ABOUT

Vikrant Bhise (b. 1984) is a visual artist who lives and works in Mumbai, India. At the forefront of struggle against caste-based domination and its vertiginous implications on land, liberty and labour, Vikrant’s artistic practice iterates his commitment to the revolutionary spirit inherent in the Ambedkarite consciousness. Vikrant is committed to the expression of social justice, realisation of enduring reform through activism, and remembrance of struggles against caste, class and gender-based oppression. 

 

An alumnus of L.S. Raheja School of Art (Graduate Diploma in Visual Arts, 2010) and J.J. School of Art (D.P.EAD, 2011), Mumbai, Vikrant has exhibited in group and solo projects. His solo exhibition includes, Human curated by Katharina Domscheit-D'Souza was on view at Jehangir Art Gallery (2019), Sense and Sensibilities: A Reflective Realisation curated by Dr. Y. S. Alone on view at Ananat Art Gallery, Noida (Jan 2024)

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Selected group exhibitions include Bare Acts, Prameya Art Foundation, New Delhi (2023), Something Else – “Riunione:Precursors of a Modern World” Cario Citadel, Egypt (2023) Keep it real, Dhi contemporary, Hyderabad (2023), Art Mumbai, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi (2023) Fault Lines, Conflictorium, Museum of Conflict, Ahmedabad (2023) India Art Fair, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi (2023, 2024); Dismantling the Aesthetics of Inhibition: Representing Difference, curated by Y. S. Alone, Gallery OED, Cochin (2022); Naya Anjor, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi (2022); Revolution and Counter Revolution for Secular Art Movement, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (2022); All That is Life at Space 118, Mumbai (2021) among others. He is the recipient of a National Award by Lalit Kala Akademi for the series Impressions, in 2018.

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Working across monumental scrolls and multi-paneled paintings incandescent with the light of resistance that once illuminated the murals of post-revolution Mexico; and smaller works with ink on paper which holds the urgency of proximate witnessing of the human condition in the vein of Somnath Hore, Vikrant’s iconography is informed and deliberate in its radicality.

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In Seeking Begumpura, Gail Omvedt identifies both reason and ecstasy as recurrent forces in the envisioning of utopias, the alternatives which orient our struggles. In Vikrant’s practice, the fabric of the revolutionary time is seamless, weaving civic resistance in the present such as movements to uphold constitutional values and labour rights, the power of collective action and dissent in the pursuit of justice, with key texts and figures from history, spanning poetry, literature and songs from the annals of Bhimgeet. The spine and sickle are a motif in his works, as bodily assertions and symbols for the rejection of Manu and the liberation of labour. Across a comprehensive series addressing concerns of labour and empowerment, and acts of defiance against dominance led by communities and exemplars, Vikrant’s works function as a parallel record of peoples’ persistent struggle for a just horizon—for all.