Shantamanis body of work is generally preoccupied by fragmentation. With her latest pieces Shantamani goes a step further: from fragmentation to disintegration. Charcoal is the last stage before ashes. Just before turning to dust, the wood of the tree still bears the imprint of the plant, its trace memory. Through oxidation by fire it continues interacting with the world one last time before consuming itself into flames.
It is a metaphor of lingering material manifestations. Shantamani has made rustic charcoal into an allegory of the passage between being and non-being. She denounces the modern myth of eternal youth in a world where all is good. Charcoal bricks map the splintering and reassembling
of the tree of life into coagulated living-dead entities. Like ghosts, through their tragic example, they stay just long enough to sound their warning. There is a mystery inherent in her work: are we witnesses poised before or after a major cataclysm? In the face of such disquieting stillness and disorienting anguish, we are hard up to say whether a calamity has already taken place or if it is about to strike.
place & year of birth
1967 in Mysore, India
featured galleries
_
education
Paper making Course in Glasgow, Scotland
Master of Arts (fine) in painting from M.S. University, Baroda
Bachelor of Fine Arts – in Painting at CAVA, Mysore
solo exhibitions
2008
Exhibition of installations “Frozen Phoenix”, Sumukha Bangalore
2007
Exhibition of Painting and Body cast “Silent Speak” Chemould Presscott Mumbai
Exhibition of Painting “Gestures Speak” at Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore, Chennai
2003
Exhibition of Painted installations at Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore
group exhibitions
2009
“Home” Curated by Anupa Mehta for Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi
2007
Exhibition/ auction by “Akshara”, New Delhi
2006
Participated in Show curated by Prof . Prem Singh for Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi, in Sri Lanka
Participated in Gallery Sumukha group show, London
2005
Participated in Gallery Sumukha Opening show
Participated in “Turning wheel”-Tradition unbound Curated by Dr. Alka Pande, India Habitat
Center, New Delhi
Participated in “I me myself” show Curated by Mr.Suresh Jayram, Kashi Café, Cochin.
awards
2006-2008
National Junior Felowship from Ministry of Tourism and CultureNew Delhi
2004
Charles Wallace Scholarship to work in Glasgow, UK
It is a metaphor of lingering material manifestations. Shantamani has made rustic charcoal into an allegory of the passage between being and non-being. She denounces the modern myth of eternal youth in a world where all is good. Charcoal bricks map the splintering and reassembling
of the tree of life into coagulated living-dead entities. Like ghosts, through their tragic example, they stay just long enough to sound their warning. There is a mystery inherent in her work: are we witnesses poised before or after a major cataclysm? In the face of such disquieting stillness and disorienting anguish, we are hard up to say whether a calamity has already taken place or if it is about to strike.
place & year of birth
1967 in Mysore, India
featured galleries
_
education
Paper making Course in Glasgow, Scotland
Master of Arts (fine) in painting from M.S. University, Baroda
Bachelor of Fine Arts – in Painting at CAVA, Mysore
solo exhibitions
2008
Exhibition of installations “Frozen Phoenix”, Sumukha Bangalore
2007
Exhibition of Painting and Body cast “Silent Speak” Chemould Presscott Mumbai
Exhibition of Painting “Gestures Speak” at Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore, Chennai
2003
Exhibition of Painted installations at Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore
group exhibitions
2009
“Home” Curated by Anupa Mehta for Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi
2007
Exhibition/ auction by “Akshara”, New Delhi
2006
Participated in Show curated by Prof . Prem Singh for Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi, in Sri Lanka
Participated in Gallery Sumukha group show, London
2005
Participated in Gallery Sumukha Opening show
Participated in “Turning wheel”-Tradition unbound Curated by Dr. Alka Pande, India Habitat
Center, New Delhi
Participated in “I me myself” show Curated by Mr.Suresh Jayram, Kashi Café, Cochin.
awards
2006-2008
National Junior Felowship from Ministry of Tourism and CultureNew Delhi
2004
Charles Wallace Scholarship to work in Glasgow, UK
