An art gallery is a window to the world of an artist, one free from the restrictions of everyday life. One such experience was waiting at the Art Explore gallery in Panchsheel Park, New Delhi where Harpreet Narula’s works were being exhibited for the first time.
Hanging on the wall, every canvas seemed to be less about the image itself and more about what quietly unfolds within the person standing before it. That intimate conversation between artwork and viewer is exactly where artist and couturier Harpreet Narula wants his latest body of work to exist.
Known for his decades-long journey in fashion, Narula has stepped into a deeply personal artistic practice with ‘Inward’, his latest exhibition. The collection marks a significant shift for Narula, presenting paintings that are not created for clients or collections but as expressions of his own experiences, memories and inner reflections. Rather than offering fixed narratives, the exhibition invites every visitor to arrive at their own interpretation.
“When you are designing, you have to keep the function in mind because somebody has to wear it. But when you are doing art, you are actually doing it for yourself, for your own happiness and your own peace of mind,” said Narula.
From Couture to Art
A celebrated designer, Harpreet Narula, who along with designer Rimple Narula has created costumes for films such as ‘Padmaavat’, ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’ and the upcoming ‘Ramayana’, chose a path that few designers take. He brought years of experience from the world of textiles and couture into a medium that allowed complete creative freedom. Instead of designing for someone else’s vision, he turned inward, creating works that express his own evolving identity.
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The Harpreet Narula latest exhibition reflects this transition through abstract compositions rooted in personal memory. His years in Punjab and Rajasthan have left an unmistakable imprint on the work, surfacing as fragments of landscapes, emotions and lived experiences rather than literal representations.
“I feel people should be able to find their own meaning. It’s not important what the work means for me; it’s important what it means for the person looking at it,” added Narula.
His artistic vocabulary also borrows from the repetitive rhythms found in textile-making. The recurring forms echo the meditative focus artisans experience while creating intricate fabrics. Narula entered a similar contemplative state while painting, allowing intuition rather than intention to guide each canvas. This Harpreet Narula creative philosophy gives the works an openness that encourages viewers to complete the narrative themselves.
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The textured quality of the works is equally intentional. Narula primarily paints on cotton and linen tufted canvases, layering paint with materials such as crushed stone, sand, wood sawdust and binders to create textured surfaces. Rather than remaining confined to a single medium, he continues to experiment with different materials, allowing each work to be guided by emotion. For the artist, colour, brushstrokes and texture become vehicles of expression, while the material itself remains only the medium through which an idea takes form.
Abstract Forms Invite Reflection
The Narula art exhibition deliberately avoids prescribing meaning. Every painting offers space for personal interpretation, making the viewing experience as individual as the person engaging with it. That freedom lies at the heart of the Narula artwork meaning, where no two responses are expected to be the same.
As a contemporary artist, he sees abstraction as an invitation rather than an explanation. The paintings encourage audiences to pause, reflect and discover emotions that may otherwise remain unspoken. It is this quiet dialogue that defines his practice and distinguishes Narula’s contemporary art. Instead of asking viewers to admire technique alone, his work gently encourages them to look inward, finding meaning not only on the canvas but within themselves.
