Vibha Galhotra
Vibha Galhotra (b. 1978, Chandigarh, India) is a New Dehli based conceptual artist whose large-scale sculptures address the shifting topography of the world under the impact of globalization and growth. She sees herself as being part of the restructuring of culture, society and geography – of New Delhi, and the world. Responding to the rapid environmental changes and re-zoning of land, Galhotra embodies the dense urbanization and jungles of steel and concrete through intricately sewn metal ghungroo tapestries – fusing historical grandeur with shimmering veils of steel.
In a 2012 Art in America review of Galhotra’s exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery, A.M. Weaver wrote: “Upon entering the gallery, viewers were confronted by a sprawling, 53-foot photographic mural of an expansive stretch of New Delhi, with houses and buildings squeezed together in a chaotic, cluttered urban landscape. Seven mannequins wearing military or security uniforms—made of fabric printed with the same design as the mural—stood before the metropolis, at once presiding over and merging with it. In this 2008 installation, appropriately titled Neo Camouflage, artist Vibha Galhotra criticizes the state of urban development in India. Born in the modernist planned city of Chandigarh in 1978, Galhotra now makes New Delhi her home, and her relationship with it appears to be a conflicted one.”
Her concern with globalization and those that are left behind in its wake is reflected in her studio practice. In a 2012 interview with Artinfo she explained, “I’ve moved to one of the urban villages in Delhi, and employ the local women. Many of them don't have jobs and their husbands don't let them work outside, but they come to me since I am a woman.”
She has shown extensively in India and internationally, including at the Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka; San Jose Museum of Art, U.S.A.; Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China; Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Kazakhstan; Gut Gasteil, Austria; Europos Parkas, Lithuania and Max Mueller Bhavan, India. Galhotra’s public collections include the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Italy; Devi Art Foundation, India and the Saga Art College, Japan. She has been awarded the Inlaks Foundation Award, MHRD National Scholarship, Artist Under 30 Year Award, and Chandigarh State Lalit Kala Academy Award to name a few. In 2013, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, mounted a solo exhibition of her work, Vibha Galhotra: Metropia. Galhotra also participated in ICASTICA 2013 International Women's Art Biennial in Arezzo, Italy.
Artist Interview
Review
Selected Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Beyond the Blue, Jack Shainman Gallery, 524 West 24th Street, New York, NY, February 21 – March 28,
2020.
Climacteric – Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, Chandigarh, India.
2017
[In] Sanity in the Age of Reason, Gallery Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India, March 18 – April 17, 2017.
Vibha Galhotra, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA, April 1 – May 27, 2017.
2016
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? – A Cook Book Project, India.
Meri Kahani Aankhon ki Jubaani – a visual arts project with Apne Aap Women Worldwide.
Land Art Biennial LAM 360°, Mongolia.
Garden of dreams – a blindfold walk project, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Vibha Galhotra: Absur –City –Pity –Dity, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, October 29 – December
5, 2015.
Walk for the Planet – public participatory project, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy.
2014
The Black Cloud Project – public participatory project, Bikaner, India.
2013
Sediments and Other Untitled…, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India, February 2 – March 3, 2013.
Alter – curated by Lucie Fontane, MK Search Art Gallery, Italy.
2012 – 2013
Vibha Galhotra: Metropia, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, October 26,
2012 – February 10, 2013. Curated by Steven Matijcio.
2012
Vibha Galhotra: Utopia of Difference, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, March 22 – April 21, 2012.
Re-BirthDay – Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Piazza Cavour, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy.
2011 – 2012
Vibha Galhotra: Neo Monster, Select City Walk Mall Saket, New Delhi, India, September 1 – 6, 2011.
Traveled to: Hornbill Festival, Nagaland; Gallery Exhibit 320, New Delhi, India; Colombo Art Biennial, Sri
Lanka, February 15 – 19, 2012.
2008
Vibha Galhotra: Metropia, Project 88, Mumbai, India, September 29 – October 18, 2008.
2006
Where Do We Come From? What are we? Where Are We Going? Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India,
August 31 – September 4, 2006.
2005
Vibha Galhotra: Between Me and Delhi, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India, August 31 – September 4,
2005.
2004
Vibha Galhotra: WHITE, Exhibition Hall, Fine Arts Faculty, MS University, Baroda, India.
Space within the Space, Siddhartha Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, India.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Museum, New York, NY, March 16 - June 27, 2021.
We Are Still Alive: Strategies in Surviving the Anthropocene, India International Center, Gandhi – King
Memorial Plaza, New Delhi, January 21st – February 2nd, 2020.
Zero Waste, Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, February 9 – September 20.
2019
Brave New World: Till Freiwald, Vibha Galhotra, and Richard Mosse, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
City, NY, May 16 – July 3, 2019.
Nature in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Krakow, Poland, April 26 – September 29, 2019.
DELIRIUM // EQUILIBRIUM, Nader Museum of Art, New Delhi, India. Curated by Roobina Karode-Kiran.
Water + Wisdom Australia India, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, India, December 1, 2017 – March 10, 2018.
Mutations: Indo-French Image Encounters, Bonjour India, New Delhi, India, February 9 – 26, 2018.
The Decolonial Aesthesis, A Creative Lab at Rhodes University, South Africa, July 6 – 14, 2018.
Facing India, The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany April 29 – October 7, 2018.
Travelogue, Jack Shainman Gallery, The School, Kinderhook, NY, May 20 – October 6, 2018.
Trans, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, August 15 – September 19,
2018.
Art-poetry: Dialogues of Last Innocences, Instituto Cervantes, New Delhi, India, August 4 – September 30,
2018.
Delirium // Equilibrium, Kiran Nader Museum of Art, New Delhi, India, August 19, 2018 – October 30, 2018.
Sculpture park curated by Peter Nagy, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur, India, December 10, 2017 – December 1,
2018.
2017
Water Line: A Creative Exchange Center for Visual Art, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Denver,
CO.
Unfiltered: An Exhibition About Water, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Hartford,
CT, August 31 – December 17, 2017.
Kailash Cartographies, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons School of Design/The New School, New
York, NY, March 15 – May 14, 2017.
Sacred Himalaya, New School, New York, NY, March 18 – April 18, 2017.
Visions from India, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH, March 10 – October 28, 2017.
The Darkened Mirror: Global Perspectives on Water, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, April 7 –
August 27, 2017.
Hold…On, Buddha Enlightened Art & World, Bodh Gaya, India.
2016 – 2017
The Future is Female, 21C Museum Hotel, Louisville, KY, November 2016 – May 2017.
Bedazzled, The Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, September 20 - January 14, 2017.
2016
Abstract Chronicles, OED Gallery, Cochin, India. Curated by Girish Shahane.
Scared Himalaya, The New School, New York, NY.
Interdisciplinary Water Theme Film Series, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, February 24, 2016.
Land Art Mongolia (LAM): 4th Biennial, Daringanga, Southeast Gobi, Mongolia, Summer 2016.
2015 – 2016
Winter in America, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, October 17, 2015 – March 19,
2016.
2015
Piece by Piece: Building a Collection, Kemper Museum of Contemporary, Kansas City, MO, January 30 –
April 26, 2015.
Walking on the Planet, Casa Masaccio / Centro per l’arte Contemporanea, Corso, Italy, June 20 – July 26,
2015.
Status Quo, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, January 31 – April 12, 2015.
2014
Mise En Scène, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, August – December 2014.
Past Tradition, New Delhi, India. Curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt.
Forms of Activism, L K A, New Delhi, India. Curated by Vivan Sundaram & Sasha Altaf.
Multiplicity: City as subject/Matter, Nurture Art Gallery, New York, NY. Curated by Marco Antonini.
Citizens of Time, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Curated by Veeranganakumari Solanki.
Bright Noise, Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, India. Curated by Girish Shahane.
Is there love in this air, Art Oxygen, Mumbai, India.
2013
India Art Fair, India, February 2013.
Edges of Reason, Indian Art Circle, Noida, India, March 10 – 16, 2013. Curated by Uma Prakash. Arezzo
Biennial, Italy, June 7, 2013.
Souvenir, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France, June 2013.
The Material Point: Reconsidering the Medium in the (Post)modern Moment, Gallery OED, Cochin, India,
July 20 – August 17, 2013.
Haein Art Dubai, Haeinsa Temple, Gyeongsang, South Korea. Art Project – Curated by Art O2.
Sculpture on the Beach, Art Dubai, 2013. Curated by Chus Martinez.
2012
Re-Birth Day, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Piazza Cavour, Italy, November 16 – 17, 2012.
Contemporary Renaissance – Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno (Arezzo), Italy.
Becoming, Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka.
Kathmandu International Art Festival, Nepal, 2012.
2011
The Indian Parallax or the Doubling of Happiness, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, India. Curated
by Shaheen Merali.
Modern and Contemporary Art from India, San Jose Museum of Art, CA, February 25 – September 4, 2011.
India Art Summit, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India.
2010
India Awakening Under the Banyan Tree, Essl Museum, Austria.
2009
Aluminum, 4th BAKU Biennale, Azerbaijan.
Space Invader, Aicon Art Gallery, London, July 17 – September 5, 3009.
India Xianzai, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China, July 16 – August 31, 2009. Curated by
Alexander Keefe and Diana Freundl.
India Art Summit-II, Outdoor Sculpture Park, India.
The International Sculpture workshop, ITM Universe, Gwalior, India.
2008
Best of Discovery - Sh Contemporary, Shanghai, China.
Destination Asia: Flying over Stereotypes' Conversation: Artists from Central Asia and South Asia,
Elementa, Dubai.
Everywhere Is War (and rumours of war), Bodhi Art, Mumbai. Curated by Shaheen Merali.
Mutant Beauty, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India. Curated by Gayatri Sinha.
Walk the Line, Avanthy Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland.
Zeitgeist, Pallete Art Gallery. Curated by Latika Gupta.
Destination Asia: Non-strict correspondence, Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Kazakhstan.
Urban Similes: Transforming Cities, Gallery Project 88, Mumbai.
Bronze, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India.
Shadow Lines, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, India.
International Exchange exhibition organized by LKA at Syria.
Brazier International Artists Workshop, United Kingdom.
2005
The Chair Project, Sarjan Art Gallery, Vadodara.
Eternal Recurrence, Hotel Shangrila, New Delhi, India.
Team Unteamed, Art Konsult Gallery, New Delhi, India.
Unclaimed Luggage, Artrageous Group, Cyprus.
Fordsburg Artist Studio (Bag Factory), South Africa.
2004
The Twilight Zone of Digital Divide, West-end, New Delhi, India.
2003
International Mini print de Sarajevo.
Lional Went Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Bharat Bhavan Intl. Print Biennial, Bhopal.
45th National Annual Art Exhibition.
2002
Gutgasteil – An organization for art in landscape, Austria.
44th Annual National Arts Exhibition.
2001
Europas Parkas, A symposium, Lithuania.
Saga Art College, Japan.
Group Show at Saga Art College, Japan Bharat Bhavan.
International Print Biennial, Bhopal.
AIFACS All India Annual Art Exhibition, New Delhi Birla Academy Annual Art Exhibition, Kolkata.
2000
Ensemble, Govt. College of Arts, Chandigarh.
A.B.C. Gallery, Varanasi.
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