NYAB Event - Shambhavi Singh "Lonely Furrow"

Shambhavi Singh "Lonely Furrow"

Talwar Gallery

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Talwar Gallery presents Lonely Furrow, an exhibition of new paintings by Shambhavi Singh. This is the artists’ third solo exhibition with Talwar Gallery.

Exploring familiar themes associated with her homeland in Bihar, with this exhibition Shambhavi extends her practice to the tactile medium of cotton pulp, occasionally using palms and fingers to paint vibrant and delicate works. Focusing on the rural landscape and agriculture, the show's title, Lonely Furrow, refers to the solitary vocation of the farmer, who is inextricably linked to the earth yet remains on the fringes of modern life.

Reminiscent of the palm-smoothed walls of mud huts, the vibrant yellow wall relief Griha Ek/Sanctum captures the sentiment of the new body of works, which aim to forge a connection to the earth and one's roots. The cracked wall’s textured surface contains a single rounded niche but absent are the traditional small objects or oil lamps usually occupying the space. These elementary instruments such as wicks and oil lamps do appear in other works as a simple beacon illuminating the struggles of rural life.

The works on view form a poetic narrative in which everything is connected. Enveloped in intense, rich blues free-painted blue pulp works evoke such vast forces of nature as the night sky, turbulent clouds, and the infinite cosmos. In other works, the curving blade of the sickle is repeated and monumentalized in celebration of the primitive tool. The culmination of these elements can be seen in a work titled Beej Brahmaand Do/Cosmic Seeds Dark, in which scattered, dark components at once reminiscent of flower seeds spread over the earth or stars across the sky; signifying growth, harvest, and the interconnectedness of nature.

Shambhavi Singh was born in Patna, Bihar. Her works have been exhibited in India, South Africa, Australia, New York and the Netherlands, where she was associated with the Foundation of Indian Arts, Amsterdam. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting at the College of Fine Arts and Crafts, Patna (1986) and Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from the College of Arts, New Delhi, in 1992. In 2010 Singh was Artist in Residence at Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, where her works were on view in a solo exhibition earlier this year.

Shambhavi Singh lives and works in Delhi, India.