Birmingham exhibition honours British Indian artist Balraj Khanna

BRITISH INDIAN artist Balraj Khanna will be honoured with the first major UK exhibition of his work, opening next month, more than two years after his death in London at the age of 84.

Lines of Flight, at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, will run until February 2027. The exhibition brings together more than 40 paintings created over six decades, offering an overview of Khanna's work as a painter, writer and curator.

The exhibition traces the development of his abstract style, shaped by his childhood in Punjab, his life in Britain and his interest in the natural world. His work explores migration, the Partition of India, identity and belonging.

"Balraj Khanna: Lines of Flight offers a long-overdue recognition of an artist whose work bridges cultures, geographies and generations, highlighting his significant contribution to post-war British abstraction," said Antonia Blocker, artistic director of Exhibitions at the gallery.

A self-taught artist, Khanna witnessed the Partition of India in 1947 before moving to London in 1962. A road accident in 1965 led to a period of recovery in Metz, France, which became a turning point in his artistic practice.

While staying near the Forêt de Saint-Bernard, he developed an abstract style using layered surfaces, lines, string, organic and geometric forms, and carefully structured compositions.

"Khanna developed a distinctive artistic language informed by migration, memory, landscape and cultural exchange. Across a career spanning six decades, he produced a substantial body of paintings, reliefs, writings and publications," the Ikon Gallery said.

Balraj Khannawww.balrajkhanna.com

Khanna was a member of the Indian Painters Collective, which promoted the work of Indian artists in Britain. After his first solo exhibition in 1965, he exhibited across the UK, France and the US.

The exhibition, supported by the Bagri Foundation, the Estate of Balraj Khanna and other partners, includes works from the 1960s and 1970s alongside larger paintings created between the 1970s and early 2000s. It also features mixed-media works from the 1980s to the 2010s, showing his use of sand, spray, stencils and other techniques.

The exhibition also highlights Khanna's connection with Birmingham through Astral Dance, the painted safety curtain at the Birmingham Hippodrome, which marks its 25th anniversary this year.

To coincide with the anniversary, the Ikon Gallery will work with Birmingham Hippodrome on public programmes, curator-led tours and learning activities across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

An illustrated monograph, described as the first major reference publication on Khanna's work, will also be released. It will include newly commissioned essays by art historians.

(with inputs from PTI)