Pearce’s spread showcases nine of Kalyan’s new pieces, commenting on the intelligence, depth, and sentience of the works; addressing the chaos of a modern, technologically advanced, well-informed society and the ironic juxtaposition of this reality in a war-torn world.
“These are paintings of emergence—the idea that phenomena may arise from great complexity to become unique things, like the movement of a massive flock of starlings in murmuration, swirling
with collective mind, or a swarm of bees buzzing with intelligence greater than the sum of its parts. But the emergent mind that rises from the spectacular complexity of Kalyan’s paintings is uniquely born of the ancient Indian deity, Krishna.”
“The burgeoning question for young Indian artists is how to emerge from beneath the burden of hundreds of years of convention—to emulate Indian art in the bold new era. The last thing to tip from beautiful Pandora’s jar of horrors was hope, and NFN Kalyan’s canvases are the hope-filled and embodied spirit of this new age of Indian painting, and his is a reinvigorated and emboldened pantheon for a new, emergent era.”
Arjun
2025, oil on canvas, 40 × 72 in.
“The way I’m reacting to describe the world is that we’re inundated with so much information, and it’s juxtaposed against other information which is totally different: 13 dead in Gaza; Kim Kardashian has a baby; buy coca cola. It would not be shocking to see these three things next to each other. So, I’m trying to put everything, because I feel that that’s what the world is right now. It’s everything, all at once, and that’s how I’m trying to describe it.”
Kalyan’s exhibition will run through November 1, 2025 at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts.