Bridging nineteenth-century devotion and contemporary philosophy, this exhibition traces the enduring continuum of printmaking—where paper becomes memory, process becomes meditation, and each impression carries forward the consciousness of its time.

Echoes on Paper: Continuities of Craft and Consciousness at Cosmic Heart Gallery, Mumbai (January 16 – February 28, 2026), brings together Raja Ravi Varma and Tongji Philip Qian in a landmark printmaking dialogue. Part of the Print Biennale India ecosystem, the exhibition explores lithography, woodblock printing, devotion, chance, and material philosophy across centuries.

Paper, as medium and metaphor, lies at the heart of Echoes on Paper: Continuities of Craft and Consciousness. It is the surface upon which devotion, thought, and experimentation converge—bearing both the sacred imprints of history and the cerebral gestures of modernity. Fragile yet enduring, paper becomes the silent witness to belief systems, labour, and artistic inquiry, absorbing time into fibre and ink.

This exhibition unfolds as a conversation across centuries, geographies, and philosophies, bringing into dialogue the pioneering lithographs of Raja Ravi Varma and the chance-driven woodblock prints of Tongji Philip Qian. Together, they trace a lineage where printmaking is not merely a tool of reproduction, but a living philosophy of transmission and transformation.

From Temple to Threshold: Raja Ravi Varma’s Democratic Vision

In the late nineteenth century, Raja Ravi Varma’s lithographs changed the landscape of Indian art. His prints brought the divine from temple to threshold, transforming paper into a democratic space for spiritual engagement. Through the press, myth became modern, and beauty became shared.

Revered as the “Painter Prince” of India, Varma merged European academic realism with Indian mythological imagination, mastering perspective, anatomy, and narrative to give gods and goddesses profoundly human presence. His establishment of a lithographic press in 1894—first in Malavli and later in Ghatkopar, Mumbai—revolutionised access to art. Oleographs that once adorned palace walls now entered common homes, turning domestic spaces into sites of devotion and shared cultural identity.

These were not mere reproductions. Varma’s prints were acts of cultural renewal, translating faith into form and spirituality into accessible imagery. Paper, under his hand, became both carrier and catalyst—multiplying beauty while preserving dignity and meaning.

Chance, Craft, and Consciousness: Tongji Philip Qian

Over a century later, Tongji Philip Qian continues this lineage through the language of chance and craft. His woodblock prints, born from disciplined play and deliberate uncertainty, question the nature of repetition, authorship, and order. Here, the press is not only a tool but a site of meditation, where the artist’s hand becomes an instrument of inquiry.

Qian’s practice dismantles the hierarchy of control. Using self-devised algorithms guided by dice, he relinquishes authorship to process, allowing randomness, repetition, and error to shape each work. The result is a body of prints that are less about fixed outcomes and more about lived engagement with material, time, and decision-making.

Rooted in the historical traditions of woodblock printing across Asia—where prints once served devotional and communal functions—Qian reimagines these origins through a contemporary, conceptual lens. Each impression becomes a record of negotiation between intention and accident, design and surrender. 

Together, their practices trace the continuum of printmaking—from the lithographic stone to the carved woodblock, from devotion to design, from image to idea. In doing so, they reaffirm the timeless role of paper as a vessel of human thought: fragile yet enduring, silent yet deeply eloquent.

Echoes on Paper: Continuities of Craft and Consciousness invites viewers to consider the print not as replication, but as revelation. It is a reminder that every impression—whether born of faith or of philosophy—carries within it the echo of its maker, and the memory of its moment.

At once sacred and cerebral, tangible and conceptual, the exhibition brings together two artists separated by time and geography yet united by their shared devotion to the act of impression: the meeting of material, method, and mind.

Voices from the Biennale

The exhibition is positioned within the larger framework of the Print Biennale India, a flagship initiative of Lalit Kala Akademi, underscoring printmaking’s evolving relevance.

“Like ink meeting paper, this Biennale brings memory, labour, and spirit together. Rooted in India’s many traditions, print here becomes samskara—an impression that carries time, touch, and thought into the future,” says Dr. Nand Lal Thakur, Vice Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi.

Curator Jalpa H Vithalani contextualises the exhibition’s significance across eras and ideas: “Together, these two artists reveal how printmaking has evolved from devotional imagery to philosophical experimentation. Through stone, wood, and paper, they articulate a shared language—one of craft, contemplation, and continuity. Echoes on Paper: Continuities of Craft and Consciousness traces this journey, presenting printmaking as both archive and awakening: a bridge between past and present, faith and intellect, hand and idea.”

Artist Tongji Philip Qian reflects on the personal and historical resonance of this dialogue: “It is an honour to collaborate with Cosmic Heart Gallery for the third time in Mumbai thanks to Jalpa’s leadership and her commitment to the international communities. Woodblock printmaking, as the medium which underpinned the beginning of my career, remains central to my practice due to its physical rigor and historical lineage… Placing my prints in dialogue with those of Raja Ravi Varma invites conversations that cross-register geography, artistic histories, and inherited traditions.” 

The Spirit of Making

As viewers move through this dialogue of time and texture, they are invited to reflect on how the medium has endured even as meaning has transformed. The press—once a vessel for the sacred—now also serves as a site for questioning. The printed image, once a symbol of collective belief, becomes an instrument of introspection.

What persists across this continuum is not subject alone, but the spirit of making itself: the quiet assertion that each impression, whether devotional or conceptual, carries within it the pulse of its age and the permanence of its maker’s intent.

Presented by Cosmic Heart Gallery, the exhibition reflects the gallery’s long-standing commitment to fostering global artistic dialogue. Founded by Jalpa H Vithalani in 2012, Cosmic Heart Gallery has curated over 300 exhibitions, positioning art as a force of cultural exchange, conservation, and consciousness. Situated within the larger vision of Print Biennale India, Echoes on Paper aligns with a national and international effort to foreground printmaking as one of the most accessible yet philosophically rich art forms.

Exhibition Details

Venue: Cosmic Heart Gallery, G-2a, Court Chambers, 35 – New Marine Lines, Mumbai – 400 020

Dates: January 16 – February 28, 2026

Timings: 11am – 7pm | Monday to Saturday

Address: G-2a, Court Chambers, 35 – New Marine Lines, Mumbai – 400 020.

Mob.: + 91 98205 17518 | Tel: +91 22 2208 5926

The map to reach the location.   

Festival Diaries, Cultural Gatherings, Stories From The Festival, Celebrating Art, Festival Circuit, Live From The Festival, Creative Exchange, Art In Public Spaces, Festival Reflections,