Ranjani Shettar
Honeysuckle and mercury in a thick midnight plot, 2016
Rosewood, teakwood and stainless steel 90" x 112" x 21"
The works in Bubble trap and a double bow present another layer in Ranjani’s ever-deepening engagement with the natural world—a product of focused and sustained attention to issues as local as material and as wide-reading as ecological responsibility. Often marrying traditionally used materials refined over centuries in India, with a sustained effort to grasp and engage the global from her life in the countryside, her work brings past, present, and future into dialogue. Over the course of her career, her sculpture and installation have consistently sought to put her art into a dynamic relationship to the space around it—to release it from sculptural stillness and insert it into the flow of movement and experience. Appearing as a kind of catalyst for the entrancing systems of energy that she activates, Ranjani challenges us to bring new awareness to every interaction with the world around us, small and large.
How long before another turn, 2016
Beeswax, pigments and wooden beads
74″ x 109″ x 24″
Ranjani Shettar’s works have been the subject of several museum exhibitions including solos at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA (2008); The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-9); The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) (2009); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2011); Hermes Fondation, Singapore (2011) and BDL Museum, Mumbai, India (2012). Her works have also been featured in exhibitions at 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); Artpace, Texas (2006); Cartier Fondation, Paris (2005); Wexner Center, OH (2005) and The Walker Art Center, MN (2003). In 2012 in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York the artist created a limited edition project, Varsha.