Ranjani Shettar
We are delighted to present Wings of the river, Ranjani Shettar’s eleventh solo exhibition with Talwar. On view, for the first time ever in the US will be River (2023), a monumental wall installation with thousands of handmade lacquered wood elements. Their carefully orchestrated angles and scale change gently, permeating the wall, with a dynamism and an invisible force that radiates from the center towards the periphery of the installation. Like windswept waves in a sea of pearls, they appear opulent while defying their humble means.
In contrast Taking a dip (2023) is almost defined by what is not there. Empty spaces enclosed by an armature of steel wrapped in muslin appear like a river delta or suggesting a colony of microscopic cells in formation. While its shadow appears to levitate the work off the wall, the rich earth tones, dyed into muslin from pomegranate and madder root, impart an organic quality to the work. Elegant and curvaceous,
Flame (2023) appears otherworldly winged creatures in flight. Suspended in midair with translucent skin-like surfaces these seemingly fragile forms beckon a distilled and evolved living system.
Ranjani Shettar’s oeuvre, which has matured over the course of two decades, is profoundly influenced by her proximity to and exploration of the natural world. While Ranjani's artistic approach derives its cadence from the rhythms of nature, her techniques are steeped in India's centuries-old craft traditions. Defying the fixed nature of conventional sculpture, Shettar’s work floats, hangs, spreads across walls and ceilings, encompassing space and the viewers’ body in its fold. This inclusive and immersive experience reveals the interdependence between humans and our surrounding worlds, continually inspiring us to further our ecological consciousness.
Ranjani Shettar’s works are in many prestigious museum collections and have been the subject of several solo presentations including at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The MET) (2018), The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2019), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2011), The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) (2009), The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-9) and The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA (2008). Ranjani’s works have also been featured in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi; The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, PA; 5th Moscow Biennale; 10th Liverpool Biennial, UK; 9th Lyon Biennial, France; 8th Sharjah Biennial, UAE; 15th Sydney Biennale, Australia; Artpace, Texas; Cartier Fondation, Paris; Sainsbury Center, UK; Hermes Fondation, Singapore; Wexner Center, OH; The Walker Art Center, MN; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italy and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. In collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Shettar created a limited-edition project, Varsha and in 2020 Shettar was invited to create a special print for the MET 150, to commemorate The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150th anniversary.
Ranjani Shettar (b. 1977 Bangalore, India) lives and works in Karnataka, India.