Arpita Singh

Arpita Singh has taken the visual lexicon of the middle-aged woman further than almost any other woman artist. The anomaly between the aging body and the residue of desire, between the ordinary and the divine and the threat of the violent flows of the external world that impinge upon it gives her work its spice and edge. At the same time, she criticizes the miasma of Indian urban life with suggestive symbols of violence that impinge on the private sphere, creating a tense uncertainty. - Gayatri Sinha

Born in 1937 in what is now Bangladesh, Arpita Singh received her diploma in Fine Arts from Delhi Polytechnic before starting to work as a designer at the Weavers Service Centers in Calcutta and New Delhi. Each of Arpita Singh's drawings, watercolors on paper, and oil paintings on canvas has a story to tell. To say that this renowned artist's work is narrative would be a gross understatement. Distressed by the problems that women face every day in her country and in the world at large, Singh describes the range of emotions she exchanges with these subjects - from sadness to joy and from suffering to hope - providing a vision of the continuous communication you maintain with them.

The artist's colors are vibrant, her palette is usually dominated by pinks and blues, and her paintings are filled with life forms and objects or motifs such as guns, cars, airplanes, animals, trees, and flowers. Described as a figurative and modernist artist, Arpita Singh still strives to be attentive to the forms and aesthetics of traditional Indian art, such as miniaturist painting and different folk art forms, employing them in her work regularly. The way she uses perspective and narrative in her work is steeped in miniaturist traditions and is a direct reflection of her background.

Since her first solo exhibition in 1972 at the Kunika Chemould Gallery in New Delhi, Singh's work has regularly appeared in Indian art exhibitions held in the country and internationally. These include exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1982, the Center Georges Pompidou, Paris, in 1986, Geneva in 1987, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in 1993. He has also participated in the 3rd and 4th Triennale in New Delhi, the Havana Biennale in 1987, and the Indo-Greek Cultural Exhibition in Greece in 1984. More recently, his works have been exhibited in Progressive to Altermodern 62 Years of Indian Modern Art at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 2009 Kalpana Figurative. Art in India presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations ICCR at Aicon Gallery, London, in 2009 The Root of Everything at Gallery Mementos, Bengaluru, in 2009 and Modern and Contemporary Indian Art at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2006.

Singh has won several awards throughout her career, including at the 1981-1982 All India Drawing Exhibition in Chandigarh, the 1987 Algeria Biennale, and the 1991 Samman Parishad of Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi. The artist has also shown her works in more than twenty solo exhibitions, including several in Chandigarh, Bhopal, Mumbai, and New Delhi. Notable solo exhibitions of hers are Picture Postcard 2003-2006 at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 2006 Memory Jars at Bose Pacia Modern, New York, in 2003 and Drawing 94 at Gallery Espace, New Delhi, in 1994.

The artist lives and works in New Delhi.

BORN

1937 Baranagar, West Bengal.

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1954-59 Diploma in Fine Arts, School of Art, Delhi Polytechnic, New Delhi

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2015-16 Works on paper, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2012 DC Moore Gallery, New York

2010-11 Cobweb, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi The Museum Gallery, Mumbai

2006 Photo Postcard 2003 - 2006, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2003 Memory Jars, Bose Pacia Modern, New York

1997 Bose Pacia Gallery, New York

1997 Chemould Gallery, Mumbai

1996 CIMA International Modern Art Center, Calcutta

1994 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

1994 Drawing 94, Gallery Espace, New Delhi.

1993 Schoos Gallery Foundation for Indian Artists in Amsterdam

1992 Center for Contemporary Art, New Delhi

1991,90,87 Artistic heritage, New Delhi

1987.90 Gallery 7, Bombay

1978,82,85 Artistic heritage, New Delhi

1977 Werl, West Germany

1976 Pundole Art Gallery, Bombay

1975 Dhoomomal Art Gallery, New Delhi

1972 Kunika Chemould Art Center, New Delhi

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 Ideas of the Sublime, presented by Vadehra Art Gallery at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2013 Edge of Reason - and Beyond, into pure creativity, presented by Indian Art Circle at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2012 Expanding the Line, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

Gallery Collection 2012, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2011 Adbhutam Rasa in Indian Art, CIMA International Modern Art Centre, Kolkata

2011 The Lotus Path of Indian Art, Grosvenor Gallery, London

2011 Fabular Bodies New Narratives in the Art of the Miniature, presented by Harmony Art Foundation at Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai

2011 Seduction by Masquerade, Nature Morte, New Delhi

2011 Pause a Collection, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

2011 Tolstoy Farm Archive of Utopia, presented by Seven Art Gallery at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2011 Narratives, quotes and comments, Grosvenor Gallery, London

2011 Of humor, wit and satire, Gallery Threshold, New Delhi

2010-11 Lot, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

2010 The Modernists, RL Fine Arts, New York

2010 Paper Trails, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2010 From miniature to modern traditions in transition, Rob Dean Art, London in association with Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai

2010 Symbols and Metaphors, CIMA International Modern Art Center, Kolkata

2009 Bharat Ratna Jewels of Modern Indian Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

2009 Progressive to Altermodern 62 Years of Indian Modern Art, Grosvenor Gallery, London

2009 Kalpana Figurative Art in India, presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations ICCR at Aicon Gallery, London

2009 The Root of Everything, Mementos Gallery, Bangalore

2008 Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008 Of personal narratives and journeys, Bodhi Art, Gurgaon

2008 Fluid Structures, Gender and Abstraction, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008 Freedom 2008 Sixty years after India's independence, CIMA International Modern Art Centre, Calcutta

2007-08 India Art Now Between Continuity and Transformation, Province of Milan, Milan, Italy

2007 Horn Please Narratives in Contemporary Indian Art, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland

2007 Tiger by the Tail Indian Women Artists Transforming Culture, WSRC Women's Studies Research Centre, Brandeis University, USA in association with Indian Council for Cultural Relations ICCR, New Delhi

2007 Making History Our Own, organized by SAHMAT at All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society AIFACS, New Delhi

2006-07 Inventing, reversing traditions, Indian art II, III, Grosvenor Vadehra, London

2005 Manifestations III, Delhi Art Gallery, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and Nehru Centre, Mumbai

2004 Stree, Bodhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2002 Ways of Resisting, SAHMAT, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi

1997 The Self and the World, National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, New Delhi

1996 Chamatkara, organized by CIMA International Modern Art Centre, Calcutta in London

1996 Traditions, Tensions, Asia Society, New York

1994 Mobile nurseries, at Habiart Center Art for Children Sake, New Delhi

1994 Drawing 94, Gallery Espace, New Delhi.

1993 India Songs, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

1993 Wounds, CIMA International Center of Modern Art, Calcutta

1993 Two artists, Washington DC

1993 Trends and Images, CIMA International Center of Modern Art, Calcutta

1993 Indian Encounters in London, Gallery Madras

1992 Husain Ki Sarai, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

1992 The Subjective Eye, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

1991 Aid to India, Mumbai

1990 Habitat Gallery, Habitat Centre, New Delhi

1990 Nine Indian Contemporaries, CCA Center for Contemporary Art, New Delhi

1989 Timeless Art, The Times of India, Mumbai

1989 Artist Alert, SAHMAT, New Delhi

1989 Through the Looking Glass, Center for Contemporary Art, New Delhi

1988 Contemporary Figurative Indian Art, Kuwait

1988 Watercolor by four painters, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

1987 Coups de Coeur Gin, Halle Sud, Switzerland

1987 Helpage India, Taj Hotel, Mumbai

1987 Four Painters, Bhopal, New Delhi, Bangalore

1985 Five Indian painters, Istanbul, Ankara, Belgrade

1984 Three Painters, Cymroza Gallery, Mumbai

1984 Inaugural Exhibition, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

1977 Pictorial space, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1972 Two Painters, Chemould Gallery, Mumbai

1972 Twenty-Five Years of Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1969,71,72 Art Today, Kunika Chemould Art Centre, New Delhi

1963 In memory of Sailoz Mukherjea, Kunika Chemould Art Centre, New Delhi

1960,61,62 The Unknown, New Delhi

SELECTED JOINT EXHIBITIONS

2016 Reflected Verses with Shilpa Gupta, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

PARTICIPATIONS

2013-14 Transition, 20th-anniversary exhibition, CIMA International Modern Art Centre, Kolkata

2012 Calendar Project Iconography in the 20th Century, part of CINEMA CITY Project Investigation of artistic and documentary practices presented by National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA and Ministry of Culture, Government of India at National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, Mumbai

2012 Art for Humanity, Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai

2012 To let the world into the narrative and beyond contemporary Indian art, as part of Art Chennai, Edition II at Lalit Kala Regional Centre, Chennai

2011 Ethos V Indian Art through the Lens of History 1900 to 1980, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore

2011 Goddess, lion, peasant, priest Modern and contemporary Indian art, from the collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin at the Oglethorpe Museum, Atlanta

2011 Manifestations V, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi

2011 Unfolded Time, Kiran Nadar KNMA Art Museum, New Delhi

2010 Art Celebrates 2010 Sports and the City, represented by Vadehra Art Gallery at Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, coinciding with the Commonwealth Games

2008-09 India Moderna, organized by the Institut Valencia dArt Modern IVAM and Casa Asia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Valencia, Spain

2008-09 Expanding Horizons Contemporary Indian Art, traveling exhibition presented by Bodhi Art at Ravinder Natya Mandir, P.L.Despande Kala Academy Art Gallery, Mumbai Sant Dyaneshwar Natya Sankul Art Gallery, Amravati Platinum Jubilee Hall, Nagpur Tapadia Natya Mandir Sports Hall, Aurangabad Hirachand Nemchand Vachanalays, Solapur Acharya Vidyanand Sanskrutik Bhavan, Kolhapur PGSR Sabhagriha, SNDT, Pune Sarvajanik Vachanalaya Hall, Nasik

2008 Moderns, Royal Cultural Centre, Amman, Jordan organized by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in collaboration with Embassy of India, Amman, Jordan

1987 Algerian Biennial, Algeria

1987 2nd Biennial, Havana, Cuba

1986 Festival of India in France, Center Georges Pompidou, Paris

1986 Roopankar Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal

1984 Indo-Greek Cultural Festival, Athens, Delphi, Greece

1982 Contemporary Indian Art, Festival of India, Royal Academy of Arts, London

1982 V India Triennial, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

1975 III India Triennial, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

HONORS AND AWARD

2011 Padma Bhushan, Government of India

1998-99 Kalidas Sanman Awardee, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

1981.92 All India Drawing Exhibition, Chandigarh

1987 Algerian Biennial, Algeria

Sanman Parishad, Sahitya-Kala Parishad, New Delhi