Rithika Merchant’s Dreaming Realm Makes Care a Shared Activity

Eight paintings, one developing world

Rithika Merchant’s The Dreaming Realm is on view at Galerie LJ in Paris from October 16 to November 21, 2026. The gallery identifies the exhibition as a new group of eight paintings on paper and places it within the artist’s continuing narrative about ecological change and collective life. See the gallery’s exhibition account for the dates and its interpretation of the series.

Rather than treating each creature as a puzzle with a single answer, a useful way into these pictures is to follow the connections between bodies. Who reaches outward? What passes between figures? Which shapes return in the surrounding plants?

Look at the space between the figures

In the painting reproduced above, a dark blue figure occupies the center while two brightly patterned figures face inward. Pale lines spread across the middle, with eyes suspended at their ends. The composition can be read as an exchange: the empty space is active, carrying as much visual information as the bodies.

This is our reading of the image, rather than a claim that every motif has a fixed meaning. Kate Mothes’s October 19 report for Colossal provides a broader visual selection and discusses the recurring hybrid creatures. The gallery describes Merchant’s ongoing Interspecies Care series in terms of reciprocity and shared knowledge.

Change the scale of your looking

The detail below makes a different rhythm visible. Yellow forms spread beside an erupting mountain; a dark bird shape crosses the lower part of the image, while fine white marks punctuate the blue ground. Moving between an overall view and a detail changes which relationships seem dominant.

Try two passes through the exhibition: first follow the large arrangements of figures, then return to the small lines, eyes and repeated plant forms. Keep your observations separate from the gallery’s explanation. That leaves room to notice something the explanatory text has not already named.

Keep the visit connected to the object

For readers researching works on paper, an exhibition image is a starting point for questions about an individual object. Ask for the specific materials, dimensions and presentation details rather than inferring them from an online reproduction. ArtVault’s condition and framing handoff guide offers a way to organize those questions, with material-specific decisions left to the appropriate professional.

Images reproduced here are courtesy of Rithika Merchant and Galerie LJ, sourced from the linked Colossal feature. The image detail is a separate reproduction and should not be mistaken for a close-up of the featured painting.