Sundaram Tagore Gallery
542 West 26th Street
New York, New York 10017
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
542 West 26th Street
New York, New York 10017
Please join Sundaram and Trishla Jain (b. 1985, New Delhi) for the opening of her first solo exhibition with the gallery since joining our roster in 2025.
Jain is known for her intricately wrought ink and watercolor paintings that are deeply enmeshed with her meditation practice. For this exhibition, she presents new works from her Yantra and Tantra series. Although strikingly different in appearance, both share the same visual and spiritual language of dots, dashes, and lines. “The Yantras bring stillness and infinite space, and the Tantras, movement and charge,” Jain says. “Together they create a rhythm that feels whole.”
Each painting in the exhibition is named for and accompanied by a poem found in the book The Radiance Sutras, a modern reinterpretation of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, a Sanskrit scripture detailing 112 meditations exploring the nature of consciousness.
The Yantra series (begun in 2020), named for the geometric configurations often used as a visual aid for meditation, is characterized by precisely arranged grid motifs that emanate from a central point. These mesmerizing works align with the concept of samadhi, the mind’s ability to achieve a state of undisturbed focus and peace through meditation.
The Tantra series (begun in 2021) is fluid and organic, characterized by swirling concentrations of marks that coalesce into boundless, flowing arrangements. Jain lets go of structure and surrenders to freedom and spontaneity. The compositions are lively and unrestrained, evoking topographical maps, constellations, or colonies of microorganisms.
Both series are rendered in rich, earthy hues and light-reflecting gold tones. Jain instinctively gravitates toward colors found in nature, including, most recently, a vivid magenta referred to as “rani pink” in India.
Born in 1985 into a large extended family in New Delhi, Jain was spiritually curious from a young age. At eight years old, she began a journey of self-realization, immersing herself in ancient religious scriptures and intensive meditation. Around the same time, she was also learning to paint, guided by her great-aunt, who instructed Jain on how to integrate breathwork into her art making.
Trishla Jain has exhibited her work in both the United States and India, including at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; the Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, India; and San Francisco Women’s Art Gallery in affiliation with the de Young museum, San Francisco. Jain lives and works in Palo Alto, California.
“I think of these works as a kind of ritual or ceremony similar to traditions of the past, where mark making or adorning images of gods and goddesses with dots and dashes was an act of devotion,” Jain says.
