Intimate Dialects

Works by Shruti Nelson and Sharmi Chowdhury

Curated by Jasmine Shah Varma

March 15 - 29, 2008 at Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai
11 am to 6 pm

'Intimate Dialects' explores the personalised languages that Shruti Nelson and Sharmi Chowdhury have created out the unassuming medium of watercolours. Dabs of colours on austere white surface leave markings – a visual language - that reveal the inner dialogues the artists have in their private moments in the respective studios.

An artist provides her world view through her paintings. This world could be that of human relationships as in the case of Sharmi or of that which brinks somewhere between the fantastical and the experiential as in the case of Shruti.

- Jasmine Shah Varma

Sharmi Chowdhury / Recollections in Silence
Watercolour on paper, Ten panels, 16 x 12 inches each

Sharmi Chowdhury / The Abductor
Watercolour on paper, 12 x 9 inches

Sharmi Chowdhury / A Theatre of Fragments

Watercolours on paper 24" x 24" after framing 2008

Sharmi Chowdhury / Skin Deep Impression
11 x 16 inches Watercolour on paper 2008


Sharmi Chowdhury / A Parable of Gift
11 x 16 inches Watercolour on paper 2008


Sharmi Chowdhury / Careless Whispers
9 x 12 inches Triptych Watercolour on paper 2008

Sharmi Chowdhury / Pierced Past

Watercolour on paper, 9 x 12 inches

Sharmi Chowdhury / To Mirror a Desire
Watercolour on paper, 34 x 26.4 inches

Sharmi Chowdhury / Dreaming About Damaru
Tempera on Silk, 78 x 24 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour on acid-free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Shruti Nelson / An Elusive Genie
Watercolour on acid free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour on acid-free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour and collage on acid-free paper, 24 x 24 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Mixed media on acid-free paper, 12 x 12 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Mixed media on acid-free paper, 12 x 12 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Mixed media on acid-free paper, 12 x 12 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Mixed media on acid-free paper, Two panels, 12 x 12 inches each

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour acid-free paper, Two panels, 12 x 12 inches each

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour on acid-free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Shruti Nelson / Whispers
Mixed media on acid free paper, 36 x 36 inches

Shruti Nelson / An Epoch of Dreams
Watercolour and collage on paper, 29.5 x 36 inches

Shruti Nelson / Amidst the Earth Dwellers
Mixed media acid-free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Shruti Nelson / Untitled
Watercolour on acid-free paper, 30 x 22 inches

Biographies:

Shruti Nelson

Shruti graduated obtaining BSC from MS University, Baroda before obtaining a Diploma in Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU in 1994. She then pursued Post Diploma in Creative Painting, in MS University in 1996 and in the same year she attended a Residency Programme in France for three months at École Regionale Des Beaux Arts, Normandie A Caen. She has attended workshops learning paper making, natural dyeing and drawing. Shruti has had solo shows since 1998 with galleries such as Prithvi Gallery, Mumbai, Apparao Galleries, Chennai, Nazar, Baroda and most recently with Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai. Her work has been showcased in several important group exhibitions including galleries in New York, Mumbai, Baroda, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, London and Singapore. She is a visiting faculty at the painting department, MS University, Baroda. Her works have been auctioned for charitable causes and are part of important private collections. Born in 1969 she is based in Baroda.

Sharmi Chowdhury

Sharmi completed BA in painting at Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan in 2003 and MA at the MS University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda in 2005. She’s had solo shows in 2005 at Sarjan Art Gallery, Baroda in 2005 and in January 2008 at Art Alive Gallery, Delhi. She has participated in several group shows including RL Fine Arts, New York in 2007, Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai in 2006, Bengal Artists at Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, 2006; Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi, 2006; Sarjan in 2006, Birla Academy of Art and Culture Annual show, Kolkata in 2003 and 2004; Academy of Fine Arts annual show, Kolkata in 2005. She has also participated in Emerging India organised by Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi at Royal College of Art, London and Singapore Art Fair, Singapore in 2007. She was awarded a scholarship by Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan (1998 - 2003). She is recipient of the Nokia Art Award for painting in 1999 and Camlin Award in 2004. Born in 1974, Kolkata Sharmi is currently based in Baroda.