Biraaj Dodiya
Biraaj Dodiya (b. 1993) lives and works in Mumbai. She holds a Master of Fine Arts, New York University, New York and a Bachelors of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago, Chicago.
Developed through an intuitive system of constant accretion and excavation of the painted surface, flickering between depth and imagined shadow, these new works tread over the idea of land, air and home. On the brink of losing form, focus, and familiarity; faceted surfaces generate new landscapes from fractured and adjoining topographies. Bearing traces of their making and unmaking; layers of earthy pigment accumulate and erode as the act of painting gives way to burial and excavation. Hovering between painting and sculpture, the assemblage forms reference architectural systems and structures that human beings develop to resist collapse. They disrupt the authority of the two-dimensional picture plane where faceted surfaces generate new landscapes from fractured and adjoining topographies.
Recent Solo and dual exhibitions include; ‘Every bone a song’, Experimenter, Mumbai (2020),‘Stone is a Forehead’, Experimenter, Mumbai (2017), ‘Burn your finger, And kiss it yourself’, 80WSE, New York (2016). Recent group exhibitions include; ‘Passages’, Encounter, Lisbon (2024) ‘Shadow Speak’, Bureau, New York (2022), ‘Civitella Ranieri Chapel Show’, Umbria, Italy (2022), ‘Can You Hear Me?’, Vermont Studio Center, Vermont (2022), ‘A Handful of Dust’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021), ‘Transitory Forms’, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2021), ‘The Profound Object’ Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021), Frieze New York OVR (2021) ‘08:01’, Art Dubai, Dubai (2021), ‘Do You Know How To Start A Fire?’, Experimenter, Bikaner House, New Delhi(2021), ‘(ME)(MORY)’, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi (2021); ‘Rupture’, Frieze London (2020); ‘Do you know how to start a fire’, Art Basel, (2020); ‘In Touch Edition 1:Together We Survive’, Experimenter (2019). Residencies and awards: 2022, Civitella Ranieri Visual Arts Fellow, Italy; 2018, Jack Goodman Scholarship in Art and Technology; 2015, Vermont Studio Center Visual Arts Fellow, USA.
“Is there a possibility of a private cartography in paint that invents non-navigable terrains?”
