CV
Vandana Kothari was born in Rajasthan in 1978. Practice, research and teaching Arts have been her main areas of engagement. She is a prolific painter deeply engaged with her artistic endeavour for more than two decades. In her works she looks at the world and the people around her with a sense of lightness of spirit and empathy. Her visual idiom is based on a metamorphosis of drawing and collage which adds flexibility and expressive amplitude to her works.
The artist also works with a variety of other mediums like sculpture, photography and video. Her work was selected for the 60th National Exhibition of Art , Lalit Kala Akademi 2019 and also shortlisted for the Glenfiddich Emerging Artist of the Year 2017.
Since 2014 she has been teaching as a Professor of Art at School of Planning and Architecture (An institute of National Importance), New Delhi. She has also taught various courses on art appreciation at prestigious institutions like IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, M S Univeristy Baroda, University of Rajasthan Jaipur and others.
Artist’s Statement
Broadly my works engage with the ideas of fragmentation, dislocation, gender, representation and identity. The diverse experiences that I have gathered after staying in different places like the countryside setting of Tagore’s Santiniketan, the laid back artist’s city like Vadodara, the overtly clinical landscape inside IIT campus in Kanpur , the city of turmoil and hullabaloo like Delhi and the glass and steel city of Gurgaon all adds a new dimension to my work.
I look at art as a practice, a process which is layered and open-ended. The style of my work is hybrid and ephemeral and my main intention is to create artworks that will generate varied responses from the viewer depending on his or her personal experience/understanding of art.
Education
1995 -1999
Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (Painting), Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Rajasthan Jaipur
1999 -2002
Master’s in Fine Arts (History of Art), Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati Santiniketan
Awards & Fellowships
2017
WADe India Artist Award 2017
2016
Artreach India Teaching Fellowship 2016-17
Honourable Mention Award, 29th NECA, SCZCC Nagpur
2002
Junior Research Fellowship Visual Arts, University Grants Commission, New Delhi
SOLO Exhibitions
April 2021 - ' Memory Stations'
In collaboration with Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi ( Online )
March 2021 - ' City of Illusions'
In collaboration with Anant Art Gallery
Selected Exhibitions
2019
60th NEA, National Gallery of Modern Art Mumbai, March 2019
2018
Stories from life and time, AMPAS gallery, New Delhi
2017
Artreach Festival, Bikaner House New Delhi 2017
Boxes in the Courtyard, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
Glenfiddich EAY 2017 Bestcollegeart.com gallery, New Delhi
2016
Tat, Tvam, Asi, Hai-Thou-Art, IGNCA, New Delhi
29th NECA State art gallery, Hyderabad
2014 White: Paper - Decoding Memory, Art Konsult, New Delhi
2013 I-Arts gallery, Toronto, Canada
2012
India Art Fair, New Delhi,
United Art Fair, Pragati maidan, New Delhi
Priyasri Artist Studio, Baroda and Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai
The Dramatics of Diverse Interpretations/Perspectives, Art Konsult Gallery, New Delhi
2011
Emerging Contemporary and the Master – Art Bull Autumn Auction, New Delhi
21 Emerging Artists, Lalit Kala Akademi, Ahemdabad
2010
Purvaa L&P Hutheesingh Visual Art Centre, Ahemdabad
Trends in Contemporary Art 2010, Fine Arts Faculty, MSU, Vadodara
Commission Project
2009 Shilpi Hill Resort, Saputara, Gujarat
Talks, Presentations and Panel discussions
2017
Hidden Narratives presentation at Roadhouse Café, Delhi
2016
Workshop/Discussion Ordinariness of Things at Gallery AAA, New Delhi.
2013
The Art of Looking Sideways – The Artist & the Studio, presentation at IIT Kanpur
2010
Colloquium on Art &Life at Santiniketan Society of Visual Arts, Santiniketan
Panel discussion Disorder, Discontent and Democratization of Art, MSU Vadodara.
2004
Trends in Modern Western Art presentation at IICG, Jaipur
Association with Artist studios and groups:
2012
SPACE Artist Studio, Vadodara
2010-2011
BANYAN Artist Studio, Vadodara
1999-2002
Member Khoj Kalakar Samooh, Jaipur
Languages Known:
Marwari, Hindi, English,
Gujarati & Bengali.
