In an interview with the arts magazine Arts Illustrated in 2020, the artist said: “To use time and space as an element, I had to redefine them visually. My journey in time and space is based on my realization of these elements through architectural forms and heritage sites. Venturing amongst the cluster of monuments in Nepal or walking through the narrow lanes of Vrindavan and Varanasi or other reminiscences of the past transports me to a different time zone and I start interpreting them in terms of time and space.”

Agarwal graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Lucknow with a degree in Fine Arts and went on to become Principal of the institute for several years. He received the State Academy Award twice from the government of India’s Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art, New Delhi) for his contributions to the medium of printmaking. Agarwal worked with other artists featured in this exhibition, including Somnath Hore at his Delhi studio in 1964 and Jyoti Bhatt at a workshop in Delhi organized by the U.S. Information Service in 1970. He studied photo etching at the Slade School of Art, London, in 1972.