THE SOFT STONE

Paper Pulp Casts of Dattatreya Apte

Curated by Nanak Ganguly

Kolkata, August 2026 — Aakriti Art Gallery is pleased to present The Soft Stone, an exhibition of paper pulp casts by Dattatreya Apte, curated by Nanak Ganguly. The exhibition will be on view from 2 to 14 September 2026 at Gallery No. 3, Lalit Kala Akademi, Kolkata.

For more than two decades, Dattatreya Apte has worked with paper pulp as a primary medium. Soft and fibrous when wet, the pulp is pressed, dyed and left to set until it holds form with a quiet permanence. The resulting cast reliefs occupy an ambiguous ground between print and sculpture. They begin with the logic of impression — a matrix, a pressing, a transfer of mark — and end as unique objects whose thickness, edge and surface demand to be seen in light and depth.

The exhibition title, The Soft Stone, names this contradiction. Leaves leave their veins; architectural fragments leave their edges; colour is often held within the body of the sheet rather than applied only on its surface. Early white casts from 1999 possess an almost archaeological stillness. Later works introduce pigment, collage and a more assertive geometry, yet the essential character remains: a surface that remembers contact.

Apte, a printmaker by training, has long spoken of the element of surprise inherent in the casting process. Once the dyed pulp is pressed and allowed to dry, the final image is never entirely predetermined. The Soft Stone gathers these cast surfaces not as a survey of technique, but as a sustained meditation on what a surface can carry.

The exhibition is accompanied by a public talk, A Talk on Paper Pulp as a Medium, on Thursday, 3 September 2026 at 5.30 pm in the Multipurpose Hall (3rd Floor), Lalit Kala Akademi. The panel will include Johny ML, Suresh Jayaram, Dattatreya Apte and Aman Bachhawat, with Nanak Ganguly as moderator. The conversation will consider whether paper pulp casting is best understood as print, sculpture, or a third medium in its own right.

Exhibition details

Title: The Soft Stone — Paper Pulp Casts of Dattatreya Apte

Curator: Nanak Ganguly

Dates: 02 September 2026 – 14 September 2026

Venue: Gallery No. 3, Lalit Kala Akademi, 85, A.J.C. Bose Road, Kolkata 700014

Presented by: Aakriti Art Gallery

Talk

A Talk on Paper Pulp as a Medium

Thursday, 3 September 2026 | 5.30 pm

Multipurpose Hall (3rd Floor), Lalit Kala Akademi

For press enquiries and images, please contact:

N.G. Rao 

Aakriti Art Gallery

12/3A, Hungerford Street, Kolkata 700017

Phone: +91 33 2289 3027 / 2289 5041

Email: admin@aakritiartgallery.com 

Web: www.aakritiartgallery.com

About the Artist

Dattatreya Apte is a contemporary Indian printmaker and artist whose practice spans drawing, etching, painting and paper pulp casting. He has worked with pulp for over two decades, developing a distinctive body of cast reliefs that test the boundaries between graphic impression and sculptural presence.

About Aakriti Art Gallery

Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata, is a leading platform for modern and contemporary Indian art. Through exhibitions, publications and public programmes, the gallery supports sustained engagement with artists and critical conversations around medium, history and looking.