With art brimming across India at a vibrant pace the need for infusing a new energy was a recurrent feeling for economist turned art lover Mehak Bhan ever since she founded 105Arts in Chandigarh. While growing up, she often succumbed to the heady allure of art, design, architecture and space, visiting historical sites, galleries and museums living between Delhi and Chandigarh.
As she pursued economics, her passive observations switched to active interest. It was through art with which she was able to connect with people and her surroundings. She often found her senses moved and silenced within the layered meanings of the art she encountered, which eventually drew her in adult life to open a gallery. Albeit the charm and quaintness the city held for her, it seemed to falter behind where art was concerned. In a fortuitous turn of events her desire and thought manifested into action with a dash of unexpectedness as if to quieten her restless mind.
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It was in the summer of 2025. An innocuous call to artist Avijit Dutta regarding his work in faraway Kolkata transpired into something promising and free flowing from the very first exchange. She was pleasantly surprised to have found a sounding board in the artist.
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Conversations swiftly delved deeper towards art, its content, process and foundation in a spirit of candid camaraderie and shared vision. It didn’t take much time to ignite her confidence and conviction, allowing her to envisage and take a more defined curatorial direction with Avijit’s enthusiasm and passion.
The duo arrived at the thought that just as ideas often take shape on paper before they are realised, drawings too step in as blueprints in an artist’s trajectory. Coincidentally Chandigarh reminded them that it too was designed on paper having its unique blueprint. Both sides hastily decided that for a young gallery like 105Arts a blueprint had to be set as a foundational step towards its evolution.
It became a momentous day for Mehak Bhan when the show “Blueprint: What lines say” opened as the annual winter offering. Two expansive walls of the gallery’s ground floor and first floor were painted in an enthralling ammonia blue tint resembling an architectural diagram by Avijit as a spontaneous unplanned act.
Overnight 105Arts was bathed by the aura of colours and lines turning the tide of artistic and cultural landscape not just for the gallery but also the city. The experiment seemed to have etched in a new vibe, setting a precedent for more in the future.
An impressive spectrum of works of more than forty artists exuded their unique styles. The upper floor of old masters like Somnath Hore, Ganesh Pyne ,Manjit Bawa, Anjolie Ela Menon, Krishen Khanna and Proshanto Roy echoed the history, depth and timeless appeal in their masterly perfection. While contemporary seniors like Jayasri Burman, Baalaa R.M. Palaniappan, including Avijit Dutta’s own works graced the other walls among many others. Younger artists like Jaladhar Naskar, David Malakar, Dibyendu Seal, Ayesha Sultana, Hemant Dhane, Ravi Chunchula and other promising artists aroused art lovers and collectors’ interest, starting new dialogues of intrigue and interest.
In an effort to engage art students and draw them in an engaging discourse with greater clarity Mehak organized an interactive session. The confusion and dichotomies existing between nurturing inspiration and being authentic in an age of social media and instant publicity was succinctly addressed.
Mehak said, “The public response to Blueprint has been heartening. Visitors have engaged deeply with the works, spending time with the drawings rather than just viewing them. There has been curiosity, dialogue, and appreciation—particularly from collectors and young viewers encountering senior artists and works on paper in a renewed context. It feels that the show has opened up a meaningful conversation.”
In the words of the artist, “Art is not something temporary. It is timeless and eternal, one has to sit with it, soak in it, spend time with it till it becomes a part of the self beyond mere commercial acquisition. Art should open different vistas of communication in the gaze and reflect the inner philosophy of the creator behind it. Art is a search and till date I am merely practicing what I don’t know, but it is a search for something. I feel Chandigarh needed this show and I hope youngsters get inspired to lean towards art. In the end the flash of media and hype fades but hard work and being authentic is what matters.”
Shows like these reiterate that art is best received when rooted in honesty, emotion and purpose. Unknowingly two people had managed to set off a ripple of interest, awakening art lovers, flaneurs, students and the general public to the grace and magnetic draw that art can invoke. Looking over the success, the gallery has a long task ahead to surpass its own radiance it basks in at the present moment!
(The writer is a freelance contributor)
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