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Indulge Express
A contemplative exhibition reveals the quiet force of abstraction and the unseen currents that shape memory, feeling, and form.
In a city often driven by pace and spectacle, an exhibition devoted to quietness and ambiguity feels almost radical. The Presence of Absence, presented by the Space118 Art Foundation and drawn from the personal collection of Saloni Doshi, invites visitors into a world that breathes in whispers rather than proclamations.
Curated by interior architect Kunal Shah, the show brings together landscape, geometric, gestural, and abstract forms, offering a meditative encounter with line, colour, rhythm, and the subtle weight of memory.
Saloni Doshi's Collection reveals the quiet force of abstraction
Doshi’s journey into abstraction began with a single work. “I actually never collected abstract works until I bought my very first Zarina. Her maps of Delhi, erstwhile Shahjahanabad, deeply resonated with my own life since I was raised there and compelled me to acquire them,” she says.
During the pandemic, those works became quiet companions, shifting her sensibilities. As she recounts, the experience of isolation shaped her eye. “Over time, looking at them every day, I found myself falling in love with the quietness of the line and wanted to remove the noise of the figure.” That instinct, born from a moment of global stillness, now anchors a collection that embraces silence as a source of power.
Across the gallery, works by established and emerging artists trace decades of experimentation in South Asia. Viswanadhan’s bold red composition frees space from rigid geometric associations, while M. Krishna Reddy’s extraordinary prints reveal the richness of his colour viscosity process. Zarina’s maps sit as quiet anchors, Mehlli Gobhai’s vivid piece from the 1970s offers rare chromatic intensity, while Jyothi Basu’s intricate forms hum with disciplined energy.
For Doshi, collecting is an act grounded in personal connection rather than market logic. “Art has always been for art’s sake. I’ve never bought a work for the artist’s name or popularity,” she says firmly. “Every piece I acquire must move me, resonate with me, and grow with me.” Her approach is rooted in presence: meeting artists, spending time with their ideas, and supporting their creative evolution. The show encompasses over one hundred works in painting, printmaking, and drawing, held together by a belief in art’s ability to hold thought and emotion without literal depiction.
Shah distils the exhibition’s spirit with quiet precision. “To engage with the non-figurative is to read between the lines of what is visible and invisible,” he reflects. “The Presence of Absence is an invitation to dwell in this space, where meaning emerges not from what is shown, but from what is withheld.” In a cultural landscape where clarity is often demanded and immediacy rewarded, this exhibition asks us to sit with uncertainty, to listen to silence, and to find presence in restraint.
The exhibition will be on view from 13 November 2025 till 16 February 2026 from 11 am to 5 pm every day, including Sundays and Public holidays, at Space118 Art Foundation, Mumbai, India.