Quick Facts
Biography
Sheela Gowda (Kannada: ಶೀಲಾ ಗೌಡ, born 1957 in Bhadravati, India) is a contemporary artist living and working in Bangalore. Trained as a painter Gowda expanded her practice into sculpture and installation employing a diversity of material like human hair, cow-dung, incense and kum kum powder (a natural pigment most often available in brilliant red). She is known for her 'process-orientated' work, inspired by everyday labor experiences of marginalized people in India. Her work is often associated with Post Minimalism drawing from ritualistic associations. Her early oils with pensive girls in nature were influenced by her mentor K.G. Subramanyan, and later ones by Nalini Malini towards a somewhat expressionistic direction depicting a middle class chaos and tensions underplayed by coarse eroticism.
Work
Gowda moved into installation and sculpture in the 1990s in response to the changing political landscape in India. She had her first solo show at Iniva, London UK entitled Therein and Besides in 2011 and her work has gone on to reach international acclaim; she was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Award in 2014.[ citation needed] she creates apocalyptic landscapes using materials such as incense and kum kum drawing a direct relationship between the labor practices of the incense industry and its treatment towards women.Her works portrayed the condition of the women which is often defined by the load of their work, mental barriers and sexual violation.
Notable exhibitions
Gowda's work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions and festivals, such as: Venkatappa Art Gallery, Bangalore (1987 and 1993); Gallery 7, Mumbai (1989); Gallery Chemould, Mumbai (1993); GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (2004, 2008, 2011 and 2015); Bose Pacia Gallery, New York (2006); Museum Gouda, Netherlands (2008); Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo (2010); Iniva, London (2011); and Open Eye Policy, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (2013); Centre International D'Art and Du Paysage (2014); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2014); Documenta 12 (2007); Venice Biennale (2009); Provisions, Sharjah Biennial (2009); and Garden of Learning, Busan Biennial (2012). Notable group exhibitions include: How Latitudes Become Form, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003); Indian Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London (2008); Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi (2009); Paris-Delhi-Bombay, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2011); MAXXI - National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome (2011) Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2012); Arken Museum, Copenhagen (2012); Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2013); Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach (2014), Para Site, Hong Kong (2015)
Major collections
- Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, USA
- Private collections in India and abroad