Source: Trib Star

The Grunwald Gallery of Art at Indiana University in Bloomington will present “Messengers,” an exhibition of paintings, sculpture and works on paper by internationally known artist Bharti Kher, beginning on Feb. 23 and continuing through March 23.

The artist will be present the week of Feb. 20 and will be engaged in gallery talks and student critiques. He also will present a public lecture at 5 p.m. on Feb. 23 in room FA015. The opening reception will follow from 6 to 8 p.m.

Kher’s visit to the Indiana University campus is part of “India Remixed: Arts and Humanities in Contemporary Indian Culture.” The global festival is sponsored by the Indiana University Bloomington’s Arts & Humanities Council.

One of India’s most prominent contemporary artists, Kher uses the “medium” of traditional and spermshaped bindis in her practice, whether employed in swirling gestures on works on paper and paintings or employed in her large sculptural works. For Kher, the bindi — the traditional forehead dot worn by Hindu women — symbolizes a complex intersection of religious ritual, domesticity, commodity and aesthetic beauty.

Her art, according to the critic and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, offers “a very relevant negotiation with old India and the present. ... iIt’s a productive tension between tradition and modernity.”

“Messengers” will include several large-scale paintings, in which bindis of different shapes and colors are incorporated into and onto a painted surface. These works utilize a variety of materials, which Kher readily admits is an important aspect of her work. Several of the pieces include media as diverse as wax, wood, cork, glass and mirrors, all in a careful interplay with bindis, one of her signature materials. Sculptural works, and works on paper, in which the artist uses bindis as a mapping device, will also be included, making the exhibition a small but intimate display revealing key aspects of the artist’s focus.

Kher was born in 1969 in London, and educated at Newcastle Polytechnic, receiving a degree in 1991. At 23, she moved to New Delhi, India, where she continues to live and work. She has exhibited in many solo shows worldwide, most recently at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston, the Freud Museum, London, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada, and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth, Australia. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, and she is represented by Hauser & Wirth, worldwide.

The exhibition was made possible by the Arts & Humanities Council, the Grunwald Fund and the School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University. The exhibition and visit also are sponsored by Hauser & Wirth, London, Zürich.

The Grunwald Gallery is at 1201 E. Seventh St. in Bloomington. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment; closed Sunday and Monday. All events are free and open to the public. 

For more details on the School of Art, Architecture + Design and the Grunwald Gallery, visit soaad.indiana.edu or contact Betsy Stirratt at grunwald@indiana.edu or 812-855-8490.