Flight of the butterfly, 2014 (detail)
On view are Ranjani Shettar’s sculptural installations which inhabit their spaces to create dreamlike landscapes that enfold and enchant. Smooth and metallic, like drops of molten liquid the forms merge into each other. Weightless and suspended in midair, despite their substantial size and being carved from solid wood, they seem to tease the limits of gravity and matter. In another work employing fragments of coffee tree, Shettar appears to create a drawing in wood of an unruly line refusing to be tamed. Knotted and twisted, the intertwining form rises from the ground as though shaped by unpredictable forces of nature itself. A tangible yet at times barely perceptible, intricate hand molded web with countless wax nodes hovers slightly above the floor and narrows while it ascends like a vortex, twisting and stretching out to the walls and the space in between. The tension and the energy infused in the structure are matched by the variance in color as it rises from reds to orange to yellows. Ranjani Shettar’s works command material and space that seem to challenge our perceptions and amplify our sensitivity to the environment. While gently yielding to their presence, these multi component works appear constantly on the verge of change, altering their relationship within the work, to its surroundings and of our experience.
Tuntoroo, 2014 (detail)
Ranjani Shettar’s works have been the subject of several museum exhibitions including solo presentations at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The MET) (2018), The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2019), The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) (2009); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2011); The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA (2008); The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-9) and Hermes Fondation, Singapore (2011). Ranjani’s works have also been featured in exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY (2010); Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi (2011, 2012, 2013), 5th Moscow Biennale (2013); 10th Liverpool Biennial, UK (2010); 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, PA (2008); 9th Lyon Biennial, France (2007); 8th Sharjah Biennial (2007); 15th Sydney Biennale, Australia (2006); Art Tower Mito, Japan, Artpace, Texas (2006); Marian Goodman Gallery (2006), Cartier Fondation, Paris (2005); Sainsbury Center, UK (2005), Wexner Center, OH (2005), The Walker Art Center, MN (2003), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Italy (2003) and Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2003). In 2012 in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York the artist created a limited-edition project, Varsha. Ranjani Shettar lives and works in Karnataka, India.
