Jayanthi Moorthy “Limitlessness”
A.I.R. Gallery
[Image: © Jayanthi Moorthy "Fishing 1" (2016) Archival pigment print, 20 x 30 in.]
This event has ended.
Limitlessness an exhibition by Jayanthi Moorthy, which features a selection of multimedia works created between 2015-2017. The exhibition is comprised by a site-specific video installation, a site-specific participatory installation, paintings, and archival pigment prints.
Limitlessness aims to create an environment for self exploration. In this exhibition, Moorthy shares her own journey of introspection while looking at various limitations in her life. Understanding these limitations helped her think about the infinite, addressing it empowered her to pursue new passions and enduring it taught her to embrace reality.
The components of the exhibition attest aspects of this journey and invites the viewer to be a part of it. The artwork Fishing 1, highlights the fact that we can find infinite possibilities around us. The participatory installation What’s Your Worst Fear? generates a meditative space and asks the audience to identify, understand and reflect on the limits that fear enforces on them. In contrast Groovy Train, a video installation, shows how limits manifest in our daily lives.
Jayanthi Moorthy’s practice explores various aspects of personal and cultural identity, and their contemporary interpretations. She derives inspiration from ritual practices and philosophies from eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, which manifest in the themes that underlie her work, her choice of materials and method of drawing and painting. Ritual guides her practice of re-drawing and using repeated lines and/or texts in her drawings and paintings. Moorthy uses ephemeral materials such as rice flour, sand, and spices in her drawings and installations. The drawings are made on the floor; abstract and intuitive. Some of these drawings are photographed to make digital prints or are combined with digital projections in installations. In her paintings she squeezes blobs of acrylic paint on linen and canvas into repeated lines that acquire the tactile quality of thick woven threads. All these are complemented by community driven participatory installations that enable viewers to take part in a dialogue with the artist.
Moorthy immigrated from India in 2004 and now lives and works in New York. Moorthy is predominantly a self-taught artist and has studied professional courses at The Arts Students League and MoMA. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Art Education and Community Practice at NYU. Moorthy’s solo exhibitions include, Brown University (RI), OED Gallery (India), DUMBO Arts Festival (New York); A.I.R. Gallery, (New York); Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, (New York). She was recently awarded to participate in NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Program (New York) and won a Creative Engagement Grant from LMCC for her community project Art Fast. Apart from maintaining an active art practice, Moorthy works as an art educator at Abron Arts Center, NYC; is a freelance graphic designer; and an involved member of A.I.R. Gallery.
Media
Schedule
from June 29, 2017 to July 30, 2017
DUMBO's First Thursday Art Walk: Thursday, July 6, 6-8pm
Opening Reception on 2017-06-30 from 18:00 to 20:00