17/06/2026
MAJOR COMMISSION: DESMOND LAZARO | Avatar: FORMS OF VISHNU, AGNSW.
📍Art Gallery of New South Wales, Naala Badu building
📆 20 June - 5 October 2026.
Curator: Melanie Eastburn and Dr Chaitanya Sambrani
‘Avatar: Forms of Vishnu is unmissable. Expansive in scope and unprecedented in scale, it’s the evocative power of visual storytelling from South and Southeast Asia – spanning history to the present – that makes this exhibition so compelling.' - Maud Page, Director of AGNSW.
AGNSW has collaborated closely with museums across the world to present significant works on loan from their collections. Among the exhibition highlights will be new works by DESMOND LAZARO including two large paintings he has created especially for this major exhibition, which features over 200 pieces both historical and contemporary, across painting, textiles, sculpture and photography. LAZARO's work sits alongside other leading Australian and Indian artists, including Gitanjali Das, Jumaadi, Nalini Malani, Pushpamala N, Kalam Patua and Sumakshi Singh.
The exhibition explores a multitude of interpretations of one of the primary Hindu deities, Vishnu, and the various forms (avatars) that Vishnu takes when descending from the heavens to restore the earth's balance during times of crisis. The word 'avatar' is used to describe this phenomenon within Hinduism and in Sanskrit means 'descent'.
Email [email protected] or DM us for enquiries about LAZARO's available works.
IMAGES:
1-2. Details of LAZARO's 'Samudra Manthana, Churning of the Ocean Milk', 2026, natural pigments and gold on birch board, 200x200xcm.
3. Portrait of LAZARO, provided by the artist.
