Although its name means “still life”, this lovely gallery tucked away in South Delhi’s leafy Niti Bagh is anything but fixated on paintings.

Opened in its current location in 2003 by gallerist Peter Nagy, Nature Morte has been an advocate of experimental, cutting edge shows that have featured some of today’s best-known contemporary Indian artists including Pushpamala N, Dayanita Singh, Jagannath Panda, Mithu Sen, Bharat Sikka, Subodh Gupta, and Bharti Kher. Housed within a residential building, the gallery has an interesting multi-level layout, which is a great advantage especially for installation shows. Its rooms have displayed interesting sculpture, sound and video installations and Peter, known for curating eclectic, bold shows, continues to surprise and delight the gallery’s visitors. It would be fair to say that the exhibitions in Nature Morte Berlin and Nature Morte New York are also known to be daring, and always attempting to move beyond the art market’s commercial interests.

This winter, Nature Morte’s sparse white walls are livened up by “Verk”, an exhibition of Mona Rai’s bright, multimedia pieces. This New Delhi artist has used metallic leaves, mirrors, paint, fabric, string and paint to create large, abstract works of tremendous vibrancy. Her technique – a neat collage of metallic leaves – echoes the paintings of Gustav Klimt in their jewel colours and gradual layering of texture. The material (especially the pieces in gold) shines with the same ethereal light. “Ullas”, for instance, exhibits similar intricate detailing to Klimt’s “The Kiss”, with miniscule squares laid out on the canvas. It’s a work that demands to be mused over and looked at carefully.

“Bageecha” could then be a take on the Austrian artist’s “Park” painting with its gorgeous green spaces broken by a mélange of turquoise, mustard and burnt orange. The work seems to echo an aerial view shot of a forest or a park that is seething with colour. On a more abstract, starker note is the monochrome “Chandra & Prabha”, where the canvas is roughly divided into a black space and another layered in careful shades of white and grey – like a modern-day Yin and Yang symbol. The monotony is broken, however, by a smattering of gold flecks. Continuing with a similar colour scheme is “Kaal”, which is made up of three panels – black squares sewn roughly together, silver-grey with pieces of string in the centre and finally a collage of black and gold with small slivers of bright red. It seems like slices of different urban landscapes placed together – where the white flecks could be city lights.

Some of the other works on display, done in dull gold, are reminiscent of ancient paintings or antique drawings on silk. “Tribhuj”, for instance, features an orange sandstone structure which looks like a Hindu temple, against a gorgeous gold background strewn with lighter coloured leaves (they could be clouds). The building seems to be glowing in warm late afternoon sunshine, much like the capital’s Red Fort. “Bhuvan” also inspires similar connections to ancient ruins with its inclusion of a doorway and windows on a façade made of gold brick. Within the same panel is a collage of gold leaves “stitched” together by string – like a particularly rich and luminescent patchwork quilt.

On a different note, “Shradha” appears to be a display space within itself – on its blood-red canvas hangs a rough, homemade “medal” up for show just as a military award would be placed.

“Atma Shudhi”, probably the most poignant work in the exhibition, shows an almost circular orange ring in which, amidst a cluster of yellow leaves, are four shards of a mirror. Atma, the essence of life, without which Hindus believe existence would be impossible, is carefully cradled, according to the artist, in the mirror’s reflection.