What does a man who has spent decades thinking about fabric, weave and pattern do when he picks up a paintbrush? If you’re Harpreet Narula, the answer isn’t to leave that world behind—it is to let it seep into another medium. The result is Inward, his first solo exhibition at Art Explore in Delhi, where years of working with textiles find a new expression in abstract paintings. Walk into the exhibition and there is no obvious narrative waiting to be decoded. Instead, there are colours that emerge through layers. Tiny repeated marks build into intricate rhythms.
Narula is no stranger to creating visual languages. After a succesful career in textile and garment design, his interest turned to patterns, colours, and material. Painting, he says, was never a second act. “Design and painting have grown alongside each other for many years. There came a point when I realised I wanted to give painting more of my time and attention. When I work, I am not thinking about an audience or an exhibition. I am thinking about the next mark and the next colour. The paintings come from looking inward. They ask me to slow down and stay present,” says the 52-year-old Delhi resident.
It is perhaps inevitable that someone who spent decades designing textiles would carry the logic of the loom into painting. “Textile design teaches patience. It teaches structure. Every thread depends on another thread. Every repeat matters,” he says, adding, “When I paint, I don’t think in terms of one dramatic gesture. I build the painting slowly. One mark leads to another until the surface begins to hold together. The discipline of the loom is still there, only the material has changed.” That philosophy extends to pattern itself. What once functioned as an element of design has become something more profound. “Pattern has moved beyond decoration. It has become part of the way I understand painting.” The same evolution is visible in his use of colour. Freed from the constraints of textile production, pigments are allowed to shift and respond to one another over time. “I spend time allowing colours to grow through layers. They change as the painting develops. Sometimes colours that seem unrelated begin to speak to one another after weeks of work. That process still surprises me.”
In an Indian contemporary art landscape where artists often engage with mythology, politics or questions of identity, Narula’s vocabulary is noticeably different. His gaze remains fixed on craft traditions, architecture, and everyday material culture. Inward is both an arrival and a beginning. “Everything I have done has led me here,” Narula says. “Design taught me discipline, structure, and patience. Travel, books, films, and the people I have met have shaped the way I observe the world. Every journey, every image, and every experience finds its way into the studio. Inward brings those years together in a way that feels complete, while opening the door to everything I still want to explore.”