My First Solo Cartoon Exhibition at Indian Cartoon Gallery, IIC, Bangalore.

Hi All,

Posting after a long time, as I shifted my political cartoons into a separate entity Breadcrumbs Toons I have turned this blog into my personal musings. Since I spend most of my time creating political cartoons I do very little of posting here.
Sometime last year I finally thought to myself "I have enough of a collection of my cartoons now, I could select a few and have an exhibition". Encouraged by my wife Priyanka, I approached IIC (Indian Institute of Cartoonists) Bangalore if any slots were available for the same.
For those who are unaware IIC is a body of cartoonists with it's own dedicated cartoon exhibition space in Bangalore and I have been a lifetime member of the same since forever. IIC regularly organises exhibitions of various national and international cartoonists and is host to the prestigious Maya Kamath Memorial Awards.
 I approached IIC sometime in Sept 2019 and was allocated a slot from 8 to 22 Feb 2020. And then I got shortlisting. and boy was it difficult as I could display only about 78 cartoons. To make life simpler I first shortlisted a few cartoons which have won national and international awards. Then I sat again with my wife, selected the ones I wanted and sent them over to IIC.
Shri. V.G. Narendra, a cartoonist himself and dedicated curator of cartoons at IIC ensured that the rest of the arrangements wen smoothly. As a person who has dedicated the past decade or so to ensure that cartoonists have a display space of their own, and ensured the smooth continuity of IIC, I am personally very thankful of Shir. V.G. Narendra.

Based on his feedback (and some by my friend Anand Prahlad) I came up with this invite design. V.G. Narendraji requested Mr.Bharat Mehta (Chairman- Barton & Sons) to be the chief guest and he was kind enough to accept.

(Barton & Sons is a very old established boutique artisanal silverware mega shop. I did not know that they design the medals for Indian Armed Forces)


IIC is a very reputed exhibition space with deep roots and connections. So they ensured that the exhibition got enough coverage to reach all cartoon lovers in and around Bangalore.

Bangalore Mirror 5 Feb 2020.

Prajavani 5 Feb 2020, leading Kannada daily

Andhra Jyothy 4 Feb 2020, leading Telugu daily.

Now all I had to do was show up on time for the exhibition. So I flew to Bangalore and stayed at my sisters. Then took a cab early morning to M.G. Road to the exhibition hall, took some Chitale Bakarwadi along to add to the morning breakfast. Narendra ji had ensured a smooth and cheerful experience of the entire event.

Post the inauguration by the chief guest

I took him along with the audience on a tour of the cartoons, explaining if anything got stuck.


Got a surprise caricature of mine by famed artist Raghupati Sringeri


Talking about the exhibition and IIC Narendra ji did a briefing about the vision and mission of IIC.

I did a brief talk about my love for political cartooning, my journey as an artist and my future ambitions regarding my art.

Bharath ji also said a few words of encouragement regarding my art and cartooning in general.

and post that we had a nice breakfast in the adjoining hall. I was there only for a day but I met some real nice people, esp the Bangalore cartoon crowd with whom I am online friends nowadays.

Some Pics from the exhibition.

With the legendary Shri. Sridhar Comaravalli

With my wife Priyanka who supports my passion.

With my Sister and her family.

With my school friends who have settled in Banglore.

I would love to complete this testimonial by friend and IDC batchmate Mr. Shantanu Jog, vehicle designer at Ather Energy.

Even though I was there for only a day, the exhibition hall felt large warm and welcoming & the experience was uplifting. I would definitely recommend cartoonists to exhibit at Indian Cartoon Gallery and keep up the tradition laid down by Indian greats like Laxman, Thakrey, Unni and Mario Miranda.

So, Keep Calm Keep cartooning.

P.S. Due to awesome public response my exhibition got extended till 29th Feb 2020.