narratives, provoke thought, and mesmerise the viewer.
Set in the tranquil yet vibrant space of Art Musings, located in the historic Admiralty Building on Colaba Cross Lane, the show provides a reflective journey into how colour shapes perception. Visitors are encouraged to slow down and absorb the subtleties within the reds—its shifts, tones, and meanings—across a range of artistic expressions.
Whether you are a lover of bold colour, a student of pigment history, or simply someone seeking aesthetic inspiration, A Touch of Carmine offers a compelling visual and emotional experience. The exhibition affirms that even in an age of digital oversaturation, the raw power of colour—especially one as evocative as carmine—can still surprise and stir the soul.
Do not miss this chromatic celebration at Art Musings before it concludes on June 30, 2025.
