Artist Statement

As an artist of South Asian descent, who was born in England, and has lived for 40 years in the United States, my art practice is about the challenge of translating non-western ideas into forms that can reach others unfamiliar with that philosophy and culture. It is also about re-imagining the received history of forms, and making them alive through reinterpretation. It is a way to reinvest tradition with new meaning and relevance.
 This non-western outlook to my thinking and process situates my artistic effort at the intersection of two cultures, and is informed by the influence of South Asian and American ideas and philosophies. It hashelped me to avoid making art purely as a personal aesthetic exercise.In this sense, I view my art practice both as a conceptual project and a process with which to make a physical object. Stylistically, my approach is to appropriate the mechanics and language of Western abstract art and refract it through the prism of my multicultural heritage. It is a way for me to bridge the bi-cultural differences that define me.

Bio

Education:       B. A. Columbia College, Columbia University, 1980
M. A. Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia    University, 1983

Studies:            Columbia University, New York, Department of Art, 1975 – 1980
                        Parson School of Art, New York, 1985 – 1987
                        School of Visual Arts, New York, 1989 – 1991
                        Hochschule der Bildenden Künste, Berlin, 1991 – 1993
Awards:

1. Weir Farm Trust Grant: Painting, 2006
2. Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Painting 2005-06
3. VSC Residency: Full Fellowship Award, 2005:Vermont Studio Center
4. VSC Residency: Full Fellowship Award, 2002:The Institute for Civil Society

Exhibitions / Installations: 

1. Pratham Auction, Christie’s London, Great Britain 2010
2. Figment, Art Installation, Governor’s Island, NY, June 2009
3. Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, India, February 2007
4. Unesco Headquarters, Bali Indonesia, January 2007
5. Ernst Museum, Budapest, Hungary, Summer 2005
6. Arpad Gallery, Balatonfüred, Hungary, Summer 2004
7. “Prism”, Group Exhibition, Advocate Gallery, Los Angeles, Summer 2003
8. “ArtWallah 2002”, Group Exhibition, ArtShare, Los Angeles, Spring 2002
9. “alienNation”, Group Exhibition, Harbourside Gallery, Toronto, Summer 2001
10. “ArtWallah 2001”, Group Exhibition, ArtShare, Los Angeles, Spring 2001
11. “Diasporadics”, Group Exhibition, Riverside Church, New York, Summer 2000
12. Solo exhibition: “Jungli Beauties”, Burgh House Gallery, London, U.K,Spring 2000
13. Solo exhibition: “Divide Paintings”, Galerie Ost-Art, Berlin, Germany, Summer 1997
14. Solo exhibition: New paintings, Galerie 7 Raben, Berlin, Germany, 1993
15. “Artists of Color fight AIDS”, Group Exhibition, Art in General Gallery, New YorkCity,1991
16. “Artists against AIDS”, Group Exhibition, Clinton Street Gallery, New York City, 1989

Residencies:

1. The Corporation at Yaddo, Fall 2006
2. Weir Farm Trust, Fall 2006
3. Macdowell Residency, Spring 2006
4. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, Spring 2005
5. Triangle Arts Association Workshop, Dumbo, Brooklyn, October 2004
6. Hungarian Multicultural Center,  Balatonfüred, Hungary, June 2004
7. Caldera, Sisters, Oregon, April 2004                                                                                   
8. Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, Spring 2002
9. Sumei Multicultural Art Center,  Newark, NJ ,Spring 2002