Vishal Kumar Gupta (b.1996) Fragment As Still Life or Something Else! II (Series: Fragment As Still Life or Something Else!) Oil impasto on canvas 2025, Vadodara
'Field Notes (On the Afterlife of Trees), the debut solo of emerging artist Vishal Kumar Gupta, presents a significant body of oil paintings, watercolour drawings, and graphite works—a practice shaped through accumulation, fragmentation, and sustained acts of looking. Gupta’s artistic process is one of deep attention. Through careful accumulation and sustained observation, he focuses on fragments of the natural world often seen as incidental—a fallen twig, a gnarled branch, a weathered tree stump. In his practice, these discarded forms are transformed. They become monumental, not merely as decorative motifs, but as powerful witnesses holding memories of time, growth, and decay.
Vishal Kumar Gupta (b.1996) Fragment As Still Life or Something Else! II (Series: Fragment As Still Life or Something Else!) Oil impasto on canvas 2025, Vadodara
His work lives in the space between abstraction and physical presence. The textures and forms feel tangible, inviting the viewer to see with a sense of touch. This creates an immersive, sensory experience where painting itself becomes a record of time. Like geological layers, his brushstrokes build up, evoking the way nature—and memory—accumulates in sedimentary deposits. At the heart of Gupta’s practice is the ‘found object,’ especially wood. For him, it carries a deep, intimate resonance. Its shape is a record of what is no longer there—by absence, wind, and time.'
Vishal Kumar Gupta (b.1996) Fragment As Still Life or Something Else! II (Series: Fragment As Still Life or Something Else!) Oil impasto on canvas 2025, Vadodara
About the Artist
Born in 1996 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Vishal Kumar Gupta holds a BFA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan in 2021, and an MVA with a gold medal in Creative Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 2023. In his practice, Gupta often focuses on landscapes and trees, taking reference from the wounded and fragmented parts of trees, and uses oil-based materials for his paintings.
Gupta’s works have been part of multiple group exhibitions including Kala Bhavana BFA Online Degree Show (2021); the MSU Faculty of Fine Arts Annual Display (2022-2023); All That Is Hidden: Mapping Departures in Landscape, Terrains and Geographies, Emami Art, Kolkata (2024); and Edition 6 of Abhivyakti: The City Arts Project, ATIRA, Ahmedabad (2024). He was selected for the month-long IMAGINARIUM 3.0 - Residency at Emami Art, Kolkata (2024); and the Winter Studio Take-over at the Raja Ravi Varma Studio, organized by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) Regional Center, Vadodara (2024).
He received the Nasreen Mohamedi Award 2022-2023 in Painting, and is currently based in Baroda.
Field Notes (On the Afterlife of Trees) by Vishal Kumar Gupta on view until 7th March 2026 at Emami Art, Kolkata.
Date 16.1.2026