An exhibition of new works by Ranjani Shettar

New Delhi based Talwar Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by Ranjani Shettar. Ephemeral yet distinct, between shadows and form, her work permeates elusiveness and a refusal to be contained by simple categorization.

The artist's usage of traditional and modern crafts to sculpt natural and industrial materials accentuates the tenuous relationship between industry and nature. She resolves this by uncovering the beauty within their co existence and in the collaboration between man and nature.

In creating environments with sculpture and installation, she fuses the two realms together with dynamic yet graceful forms and textures, revealing the spectacle and magnanimity of natural phenomena. Seduced by their simplicity and openness, our experience of her works yields humility and a surrender to their splendor.

Her materials yield to unfamiliar realizations, as in Stretch in which wood seems to have been molded like clay, while on the main level Scent of a Sound traverses the gallery space like an unruly fragrance encompassing it like a lingering melody. The organic forms constructed with steel and muslin float in mid air confronting the viewer as they enter, daring them to step inside and imbibe.

Further, in Aureole - a multi piece cast bronze silhouette of a threshold sweeps across the space gracefully defying materiality and weight while drawing from a millennium old tradition. Lagoon, laden with lush, rich and dense forms created from lacquered wood immersed in depths of blue, is indulgent and inviting.

Ranjani Shettar’s work has been on view in numerous significant institutions and exhibitions worldwide. It can currently be seen at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY in On Line: Drawing Through the 20th Century. Her recent prominent solos have been held at prestigious venues like The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009), The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-09) and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2008).

Other prominent participations include 10th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK (2010); 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2008), 9th Lyon Biennial, France (2007), 8th Sharjah Biennale (2007), and 15th Sydney Biennale, Australia (2006).

(Information courtesy: Talwar Gallery)