Prithvi Dev

2025 | Drawing

Oil Pastels on A3 pastel paper. Pen, ink, markers on A4 acid-free paper.

A series of highly intricate ‘stream of consciousness’ drawings.

2024 | Drawing - Pen and ink on acid-free paper.

Dimensions : 23.4 in x 33.1 in

This 'stream of consciousness' piece is a visual description of Garima's thoughts, memories, and subconscience. She grew up in Rajasthan, lived in the Kumaon mountains, and is now scuba diving, being based in the Andamans. She makes her own thread using a traditional spindle. It is, therefore, a symbolic representation or 'portrait' of her being. It contains both observed sketched scenes as well as elements from imagination, and some with references. Highly intricate and detailed, the drawing is titled 'Meditation I'.

2024 | Drawing - Pen and ink, markers, on acid-free paper.

Dimensions : 20.4 in x 28.1 in

The Golden Eagle is a universal symbol of power, agility, and dynamism, found all over Eurasia, including India. This highly intricate and realistic portrait of the bird was made with only dots - each less than 0.003mm thick - using a technique known as stippling or pointillism. The golden yellow of the eye brings the piece to life.

2024 | Drawing - Pen and ink, alcohol-based markers, on Canson paper

Dimensions : 23.4 in x 33.1 in

This diptych of ‘light drawings’ - Physical Lines of Force and The Ratios of Light - represents a visual stream of consciousness that explores and ties together the phenomenon of light and that of consciousness. They are inextricably linked to create life and meaning in our universe. Peppered with natural elements such as flowers, plants, and birds, as well as physical and mathematical diagrams and symbols such as the Golden Ratio, electromagnetic beams, and Feynman diagrams, these large intricate drawings ultimately celebrate the multifaceted colours, contours, and complexities of life itself.

2024 | Drawing - Oil pastels on acid-free paper

Dimensions - Each piece is either 8.5 in x 11 in, or slightly larger.

A series of quick portraits of friends that stop by the art studio. The focus is less on getting details accurately, rather capturing the essence of the person being sketched - their mood at the moment of drawing. Oil pastels are are a good medium for this objective. The last two drawings were made during a live ghazal at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi.

2023 | Drawing - Oil pastels on acid-free Canson paper

Dimensions - 23.4 in x 33.1 in

A set of common indoor house plants, the Fiddle Leaf Fig and a Ficus Moclame.

2023 | Drawing - Pen and ink, alcohol-based markers, on Canson paper

Dimensions : 23.4 in x 33.1 in

A commissioned drawing of purple sunbirds, both male and female. This technique of art, where one builds a composition (in this case portraits) using only dots, is called stippling or pointillism. When seen from afar it looks like a realistic sketch, but as the piece draws you in one notices thousands of intricate dots, most of which are less than 0.003mm thick. Limiting myself to this method is challenging, it requires time and patience. One progresses carefully as mistakes cannot be undone.

2023 | Pen and ink on acid-free Canson paper

Dimensions : 11.7 in x 16.5 in

A commissioned composition of Emerald Doves made using only small dots, most of which are less than 0.003mm thick.

2022 | Drawing - Pen and ink, alcohol-based markers, on acid-free paper

Dimensions : 8.5 in x 11 in

A higher aim. The root and unravelling of causality. What does it really mean to be enlightened, is it just a momentary state of being? These are the questions I explore through ‘Eyes for the Ethereal’. Drawn in a ‘Stream of Consciousness’ visual style and aesthetic, this triptych grew organically in moments of silence and solitude.

2022 | Pen and ink on acid-free paper

A series of highly intricate drawings depicting the powerful Indian goddess Kali. She is often visually portrayed in a rage. In ‘Kali at the Big Bang’ she is seen inviting the viewer to witness the emergence of light through cosmic background radiation, and the path of our solar system through the galaxy. In “Kali at the Birth of the Universe’ we see Kali creating the unfolding first hand. In ‘Dance of Kali’ she is seen dancing atop the dimensions of light, spacetime, and consciousness in a playful light. All drawn in my intricate and surreal ‘stream of consciousness’ aesthetic.

2022 | Pen and ink, alcohol-based marker, on Canson paper

Observational drawings i:e; hand-studies, a self-portrait of sorts. The pieces evolved organically through the process of sketching. One can see free-flowing lines and geometrical forms that give direction to the hands and add dimension to overall composition.

2019 | Pen and ink, markers, watercolours, on paper

An assorted series of drawings, sketches, and paintings spanning a few years.

2018 | Drawing - pen and ink, alcohol based markers, on graph paper

Dimensions - 6 in x 9 in

An attempted visual understanding of understanding itself. Language is the structure of interpretation in our brain, and mathematics is its purest form of communication. Evolution, emergence, complexity and constructivism are seen through the lens of Reimann and Ramanujan, as explained by popular math and physics channels online. The act of note taking is a staple of the indian education system and the result here is a artistic look into the weaves of conceptual thinking.

2018 | Drawing - Pen and ink on Post-it and acid-free paper

This series depicts a visual motley of language and equations that mimics an anxiety-fuelled breakdown of reality. Highly intricate, yet messy and haphazard, the drawings were created as an act of note-taking while listening to philosophical lectures and discussions by some of the leading quantum and astrophysicists of our times.

2017 | Drawing - Pen and ink, alcohol-based markers, on brown paper

Dimensions - 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Presented is a set of highly intricate drawings depicting personal realisations and experiences. The inspiration for the narrative of this series comes from insights in the co-evolution of human hands and the brain, of dexterity and "intuition pumps", as well as a visual system with a broad range of depth perception. The pieces have many visual influences, and each illustrates a different story or idea.

I mix observed and imagined scenes from immediate vicinities and through self-informed compositional elements directed by hand, eye and mind (in that order). Every element of the composition informs all future mark-making, and is complete when the canvas (and my mind) is visually saturated. This process creates a feedback-loop that allows for a wholistic portrayal of and during the act of drawing.

2016 | Drawing, Illustration - Pen and ink, alcohol-based markers, on acid-free paper, hand-made paper, vellum, and canvas

A series of stipplings and illustrations of Indian birds.

2013 | Digital - Adobe illustrator

A pattern inspired by the structure of DNA and the ceiling inlays of the Golden Temple, Amritsar.

2009 | Drawing, Painting - Acrylic, watercolour, pen and ink, on acid-free paper

A series of Indian birds drawn and painted while in school.