Makhijani's paintings carve out a fantastical imaginary world in a swath of whiteness, barely perceptible in some cases from just a few feet away, but reveal their grandeur and beauty on more intimate inspection.
Opening reception Saturday, April 3 from 6 - 8 pm.
On exhibit are works on paper and an installation of painted acrylic cubes. The Artist executing meticulously with gouache, employs a flirtatious nature of line to reveal the intimate and tactile relationship between paint and paper. Makhijani’s paintings carve out a fantastical imaginary world in a swath of whiteness, barely perceptible in some cases from just a few feet away, but reveal their grandeur and beauty on more intimate inspection. The painted cubes, titled “BUTPUTSâ€, employ a deliberate playful interactive component, as the painted lines reflect and refract with the cubes, creating a multi-dimensional experience of the worlds created by Makhijani.
The works, seemingly deliberate and skillfully rendered, infuse legitimacy to the complex and whimsical forms created by Sheila Makhijani. They are intricate, delicate and beautiful, and in their subversion of scale, could masquerade either as architectural blue-prints of a futuristic structure or a cross section of a micro-organism. The lines in Makhijani’s paintings are alive and function more like us: they walk, meet, dart, swagger, turn, cajole and erupt. As the artist once remarked about her lines, “They realize that maybe it is better to be a little tame and a little wild. With that they may reach a harmonious balance… and manage to create their own world. A world which has no boundaries barring them from going on the other side….a world which is full of happiness and joy….so they try, but, that is real hard so they try again, and again…and life goes on…maybe one day they will arrive somewhere…..â€
Sheila Makhijani was born in New Delhi, India and was educated at the College of Art, Delhi from where she also completed her postgraduate degree. In 1993 she studied in Japan at Kanazawa Bijutsu Kogei Daigaku, Kanazawa, Japan. Her works have been exhibited frequently in Holland, India and Australia. In 2001, she was included in an exhibition at Gallery East, Perth Australia; in 1999 her works were included in Bilkool at Perth Institute of Contemporary art and in 1998 at RMIT Project Space, Melbourne and at Makerere Gallery in Uganda. Sheila has exhibited her works in solo exhibitions at Gallery Foundation of Indian Artists in Holland in 1996 and later, in 2000, in 1992 and 1994 at Galerie Schoo, Amsterdam, Holland. Makhijani’s works have also been included in exhibitions at Kunsthal Rotterdam, Holland in 1993; Gemeentemuseum, Arnhem, Holland in 1991; at Saline Royale d’Arc Et Senans, France in 1993.
Sheila Makhijani lives and works in New Delhi, India.
Image:
"SO MUCH FOR NOW"
Goauche on paper
19 5/8" X 15 3/4" 2002
Talwar Gallery
108 East 16 Street New York
tel 212 6733096