India, May 15 -- Himmat Shah's terracotta heads somehow feel ancient and futuristic at the same time. Their surfaces are cracked, weathered, wounded and partially eroded, as though they're products of an archaeological excavation. One can almost feel the heat, dust, and ash on them. Yet, they seem disconnected from the past we know, devoid of identity markers or any fixed form. They could belong to any time, place or culture, and are in a sense, timeless.

Shah has made a variety of them - heads within heads, kissing heads, disproportionate heads, heads without faces, heads in bronze, stone, wood and terracotta. He also created paper collages specifically to be burnt in a particular location, art assembled from found objects, and abstract...