Featured image: Mumbai in 1,995 CE & Indus Valley Elder from 2,000 BCE

Rumbling Cities

Shrey Purohit’s practice began as daily urban sketching kept only in sketchbooks.

That habit turned outward in 2020, when an emptied city pushed him to paint outdoors at dusk, in the hours between jobs, where he feels most free.

The works on view mark where that practice has led: paintings about migration and what a person carries after leaving one place and landing in another.

In each, a fixed year—Mumbai in 1995, 1997, San Francisco in 2018 and 2026—sits inside and alongside older artifacts: an Indus Valley elder over a crowded train platform, or a red Indus Valley bull over a city at night. A terracotta curtain is built into the elder painting, creating a material break in the canvas rather than paint describing one.

Old and new don’t line up in order, they sit on top of each other, closer to living with two homes at once.

Shrey Purohit‘s exhibition is on view from August 21 – October 13, 2026

Shrey Purohit (b. 1997, India) is a San Francisco based painter, curator, and educator working in oil and acrylic on canvas. He is the recipient of the 2026 San Francisco Arts Commission AIE Grant for his project Unsung SF, and his cityscape paintings have been shown at SF City Hall, Minnesota Street Projects, SOMArts, and Heron Arts, among galleries, civic spaces, and neighborhood venues across the city. His public murals are installed at Meta Open Arts, Pier 41, and along Ocean Avenue. Purohit is also the recipient of a Plein Air Salon Award and recognition from the Jerry Goldstein Foundation. He runs a monthly snail mail club, sending original painted work to subscribers around the world. Along with his own practice, he curates with ArtSpan and his own project, Ingleside Gallery, building community-centered exhibitions that uplift emerging artists.

Small case

Mumbai in 1,995 CE & Indus Valley Elder from 2,000 BCE
Oil & acrylic on canvas with terracotta curtain
24” x 24”
2026
$2,400

Big case
Left to right

Mumbai 1,997 CE & Indus Valley Bull from 2,800 BCE
Oil & acrylic on canvas
12″ x 12″
2026
$550

San Francisco 2,018 CE & Indus Valley Bull from 2,800 BCE
Oil & acrylic on canvas
12″ x 12″
2026
$550

Mining the Landscape
Oil & acrylic on canvas
24″ x 30″
2026
$2800

The Weight of Service (Ingleside)
Acrylic on canvas
30″ x 40″
2023
$3,600

The Ramp Gallery is an artist-driven exhibition space at SOMArts that is currently accepting applications for four-week long solo and group shows. An opportunity for entrepreneurial artists to ramp up their careers by exhibiting at one of San Francisco’s most dynamic hubs for art and community, the high-visibility location of The Ramp Gallery is adjacent to the main entrance of SOMArts and open to all local artists in the Bay Area. To learn more about the space please visit, The Ramp Gallery.