sharMistha ray

An interview with Indian painter, art critic and curator, sharmistha Ray on her move towards abstract painting.
| How would you describe your

indian painter, art critic and curator

relationship with your art? It's a symbiotic feed system. Everything in life informs my art, and vice versa. It's important to live and experience fully in order for that gestation to happen in the work. I am not one of those artists who can be in the studio everyday with regularity. There's a routine that creeps in there. I am not sure that's good for the work, to be honest. But that has happened more and more as we describe art as a profession, in the traditional sense. I need open doors and windows to have a more porous existence. I put that back in the work when I am in the studio.
| What is your preferred medium?

Photo by Ashima Mehra

sangam, 2010, Acrylic on canvas, 12x12"

Sharmistha Ray www.sharmistharay.net

my consciousness in ways I couldn't have dictated. I became a much better painter for it, even though I hadn't actually painted very much!
| How can you account for your transi-

| How does Indian culture affect your

work or your process? I can't paint if I am not energized by my environment. I have had my most creative spell in India in terms of ideas and the evolution of my own thought process. I owe everything to my Indian experience, but that's not specific to the culture as such. My being here informs me. Culture exists in a social realm. I am less interested in that as an artist.
| How would you describe the con-

Painting, oil on canvas. Painting has a limitless condition attached to it. I am interested in the idea of the infinite, of an expression that goes beyond conventional notions of time and space. "The true painter of the future will be a mute poet who will write nothing but express himself, without articulation and in silence, with an immense and limitless painting," said Yves Klein. I would agree with him.
| How have you seen your work

tion from figurative to non-figurative art? It happened very naturally. I got bored with figurative art and it's ability to go anywhere after a while. After a point, most (not all) figurative artists fall into the trap of stylization. I knew I wanted to be a painter, so I had to find a mode of expression that would keep opening up, opening up and then some more.
| What are you currently working on?

temporary art scene in India? It's a young scene here, but a lot is happening. I miss the museums in New York and in Europe, generally. Traveling allows me to soak up as many museum shows as I can. I love museums. This goes back to the difference between experience of a place and experience of a culture. India's culture is not well documented or presented, but its raw vitality feeds me everyday.
| What compelled you as an artist to

evolve (since your return to India after completing your studies in the United States)? Tremendously. I started to feel stifled by my experience in the United States and quite instinctually, I gravitated towards India. The first few months were difficult as I had never really lived here. Now, of course, five years later, it feels like home. I didn't paint very much for the first few years here because I was working full-time at a gallery. But I traveled and saw a lot which opened up

I am working towards a solo exhibition of my paintings at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinrucke in Mumbai in January 2012. It's my first solo in India.
| Describe your typical day?

I am working full-time again with an international gallery, so I typically travel quite a lot for them. But when I am in Mumbai (where my studio is), I work for the gallery during the day and paint at nights. It's a restful and calming experience, but also incredibly energizing.

move back to India and to choose Mumbai as a place to live and work? I didn't feel I could grow in the ways that I wanted to if I continued on in New York.

82 | ARt

www.revolve-magazine.com

Agni, 2010, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36"

Vine, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36"

night Pond, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 36x36"

Monsoon, 2010, Acrylic on canvas, 36x72"

I went to Kolkata initially to give myself the time and freedom to paint. Soon after, I moved to Mumbai because it was so much more vibrant, so much more happening. I also landed a job in Mumbai, at the right time. That enabled me to move here.

| Do you find inspiration in your

experience with both Indian and U.S. culture? I need all cultures and travel allows me to move between cultures, people and places with ease. I really believe in a human expe-

rience. Shifting back and forth between the U.S. and India has informed me as a person, especially related to issues of immigration, but it is only a fragment of a much larger story. That story is an abstract one, without words, and hence, abstract painting.

| 2011 83