User:Sal108/Ranjani Shettar

Ranjani Shettar is an artist born in 1977 in Bangalore, India where she presently lives and works. In 1998, she received her Bachelors in Sculpture and in 2000, Masters in Sculpture from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore. Shettar creates sculptural installations that combine elements of nature and industry using a range of materials that include, beeswax, sawdust, wood, latex, PVC tubing, silicone rubber, and metal. Ranjani Shettar's work is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has been the focus of several solo exhibitions including The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, MA (2008), The Modern Art Museum , Fort Worth, TX (2008-2009). Shettar's group exhibitions include, Freeing the Line, Marian Goodman Gallery (2006), Zones of Contact, XV Sydney Biennale, Australia (2006), 9th Lyon Biennial, France (2007), and Life on Mars: 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2008).

Works
Ranjani Shettar is best known for her large scale sculptural installations. She uses modern and traditional crafts to sculpt natural and industrial materials to create multidimensional works that bring forth the metaphysical characteristics of existing within a constantly changing physical environment.

In 2009, Shettar created a group of smaller sculptural works. Bird Song is created from muslin and steel with curving, lyrical lines suggesting feathers and flight. The Bird Song sculptures hang like floating musical notes of a melody and resonate with an transient beauty found in nature. In another work, muslin cloths textured like weather worn skin are stretched into five organic forms, each seemingly compliant to a pull that makes known its delicateness with a gentle opening. Waiting for June is composed of small bake terracotta shells that reveal tender cracks that are suggestive of parched earth, poignant yet beautiful.

In Shettar's sculptures and installations, she creates environments that combine the two realms, man and nature, together with graceful and dynamic forms and textures.

Selected Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions

2009

Talwar Gallery, New York, NY, US

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SfMoMA), New Work, San Francisco, CA, US

2008

The Modern Art Museum, FOCUS, Fort Worth, TX, US

Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA), Momentum 10, Boston, MA, US

2007

Talwar Gallery, Epiphanies, New Delhi, India

2006

Talwar Gallery, New York, NY, US

2004

Khoj International, New Delhi, India

Talwar Gallery, Indian Spring, New York, NY, US

Selected Group Exhibitions

2010

Liverpool 10th Biennial, Touched, Liverpool, England

2009

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SfMoMA), Sculpture Garden Inaugural Exhibition, San Francisco, CA, US

2008

Carnegie Museum of Art, Life on Mars: 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA, US Curated by Douglas Fogle

2007

9th Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France Artistic Director Thierry Raspail

8th Sharjah Biennale, Sharjah Artistic Director Jack Persekian

2006

XV Sydney Biennale, Zones of Contact, Sydney, Australia Artistic Director Charles Merewether

Marian Goodman Gallery, Freeing the Line, New York, NY, US Curated by Catherine de Zegher

ARTPACE, Artist in Residence, San Antonio, TX, US Curated by Douglas Fogle

2005

Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts, Transition & Transformation, Amherst, MA, US

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, J'en rêve (Dream on), Paris, France

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Out There, Norwich, UK

Talwar Gallery, (desi)re, New York, NY, US

Wexner Center for the Arts, Landscape Confection, Columbus, Ohio, US Curated by Helen Molesworth

2003

Walker Art Center, How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, Minneapolis, MN, US Curated by Philippe Vergne with Douglas Fogle and Olukemi Ilesanmi

Selected Bibliography
Cotter, Holland. "Ranjani Shettar." The New York Times. 15 January 2010.

Laster, Paul. "Ranjani Shettar." Time Out New York. Dec 2009: 50.

Colpitt, Frances. “Ranjani Shettar.” Art in America. May 2009: 160-1.

Mueller, Kurt. “Ranjani Shettar.” Art Asia Pacific. May/June 2009: 158.

“Twenty Top Shows of 2009.” Artnet. January 2009. 

Eastman, John. “Artists of the 55th Carnegie International: Ranjani Shettar.” Black and White Program. 6 June 2008.

Smith, Roberta. “An Alien Sighting on Planet Pittsburgh.” The New York Times. 9 May 2008.

Jumabhoy, Zehra. “New Delhi: Ranjani Shettar.” Artforum. February 2008: 310.

“…And One for 2008.” Art Asia Pacific Almanac 2008: 109.

“Sublime Visual Melodies.” Matters of Art. August 2007. 

Frankel, David. “Freeing the Line.” Artforum. October 2006: 262.

Martin, Courtney J. “Ranjani Shettar.” Art Asia Pacific. Fall 2006: 123-4.

Cotter, Holland. “Freeing the Line.” The New York Times. 7 July 2006.

Malhotra, Priya. “Ranjani Shettar at Talwar Gallery.” Asian Art News. 2004: 77.

Cotter, Holland. “Ranjani Shettar.” The New York Times. 2 July 2004.

Publications Available
Epiphanies, Essay by Marta Jakimowicz, Talwar Gallery, 2009

Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation, Editors of Phaidon Press, 2009

Freeing the Line, Marian Goodman Gallery, 2006

Transition and Transformation: A. Balasubramaniam and Ranjani Shettar, Essays by Loretta Yarlow and Deepak Talwar, Published by University Gallery, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts, 2005