A Tactile Epiphany: Kewal Krishan Kamra

Curatorial text by Dr. Deepak Kannal

Gallery Prologue presents a solo exhibition of sculptures by artist Kewal Krishan Kamra.

The exhibition foregrounds a body of work in wood and bronze, shaped through his distinctive “grip and squeeze” technique rooted in material and intuitive tactility. Kamra discovered this technique in the 1970s during his student years at M. S. U Baroda, which evolved into a mature sculptural language over five decades. His works embody a dialogue between instinct and control, tradition and transformation.
Highlighting forms that oscillate between organic and abstract, the works featured in the show preserve the immediacy of touch. Wood sculptures reveal natural grain patterns across pressed and carved surfaces, while bronze casts capture the gestural force of the artist’s hand. Together, they invite reflection on memory, material, and the enduring resonance of tactile engagement.
Kewal Krishan Kamra was born in 1953, Fazilka, Punjab. He completed his schooling at Government High School, Fazilka, where his aptitude for art was soon recognized by his drawing teacher who encouraged him to pursue it as a career. He later joined the Government College of Art, Shimla in 1971. During his early years, he got an opportunity to visit Delhi College of Art where he met Dhanraj Bhagat who was the head of Sculpture Department. Recognizing Kamra’s devotion and hunger for learning, Bhagat invited him to his home, where he shared insights into the technicalities of sculpture and recounted his own artistic journey. This formative interaction with Bhagat profoundly shaped Kamra’s trajectory, inspiring him to specialize in sculpture upon completing his foundation course. Later, in 1975, he met Balbir Singh Katt, who enrolled him as a member of the Sculptor Forum of India, an organization founded to mentor and promote young sculptors. Upon completing his diploma, Kamra joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at M. S. U Baroda.

Dr Deepak Kannal who was his senior at the time, observes:
“Kewal Krishan Kamra arrived at Vadodara, well equipped with sculptural skills and technical competence that he acquired at Shimla school of Art. This sculptural dexterity was supplemented with his steadfast rigor. However, I remember, the aesthetic concerns and the sculptural language that was in vogue at this new place seemed to have perplexed him to an extent. His new mentor and an extremely sensitive teacher Prof. Mahendra Pandya, perhaps sensing his predicament at that juncture, introduced him to the contemporary movements and experiments in the realm of sculpture. He also pointed out the intricacies of sculptural language and the limitations of intentionality in linguistic interaction that leads to the polyphonic nature of any language, whether verbal or visual. As a witness to these interactions, I remember that the conversation shattered many of Kewal’s preoccupations, helping him discover the intuitive aspect of an aesthetic expression. Kamra started playing freely with clay, gripping and squeezing it with varied intensity and learned to respond to and exploit the possibilities suggested by the enigmatic outcome.
The discovery of Gestalt inaugurated a new phase in Kamra’s sculpture. He started reading different forms in the squeezed lumps and using his imagination and formal sensitivity steered them to different sculptural experiences. The squeezed lumps of clay rendered the virility of a mighty bull or the elegance of a female figure, depending on the placement and the surface treatment of the discovered form. He enlarged them, adding or eliminating, inflating or contracting various parts and playing with the tactility of the discovered object. The accidentally discovered forms yielded to the scrutiny of the sculptor and his intentionality but also retained the ambiguity and obscurity, challenging the imagination of the onlooker.
Kamra has explored several sculptural idioms in his career. He has explored the nonrepresentational abstraction, has handled human figures with utmost elegance and sensitivity but I think this phase in his sculptural journey was a pathbreaking discovery.”
Over the past five decades, Kamra has translated that fleeting gesture into a sustained sculptural practice. His works oscillate between the organic and the abstract, evoking both bodily memory and the responsiveness of material. In doing so, they embody a dialogue between touch and form, intuition and permanence, capturing the essence of a practice born from a tactile epiphany.