In Paaras, Shine Shivan presents a new body of work that extends the artist's preoccupation with mythical stories and folklore. Paaras—a touchstone—converts metals to gold. The act of painting reflects a similar form of alchemy and magic, of translating and reimagining stories and myths that percolate.

Across his practice, Shivan has traversed a vast terrain of mediums: from work in taxidermy, performance and pastel. Here, the artist turns to oil for the first time, executing monumental works that take root from ancient myths, but are remarkably contemporary in their execution.

In Shivan's painterly language, the artist amalgamates personal experiences of pilgrimage while carrying with him a vast repertoire of visual references: Persian paintings, Indian miniatures, colonial paintings, and Chola bronzes—each absorbed into a distinctive artistic language that the artist continues to hone.

This body of work emerges from Shivan's encounters with stories, songs, and oral traditions connected to the regions he travelled through. Many of these narratives centre on ideas of doubling and switching—motifs that become central to his work. Themes of merging identities, embodiment, and uidity recur through these paintings, echoing devotional and poetic traditions where love and form often intermingle.