AAKASH NIHALANI
Born in 1986 in Queens, NY
Aakash Nihalani’s sculpture, painting, and street art playfully transform environments, creating the illusion of 3D geometric platforms and objects. His work has been exhibited internationally and featured in a number of publications including The New York Times, The Times of India, Vogue India, ARTINFO and The Huffington Post. His corporate commissions include brands such as AOL, Facebook, Lacoste, Rag + Bone, William Sonoma and more.
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
Education
2008 BFA from Steinhardt School, New York University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013 Aarranged - Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
Islands - Signal Gallery, Brooklyn
Portal - Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York
2011 Aalign - Seven Art Limited, New Delhi
2010 Overlap - Bose Pacia, Brooklyn
On & Off (Often On) - Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles
2009 Tape & Mirrors - Eastern District Gallery, Brooklyn
2008 Aakash Nihalani - Bose Pacia + 17 Frost, Brooklyn
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 Ebb & Flow – Cheryl Hazan Contemporary Art, New York
2012 Modern Salon – Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
Space::Form - Breeze Block Gallery, Portland
Matter - Galerie Romain Rolland, New Delhi
Yue Minjun, Mark Jenkins, Aakash Nihalani - Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles
2011 After the Rain - Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles
2010 Booked - Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles
Re-Creation II - Carmichael Gallery + Ogilvy & Mather, New York
2009 Paraphrase - Arario Gallery, New York
Joyride - Anonymous Gallery, New York
2008 Piece Process - Anonymous Gallery, New York
ABDULLAH M. I. SYED
Artist Abdullah M. I. Syed was born in Karachi, Pakistan and presently works between Karachi and Sydney, Australia. Syed’s artwork utilizes a variety of mediums and techniques to communicate complex political ideas. This includes print screening and the shadow play produced with dollar bills and razorblades. His political commentary tackles controversial topics such as the War on Terror, immigration, and Western attitudes towards the East. He participated in the Britto artists’ workshop and an artist residency at Cicada Press. He has also co-curated exhibitions, notably Michael Esson: A Survey of Drawing, Michael Kempson: A Survey of Prints, Aboriginal Dreams and Let’s Draw the Line in Karachi, Pakistan. As a designer he co-coordinated the Design Department at the University of Karachi as well as lectured there and at UCO in the United States. He is currently completing his Ph. D at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia.
Education
1999 B.F.A. (Major in Painting, Minor in Sculpting), Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan
2001 M.Ed.University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), USA
2009 MFA. From at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), UNSW, Sydney
2012- present PhD in Fine Arts practice at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), UNSW, Sydney
Select Solo Exhibition
2013 Brut-Nama (The Chronicles of Brut), Aicon Gallery, New York
2010 Buzzing (Bhin-bhenahut), V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan 2009 Buzzing, Kudos Gallery and COFA Space, Sydney, Australia 2007 Born to Be, V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi 2004 Subliminal Voids, V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi 2001 Threading: Part Known, Part Unknown, Galleria Sadequain, Karachi
Select Group Exhibitions
2012 Stop, Play, Pause, Repeat Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai
Méré Humd(r)um, Aicon Gallery, New York
2011 A Whole New World, Third Party Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
The Sound of Drawing, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Dalian, China MOVIE NIGHT VOL. 4: GLOBAL HOUSE VIDEO SCREENINGS KUNSTHALLE GWANGJU, Curated by the 3rd Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course, 13 Gwangsan-dong Dong-gu, Gwangju, Republic of Korea - Traveling exhibition
Messages from the South: Contemporary Australian Prints from CICADA Press, COFA UNSW, International Exhibition Hall, Art Museum of National Taiwan University of Arts, New Taipei City, Taiwan
And nothing but the truth: The problem with Parrhesia, IVS gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Whitewash: Site Specific Drawing Project, Gandhara Art, Karachi, Pakistan
Imigi(ni)ng Cities: A South-South Dialogue, Amin Gulgee gallery, Karachi – Traveling exhibition 2010 The Rising Tide: Contemporary Art of Pakistan from 1990 to 2010, Mohatta Palace Museum, Blacktown Art Prize: Blacktown Art Centre, Sydney, Australia
Tim Olson Drawing Prize, Kudos Gallery, Sydney, Australia Resemble Reassemble: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, India 2009 Moving Images, Poppy Seed, Karachi, Pakistan Figure of Speech, Two person Exhibition (Cicada Residency), Chawkandi Art, Karachi, Pakistan India Art Summit (India’s Modern and Contemporary Art Fair), New Delhi, India How Nations are Made, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK No Honor in Killing: Making Visible Buried Truth, National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
Lines of Control, V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Bushwhacked, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia Place, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India 2008 Simply Paper, IVS Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan Let’s Draw the Line, Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan 2007 Dislocation, Kudos Gallery, Sydney, Australia Draw Your Soul Project, Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland, UK Moving Ahead, (Inaugural Exhibition), National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan Sohni Dharti, Karachi Arts Council, Karachi, Pakistan
2006 3rd ASNA Clay Triennial, International, Karachi, Pakistan
256 Shades, V M Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
6/6: The Labyrinth, V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2005 Something Purple: Media Art From Pakistan, Artist Commune, Hong Kong, China
Two Person Ceramic Sculptures Exhibition, Ripples series, Khaas Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan 1st M A Rangoonwala Visual Arts Award Exhibition, V M Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2003 Edge Art Now, IAO Gallery, Oklahoma City, USA
2001-02 UCO Art & Design Faculty Show, Central Museum Of Art, Edmond, Oklahoma, USA 2002 Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still, Stage Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Awards & Honors
2011 Celeste Art Prize, (catalogue selection), New York
2010 Blacktown Art Prize (Winner - Works on Paper), Blacktown Art Centre, Sydney
Tim Olson Drawing Prize (First Runners Up), Kudos gallery, Sydney
2009 UIPA - UNSW Postgraduate Scholarship (PhD), University of New South Wales, Sydney
2006 COFA’s Senior Artist from Asia Scholarship, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2003 Installation Artist Award, Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO), Oklahoma
2002 New Artist in Mixed Media Award, Individual Artists of Oklahoma (IAO), Oklahoma
1999 The Kennedy Center/ACTF XXXII, Program & Poster, Award of Excellence, Dallas, Texas
Publications
2010 One Stone at a Time - Australian Art in Karachi, Imprint, Winter/June Issue, Print Council of Australia, Sydney
Seen | Unseen, Collaborative Catalogue essay with Roohi Ahmed, Survey of Prints by Michael Kempson, V M Art Gallery, Karachi – pg 4-12
Where All the Butterflies Go, Catalogue essay, Survey of Drawings by Michael Esson, V M Art Gallery, Karachi, pg 4-10
Residencies
2011-12 Blacktown Studio’s Artist in Residence, Sydney, Australia
2008-09 Cicada Press Residency, College of Fine Arts, Sydney, Australia
ADEELA SULEMAN
Born 1970 in Karachi, Pakistan
The mainstay of Suleman’s artistry explores a series of dichotomies that point to the fragile and fleeting ephemerality of life. By juxtaposing her intricate – initially pastoralized scenes as rendered in the filigree tradition of Islamic art – against the hard, formidable qualities of the stainless steel medium, Suleman’s sculpture is reminiscent of the precarious nature of the human condition inherent in the flux of societies.
The recurring motifs in Suleman’s work—organic subjects such as birds and flowers—form detailed, repetitive patterns, which are replete with symbolic meaning. Abstracted notions of loss and disappearance quietly resonate through her sculptures. In lieu of tombs, memorials and funerals, the works confront our earthly fears, but remain suggestive of transcendental relief. They may be seen simultaneously as symbolic representations of the coexistence between love of nature and the chaos of man, in addition to the fragmented documentaries referencing recent violent and catastrophic occurrences within the artist’s sociopolitical landscape.
Adeela Suleman studied Sculpture at the Indus Valley School of Art and completed a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Karachi. She is currently the Coordinator of Vasl Artists’ Collective in Karachi, in addition to being Associate Professor and Head of the Fine Art Department at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. Suleman has participated extensively with group and solo exhibitions worldwide, including Phantoms of Asia at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, the 2013 Asian Art Biennial at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Hanging Fire – Contemporary Art from Pakistan at The Asia Society, New York; Gallery Rohtas 2, Lahore; Canvas Gallery, Karachi; Aicon Gallery, New York; and, the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Bologna, Italy (2008). Reviews and features of work appear in Artforum and the New York Times, among other publications. The artist lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan.
The artist lives and works in Karachi, Pakistan.
Education
1999 MA in International Relations, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
1995 BFA in Sculpture with Distinction, Indus Valley School of Art &Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan
Select Solo Exhibitions
2014 Towards the End, Aicon Gallery, New York, U.S.
2013 Impulse, Aicon Gallery Booth I-5 at Pulse Art Fair, New York, U.S.
2012 I had no choice but to hear you, Alberto Peola Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy
I had no choice but to hear you, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2011 Recent Works, Aicon Gallery, London, in conjunction with site-specific sculpture
Drained (2011), for the Manchester Cathedral as part of Asia Triennial Manchester, U.K.
2010 After All It’s Always Somebody Else…, Aicon Gallery, New York, U.S.
2009 Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2008 Uncertainty, Rohtas 2, Lahore, Pakistan
Preview at Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2007 Confinement, Commune Artist Colony, Karachi, Pakistan
Select Group Exhibitions
2013 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan
Art Dubai, Aicon Gallery Booth A-46, Dubai, UAE
India Art Fair, Aicon Gallery Booth B-3, New Delhi, India
2012 Phantom of Asia, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, U.S.
Band Baaja Baarat, IVS Gallery, Dubai Art Fair, Dubai, UAE
Indian Art Summit, New Delhi, India
Mein – the Artist and the Self, Koel Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2011 Reprise, Aicon Gallery, New York, U.S.
Asia Triennial Manchester 11, Manchester Cathedral, U.K.
Home Spun, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, India
Group Show, Drawing Room Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Mad in Karachi 3D, Art Chowk Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2010 Rising Tide, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi, Pakistan
In Defisa, Fondazione 107, Torino, Itlay
Svelando l’Utopia, Alberto Peola Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy
Resemble Reassemble, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, India
2009 Failing States: Recent works by Tazeen Qayyum, Aicon Gallery, London, U.K.
Steel Life, La Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Asia Society, New York, U.S.
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Dress, Politics and Identity in Contemporary Pakistani Art, Talwar Gallery, New York, U.S.
Signs taken for Wonders: Recent Art from India and Pakistan, Aicon, London , U.K.
2008 Farida Batool, Adeela Suleman and Tazeen Qayyum, Aicon Gallery, New York
Tradition, Technique, Technology – II; Contemporary artists from Pakistan
Featuring Farida Batool, Ayaz Jokhio and Adeela Suleman, Aicon, Palo Alto, U.S.
Video Loop 08’, Barcelona, Spain
Fiera Internazionale d'Arte Contemparanea International Exhibition of Contemporary Art-Bologna, Italy
Women of Light, Galerie Davide Gallo, Berlin, Germany
2007 Preview Berlin, The emerging art fair, Berlin, Germany
An Intensity of Space & Substance, National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
Love, National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
Articulating the Subtext, Alliance Francaise, Karachi, Pakistan
2006 Flights of Fancy, Royaat Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Body, Amin Gulgee Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Calligraphy, Amin Gulgee Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2005 Urban/Culture, CP Open Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia
Beyond Borders, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
2004 Spielen mit Geladenem Gewehr (Playing with the loaded gun), Kunsthalle Fridericianum Kassel, Germany
2003 Twenty-four Shots per second, Kara Film Fest, Karachi, Pakistan
43rd Premio Suzzara, Associazione Galleria Del Premio Suzzara, Italy
Playing with the loaded Gun, Apex Art, New York
Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2002 Imagined Workshop, Second Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka, Japan
2001 The Thakhti Show, Freer Hall, Karachi, Pakistan
2000 Art Festival: Urban Voices, Karachi, Pakistan
CHIRAAG BHAKTA
Born in New Jersey
Chiraag Bhakta is an artist that also works under the name *Pardon My Hindi. He works in various mediums, but each project starts with collecting objects and ephemera from various times and environments building upon a theme. His work primarily examines the myths and realities of South Asian American experiences. The duality is a consistent theme in his work.
He was raised in an independent motel on a New Jersey freeway by immigrant parents from India.
Lives and works in San Francisco
Selected Shows
2014 Beyond Bollywood, Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
#WhitePeopleDoingYoga, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
2013 The Tin Project, Whitney Museum, New York
CHITRA GANESH
Born in 1975 in Brooklyn, NY
Education
2002 MFA Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York, NY
2001 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
1996 BA Art-semiotics and Comparative Literature, Brown University, Providence, RI
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Chitra Ganesh: Time’s Eye, Sackler Galleries, Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY
Drawing from the present…, Lakereen Gallery, Mumbai, India
Secrets Told: Index of the Disappeared, New York University
multi-site installation across A/P/A Galleries Kimmel Center, & Kevorkian Building, NY
2013 A Zebra Among Horses, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
Chitra Ganesh, Twelve Gates Gallery, Philadelphia
Her Nuclear Waters…., Socrates Sculpture Park Billboard Series, NY
2012 Flickering Myths, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco (catalog)
She, the Question, curated by Stina Edblom, Gotenburg Kunsthalle, Sweden
The Ghost Effect in Real Time, Jack Tilton Gallery, NY
2011 The Strangling Power of Dust and Stars, Nature Morte, Berlin
Word of God(ess):Chitra Ganesh, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
2009 The Ocean Beneath, Chatterjee and Lal, Mumbai, India
On Site 2: Her Silhouette Returns, PS1/MOMA, organized by Klaus Biesenbach
Chitra Ganesh,FIAC solo presentation, with Haas & Fischer, Paris
2007 Upon Her Precipice, Thomas Erben, NY
Chitra Ganesh, Haas & Fischer, Zurich, Switzerland
2005 1 x 1, Artist Commissions, Jersey City Museum, NJ
Written on Wind and Water, Goliath Visual Space, Brooklyn, NY
2003 Her Secret Missions, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY (catalog)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 On Paper: Alternate Realities, Baltimore Museum of Art
Durham Press: Polly Apfelbaum, Chitra Ganesh, Beatriz Milhazes, Mickalene Thomas International Print Center, Philadelphia
25 Years of Drawing: Gallery Espace, Indira Gandhi National Arts Centre, New Delhi
After Our Bodies Meet, Leslie Lohman Museum, NY
Initial Public Offering: Recent Acquisitions, San Jose Museum of Art
2013 Reading List: Artists’ Selections from the MoMA Library Collection, Cullman Education and Research Building, Museum of Modern Art
MicroCities: Incube Arts inToAsia TBA Festival, Queens Museum of Art & Stephan Stoyanov Gallery , NY
Splintering Signals: Chitra Ganesh & Nitin Mukul, Augusta Savage Gallery,
University of Massachusetts Amherst
2012 Radical Presence, organized by Valerie Cassell-Oliver, Contemporary Arts Museum of
Pose / Re-pose: Figurative Works then & now, SCAD Museum, GA
EVERY EXIT IS AN ENTRANCE: 30 Years of Exit Art, Exit Art, NY
P28 Public Billboard Project, Lisboa and Porto, Portugal
2011 And the Falchion passed through his neck, Latitude 28, New Delhi
India is Now…., curated by Laura Schleussner, Kunstverein Göttingen, Germany
Tradition, Trauma, Transformation, David Winton Bell Gallery List Arts Center, Brown University, Providence RI
Futures of the Past, curated Gayatri Sinha, Quddus Mirza, Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai
2010 Divine Horsemen: Chitra Ganesh & Simone Leigh, curated by LoToya Ruby Frazier
Mason Gross Gallery, Rutgers University, NJ
Bunny Redux, curated by Eric Shiner, Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
Empire Strikes Back, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (catalog)
The Art of War: Index of the Disappeared, with Mariam Ghani, CEPA, Buffalo, NY
No more bad girls? UNpossessing Femininity, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, traveling to Stiftelsen Bryggen, Norway
2009 Harlem Postcards, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
Anomalies, curated by Jaishri Rossi and Rossi, London (catalog)
India Moderna, IVAM Museum, Valencia, Spain (catalog)
Transitional Aesthetics, Beijing 798 Biennial, Longmarch Space, Beijing
2008 Everywhere is War (and rumours of war), curated by Shaheen Merali, Bodhi Art,
Mumbai, India
Democracy in America: Codes of Conduct, with Mariam Ghani, A Creative Time project curated by Nato Thompson, Park Avenue Armory, NY
Pandora’s Box, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Ontario (catalog)
2007 Contemporary Indian Art Between Continuity and Transformation, Spazio Oberdan, Milan
25 Years Later…, Art in General 25th Anniversary Exhibition, at UBS Galleries, NY,
curated by Sofia Hernandez
Sex in the City, Dumbo Arts Center, New York, curated by Dean Daderko
Thermocline of Art, ZKM Gallery, Karlsruhe, Germany, curated by Wonil Rhee, (catalog)
Spectral Evidence curated by Steven Lam, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 What War? Cur Eleanor Heartney, Larry Litt, and Juan Puntes, White Box, NY
Deuces ex Machina, curated by Momenta Art, Market Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
One Way or Another, curated by Melissa Chiu, Asia Society NY (catalog)
Traveling to Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston,
Berkeley Museum,University of California, CA , Japanese American National
Museum, Los Angeles, Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts, HI
Subcontingent: the Subcontinent in Contemporary Art Cur. Ilaria Bonacosa & Francesco
Manacorda. Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, IT (catalog)
Papering, curated by Sofia Hernandez & Holly Block, Deutsche Bank Galleries, NY
Nicola Durvasula, Chitra Ganesh, Tejal Shah, Thomas Erben Gallery, NY
2005 The Gift: Building a Collection, curated by Hitomi Iwasaki, Queens Museum of Art, NY
Cities, Art, Recovery, curated by Erin Donnelly, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Swing Space NY
739 feet running wall, Gwangju Contemporary Art Museum, Gwangju, Korea (catalog)
Fatal Love, Queens Museum of Art, NY (catalog)
2004 Pilot 01, Limehouse Town Hall, London, UK (catalog)
NextNextArt, curated by Dan Cameron, Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY
Six Feet Under, curated by Melissa Chiu, White Box, NY
Treasure Maps, Curated Janine Antoni, Apex Art, NY & ArtSpace, New Haven, CT
2003 Through Customs, curated by Shamim Momin and Raina Lampkins-Fielder, Bose Pacia, NY
Artists in The Marketplace Annual Exhibition, Bronx Museum of Art, NY (catalog)
Theory of Relative Power, Curated Franklin Sirmans, Abrons Art Gallery, NY
637 Feet of Running Wall, Curated Valerie Smith and Tom Finkelpearl, Queens Museum of Art, NY
2002 Queer Visualities, curated by Carl Pope and Jonathan Katz, Staller Art Center,
Stonybrook Univ, NY
Charlie, curated by Maurizio Cattelan, Ali Subotnik, and Bettina Funcke, PS 1, NY (catalog)
2001 Crossing the Line, curated Valerie Smith, Queens Museum of Art, NY
Shaken and Stirred, curated Rina Banerjee and Barbara Hunt,
Bose Pacia Modern Gallery, NY
AlieNation, Quay Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Awards
2014 Kirloskar Visiting Scholar Program, Rhode Island School of Design
2013 Artist in Residence, New York University A/P/A Institute, with Index of the Disappeared
Visiting Faculty, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Transparent Studio Residency Bose Pacia/+91 Foundation, Brooklyn
2012 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in the Creative Arts
Timehri Award for Leadership in the Arts, Presented by Aljira, A Center For the Arts
2010 Art Matters Foundation Grant
Lower East Side Printshop Special Editions Residency
Hermitage Artist Center Residency
2009 New York Foundation for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship
Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions
2008 mack Mellon Studio Residency
2007 Art Omi International Artists’ Residency
2006 New York Community Trust
2005 Emerge 7, Aljira Center for Arts
Artists’ Alliance Rotating Studio Program
New York Foundation for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship, Gregory Millard Fellow
Headlands Center for the Art Project Space
2004 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Grant
Astraea Visual Arts Award
2002 Bronx Museum Artist in the Marketplace Program
Henry Street Settlement Abrons Arts Residency
2001 College Art Association Professional Development Fellowship
2000 Columbia University Dean’s Fellowship
HIMANSHU SURI
Born in 1985 in Queens, NY
Himanshu Kumar Suri, better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper from Queens, New York. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedhead Music, an independent record label. In 2012, Suri released his first solo mixtape, Nehru Jackets, on his Greedhead imprint and in conjunction with SEVA NY, a community-based organization from Queens of which Suri is a board member. Suri has also written about music and all things South Asian for the Village Voice, Death and Taxes magazine, Fuse, Stereogum and Alternet
Education
Attended Wesleyan University where he studied economics.
Studio albums
2015 Eat Pray Thug (2015)
Mixtapes
2012 Nehru Jackets (2012)
Wild Water Kingdom (2012)
Guest appearances
2014 Maffew Ragazino - "Jackson Pollock" from Brownsville's Jesus
Antwon - "KLF ELF" from Heavy Hearted in Doldrums
Meyhem Lauren & Buckwild - "Narcotics Anonymous" from Silk Pyramids
Vampire Weekend - "Step (Wintertime Remix)"
2013 Hot Sugar - "56K" from Midi Murder
Hot Sugar - "Born 2" from Made Man
Misteur Valaire - "Life Gets Brutal" from Bellevue Avenue
2012 Meyhem Lauren - "Special Effects" and "Juevos Rancheros"
Meyhem Lauren - "Carvel" from Mandatory Brunch Meetings
Weekend Money - "Yellow" from Naked City
MARK HEWKO
Back in early 2006, artist Chiraag Bhakta teamed up with photographer Mark Hewko to photograph motels run by Indian Americans across the United States. The photos here are part of an ongoing series known as the Arch Motel Project, each capturing the dualities of two cultures in a distinctive small-town American setting.
Mark Hewko is a photographer specializing in documentary photography and photojournalism. He has covered stories from Lakota Indians on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to independent motels owned by Indian-Americans in the U.S. to Ukrainian-Americans in the anthracite coal region of Eastern Pennsylvania. His work has appeared in numerous U.S. publications such as the Village Voice and has been exhibited throughout New York City and Washington DC.
In 2014, a portion of photographs from the Arch Motel Project were included in the 'Beyond Bollywood' exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and will travel throughout the U.S. for the next 5 years.
Awards
2013 ‘Travel Portrait’ winner in Photo District News magazine
2009 ‘People Portrait’ finalist for Masters Cup of Photography
RANBIR KALEKA
Born in 1953 in Patiala, Punjab, India
Lives and works in Delhi, India
Education
1970-75Five Year Diploma in Painting, College of Art, Punjab University, Chandigarh
1985-87 M.A. Painting, Royal College of Art, London Charles Wallace Scholarship
Solo Exhibitions
2012 Volte Gallery & Saffron Art Gallery, ‘Ranbir Kaleka “Fables”, Delhi
2010 Volte Gallery, ‘Sweet Unease’, Mumbai
2009 Bose Pacia Gallery, ‘Reading Man’, New York
2008 Bose Pacia Gallery, ‘Fables from the House of Ibaan: stage - I’, New York
2007 Spertus Museum, ‘Consider’, Multi-media installation commissioned for permanent display, Chicago
2005 Bose Pacia Gallery, ‘Crossings’, New York
1995 ArtToday Gallery, New Delhi, India
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012 Volte Gallery, ‘Your Name is different there’, Mumbai
Art Stage Singapore, Special Project, Singapore
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, ‘Deconstructing India’, Isreal
Lalit Kala Regional Centre, ‘To Let the World In: Narrative and Beyond in Contemporary Indian Art’, Chennai, India
2011 Guangdon Museum, ‘Back to Basics”, 4th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
Pearl Lam Fine Art, ‘Window in the Wall: India and China – Imaginary Conversations’, Shanghai, China
Latitude 28 ‘In the Illusion of Each Day’, Delhi, India
MediaArtLab, Expanded Cinema, Moscow
Prague Biennale 5, Prague BIennale Photo 2, ‘Crossroads: India Escalate’, Prague, Czech Republic
2010 MOCA Taipei, ‘Finding India, Art for the New Century’, Teipei, Taiwan
Sakshi Annual Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan
Hong Kong Art Fair, represented by Sakshi Gallery, Hong Kong
Arario Gallery, ‘Weight of Floating Time’, Cheonan, Korea, Seoul
Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art), ‘Delhi’, New Delhi
2009 National Museum of Contemporary Art, ‘Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art’, KoreaMori Art Musuem, ‘Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art’, Toyko, Japan
IVAM - Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, ‘India Moderna’, Valencia, Spain
Birla Academy of Art and Culture, ‘Astonishment of Being’, Kolkata
2008 16th Biennale of Sydney, Revolutions-Forms That Turn, Sydney, Australia.
Mori Art Museum, ‘Chalo! India - A New Era of Indian Art’, Tokyo, (tour: National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; 2009: ESSL Museum, Vienna, Austria)
Asian Contemporary Art Fair, New York, ‘Simulasian: Refiguring “Asia” for the 21st Century’, New York
Soulflower Gallery, ‘The Ethics of Encounter’, Bangkok, Thailand
2007 Kunstmuseum Bern, ‘Horn Please - The Narrative in Contemporary Indian Art’, Switzerland
Hangar Bicocca, spazio d’arte contemporanea, ‘Urban Manners’, Milan
Chicago Cultural Institute, ‘New Narratives - Contemporary Art from India’, Chicago, (toured: Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, N.Brunswick, New Jersey)
2006 Art Basel, ‘Art Video Lounge’, curated show by Michael Rush, Maimi Beach
Arario Gallery, ‘Hungry God’, Beijing, China, (Museum of Modern Art, Busan, Korea; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto)
National Gallery of Modern Art, ‘Edge of Desire’, New Delhi, (toured: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, , California)
2005 Venice Biennale, ‘iCon - India Contemporary’, Venice, Italy
Lalit Kala Akademi, Golden Jubilee, New Delhi
Osians, ‘Revisualising India’, New Delhi
Gallery ArtsIndia, ‘Herwitz 100’, New York
2004 Residency at Sally & Don Lucas Artists Programs, Montalvo Arts Center, California
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Anges ‘LA FREEWAVES 9th Biennial Festival of Film, Video and New Media - How Can You Resist?’ Geffen Contemporary, LosAngles
The Art Gallery Of Western Australia, ‘Edge Desire’, Perth, Australia
Sakshi Gallery, ‘After Dark’, Mumbai
2003 10th Biennial of Moving Images, Centre for Contemporary Images, Saint-Gervais, Genéve, Switzerland
Nation Museum of Modern Art, ‘diVERGE’, Mumbai
House of World Culture, ‘BODY•CITY, Siting Contemporary Culture in India’, Berlin, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Merida, ‘Interactive A03’, Biennale for New Media Art, Yucatan, Mexico
2002 KHOJ, International Workshop in Mysore, India
Kunsthalle Wien, ‘Kapital & Karma’, Vienna
Apeeyay Media Gallery, ‘Private Mythologies - Sound and video works of the personal and the political’, New Delhi
2001 Art Today, ‘Rare and Unusual Paintings’, New Delhi
2000 Alliance Francaise, ‘Silen TV video lounge’, (with Michel Mallard, Olivier Reneau & Denis Chevalier), New Delhi
Public Art Project, ‘Images for a Hundred Lamp Posts’, Ealing, London
Indo-Austrian Art Projects in Public Space, ‘Boxwallahs’, The DeEgo-Cube, Gurgaon, Haryana
1999 Expo 2000, artistic consultant, Basic Needs Pavilion, Hannover Germany
British Council, ‘Edge of the Century’, New Delhi
1998 Public mural for Thames Trains at Southall Station, London commission - Ealing and the European, Union Fund
1997 Open Drawing Competition Exhibition, Cheltenham and North England
1996 Smith Jariwala Gallery, ‘Indian Winter’, London
Pitshanger Manor Gallery, ‘First Sight’, London
1994 Royal Academy, ‘Summer Exhibition’, invited Artist, London
Gallery Espace, ‘Drawing’94’, New Delhi
Connaught Brown Gallery, The Affordable Art Company Exhibition, London
1988 Gallery Chemould, ‘Seventeen Indian Painters’, Bombay
1987 Robert Hull Fleming Museum, ‘Contemporary Indian Art’, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA
Halle Sud, ‘Coup De Coeur, Festival of Indian Art’, Geneva, Switzerland
1986 Bucknell University, Contemporary Indian Art, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
1985 Grey Art Gallery, Contemporary Indian Art, New York University, New York
1984 Sahitya Kala Akademi, Painting Camp, Sohna, Haryana, India
1983 World Punjabi Writers Conference, Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, New Delhi
1982 Lalit Kala Academy, Fifth Triennale India, New Delhi
Royal Academy of Arts, Contemporary Indian Art, London
Museum of Modern Art, ‘India - Myth and Reality’, Oxford
RATNA GUPTA
Born in 1979
Lives and works in Mumbai
Education
2005 B.A. Honours in Book Arts and Crafts, London College of Printing, London Institute, London
2001 Studied graphic design at Weighan and Leigh College, Mumbai
2000 B.A. St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Someday, Installation Exhibition, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2007 Metamorphoses Retold, Installation of body casts, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 Art Expo India 2009, A Showcase of Modern & Contemporary Art, Mumbai, with Gallery
Beyond, Mumbai
2009 Uuttarayan Art Camp, Uttarayan Art Centre, Jaspur, Baroda
2009 Meridian Art Camp with Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2009 Kalaghoda Art Festival, Mumbai
2008 Looking Back, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2008 Asian Contemporary Art Fair, New York, with Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2008 Potpourri, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2007 Outward & Visible Signs of an Inward & Invincible Grace, Alliance Française, Delhi,
organized by Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
2007 Art Singapore 2007, the Contemporary Asian Art Fair, Singapore, with Simyo Gallery,
Seoul Korea
2005 Sandarbh Art Camp, site specific installation, Partapur, Rajasthan
2005 Graduating show of the London Institute, Group Show, London College of Printing, London
ROOHI AHMED
Born in 1966 in Karachi, Pakistan
Education
2013 Master of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
1999 Advanced Drawing, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA
1992 Diploma of Fine Art, Karachi School of Art, Karachi, Pakistan
1988 Bachelor of Science, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
Solo Exhibitions
2013 An Arm’s Length, Solo, COFA Space, Sydney, Australia
2012 Hermeneutics of the Body, Solo, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2010 Symbiosis, Two person Exhibition, Rohtas 2, Lahore, Pakistan
Guzishta se Paiwasta, Two person Exhibition, Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
2009 Figure of Speech, Two person Exhibition (Cicada Residency), Chawkandi Art, Karachi, Pakistan
2008 Simt (Urdu word for Direction), Solo, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 International Print Biennial Karachi 2014, VM Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Sydney – Lahore: Prints from Cicada Press and Saeed Akhter Studio, Saeed Akhter Studio, Lahore
Semblance of Order, Koel Gallery, Karachi,Pakistan
Displacement Anxieties, Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
Democracy of Drawing, Airspace Projects, Sydney, Australia
ArtFest 2014, Frere Hall, Karachi, Pakistan
Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2013 Mad in Karachi 3D – II, Artchowk Gallery, Karachi Pakistan
Extra | Ordinary, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Semblance of Order, Parramatta Studio Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Impressit, Harris Museum Gallery, Preston, UK
2012 Celeberating Art: 30 Years of Rohtas Gallery, Rohtas II, Islamabad, Karachi, Pakistan
Tim Olson Drawing Prize, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Death III, Parramatta Studio Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Mere Humd(r)am, AICON gallery, New York
2011 The Sound of Drawing, Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Dalian, China
Tim Olson Drawing Prize, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
Imigi(in)ing Cities: A South-South Dialogue, Amin Gulgee gallery, Karachi – Traveling
exhibition
2010 The Rising Tide: Contemporary Art of Pakistan from 1990 to 2010, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi
Global Studios, The Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK
Resemble Reassemble: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi
2009 Drawn from Life: Drawing Form, Green Cardamom Gallery, London
Moving Images, Poppy Seed, Karachi
Figure of Speech, Two person Exhibition (Cicada Residency), Chawkandi Art, Karachi
How Nations are Made, Cartwright Hall, Bradford & Manor House Art Gallery & Museum, Ilkley, UK
No Honor in Killing: Making Visible Buried Truth, National Art Gallery, Islamabad
Lines of Control, Third Line Gallery-Dubai, V. M. Art Gallery-Karachi & Green Cardamom, London
Place, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008 Off the Beaten Path, Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhakka, Bangladesh
Simply Paper, IVS Gallery, Karachi
Let’s Draw the Line, Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
2007 Jaiselmer Yellow, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi (Traveling Exhibition within SAARC nations)
Moving Ahead, (Inaugural Exhibition), National Art Gallery, Islamabad
Articulating the Subtext, Alliance Francaise Art Gallery, Karachi
2006 Street Art Inspirits, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada
Artists’ Voices: Body/Calligraphy, Amin Gulgee gallery, Karachi
6/6: The Labyrinth, V. M. Art Gallery, Karachi
2005 Beyond borders, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
2004 11th Asian Art Biennale, Shilpakala Academy Dhaka, Bangladesh
2003 8th National Exhibition of Visual Arts, Pakistan National Council of Arts, Islamabad
2002 Aar Paar II, an exchange between India & Pakistan, exhibited simultaneously in Karachi & Mumbai
2000 Pakistan: Another Vision, Victoria Art Gallery Bath, Centre of Contemporary Art Glasgow, Huddersfield Art Gallery, Brunei Gallery, London, UK
2000 The Experimental Space, Arts Council, Karachi
1999 Aar Paar, an exchange between India & Pakistan, exhibited simultaneously in Karachi & Mumbai
Citiscapes, Gallerie Sadequain, Karachi
1996 7th National Exhibition of Visual Arts, National Art Gallery, Islamabad
Paintings, Sculptures and Prints, British Council, Karachi
1995 Kanagawa International Print Exhibition, Kanagawa Kenmin Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
1994 6th National Exhibition of Visual Arts, National Art Gallery, PNCA, Islamabad
1993 Printmakers, an exhibition of prints, American Center, Karachi
Awards
2011 UIPA - UNSW Postgraduate Scholarship, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1992 Gold Medal for achieving first class first position in the province, for Diploma of Fine Arts, Sindh Board of Technical Education, Karachi, Pakistan
SALMAN TOOR
Born in Lahore, Pakistan, 1983
Masters of Fine Art (Painting), The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York (2009)
Bachelors of Fine Art (Painting and Drawing), with Honors, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware Ohio (2006)
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
Select Group Exhibitions
2012 Stop, Play, Pause, Repeat, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai
2010 All about Us, Canvas Gallery, Karachi
2009 Wounds, Aicon Gallery, London
Purdah: Body Matters, The Halvai Gallery, New York
Exchange Show, Montclair University MFA Gallery, Montclair, New Jersey
Pratt MFA Thesis Show, Stueben Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
I Think The Word Is Dignity, Lumenhouse Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Skin Deep, Kips Gallery, New York
2008 Pratt in Lucca, Piazza del Anfiteatro, Lucca, Italy
Select Solo Exhibitions
2013 The Happy Servant, Aicon Gallery, New York
2009 Three Paintings, The Cultural Center, Kahlo Gallery, Hampshire College, Amherst Massachusetts
2008 Look See, Studio O, Lahore
2005 The Return of the Real, Alhambra Arts Council Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
