Image: Menil Collection, The Menil Collection ; sarah hobson 1 ; sarah hobson 1 ; sarah hobson 1
The Menil Collection has commissioned Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat to create a site-specific wall drawing for the entry space of the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston. Titled ‘Wall Drawing Series: Jitish Kallat,’ the project is scheduled to open on September 10, 2026, and remain on view through August 8, 2027.
The commission is part of the Menil Drawing Institute’s ongoing ‘Wall Drawing Series,’ which began in 2018 as an institutional effort to seek new approaches to the form and language of drawing. Previous participants include Marc Bauer, Mel Bochner, Roni Horn, Marcia Kure, Gladys Nilsson, Ronny Quevedo and Jorinde Voigt. The Kallat project is curated by Edouard Kopp, the institute’s John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator.
Born in Mumbai, where he continues to live and work, Kallat is described by the Menil as a leading figure in contemporary Indian art. Over the past three decades, his practice has encompassed drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and time-based media. His work frequently shifts between intimate and expansive scales, connecting references to history, science, philosophy and the cosmic dimensions of time.
Kallat’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. He has also participated in exhibitions at Tate Modern in London, Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin and Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, as well as biennales in Venice, Gwangju, Havana, Bangkok, Curitiba and Kyiv. Kallat served as curator and artistic director of the 2014 Kochi-Muziris Biennale and is currently president of the biennale.
The project will be introduced publicly on September 10 with an artist talk at the Menil Drawing Institute from 7 to 8 p.m. Kallat will discuss the wall drawing with Kopp, including its concept, technology and connections to the Cold War and Project A119. A public reception will follow. The institute is located at 1412 W. Main Street, Houston, and Menil programs are free and open to the public.
A member noontime talk on the project, led by Kopp, is scheduled for October 23 from noon to 12:30 p.m. ‘Wall Drawing Series: Jitish Kallat’ will be on view at the Menil Drawing Institute from September 10, 2026, through August 8, 2027.
