I am a multidisciplinary artist from Bangalore, studied in MS University. Currently practicing in Bangalore, Karnaraka. My work has developed in number of ways over the years yet from the very beginning of my art practice, I have workded in Painting, Printmaking, Installation, Video Art and Live/ Performance art. My intention is to blend these mediums into an interdisciplinary language.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Negotiating Darkness- Weight of Now


Morni Hills Performance Art Biennale 2018 

Initiated and organized by Harpreet Singh 

Curated by Guillaume Dufour Morin




Still from Live Performance on 2nd November -Negotiating Darkness -Weight of Now at Chandigarh Museum and College of Arts Photo by Hardev Singh Dev #MornihillsperformanceartBiennale 2018 Curated by Guillaume Dufour Morin and organized and initiated by Harpreet Singh




Photography By Hardev Singh Dev

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Interdisciplinary Printmaking – Dimple B Shah


https://topprintmaking.com/interdisciplinary-printmaking-dimple-b-shah




Interdisciplinary Printmaking – Get to know Dimple B Shah

Printmaker, Painter and Performance Artist


My journey in arts and performance evolved from my interest in traditional theater. During college days in 1995, I had participated in major production of plays, and worked with independent theater groups. This exposure helped me to gather thorough knowledge about the backstage and onstage work. I’ve learn about the history of theater in India and internationally. At this point I was planning to take up this medium and wanted to make my career in it, but I realized that my inclination was towards arts and various art forms. That led me to take fine arts as career.

After graduation in Commerce, I took a completely new direction and completed a Diploma in Painting and Visual Arts and then developed my deep interest in Graphic (Printmaking). In 2001 I completed my Post Diploma in Printmaking.

The urge to study more made me to apply for various scholarships and luckily I got Commonwealth Award and went to a nine months residency at Glasgow Print studio.



I worked in several residencies for seventeen years and gained immense experience. I have participated in various international collective exhibitions and print biennials and some of my works are held by Indian and International collectors.




I outline my art practise as multidisciplinary, as my art has evolved through practice in various medium like performance, printmaking and many others. In recent years my focus is to blend these medium of art into an interdisciplinary language.

To me performance and live art, as a medium of expression, involves elements of time and space of my subconscious impulses, with the same time frame; it fulfills the dual-purpose of engaging the body as a mean of communication and drawing audience response directly and instantly.

For the past two decades I developed my language of expression by merging and working independently in these medium, working live art performances, trying to build a community of artists based on public projects.

I have done roughly more than fifty performances, all over the world and in different cities in my country focusing socio-political and ecological concerns, relevant historical facts of different cities and women’s issues. All my performances served as a comprehensive study, dealing with social issues in a visual expression along with video installation.




Printmaking became one of the most suitable medium for me to unfold the complexities and issues that I address in my work. The process of building the work through juxtaposing or overlapping layers, can be mapped in the complex structure of socio-human issues addressed in my work. From the past few years my art work has focused in identifying “Self” both in macro and micro level.

My work can be summoned up as a process of metaphoric distillation and can be applied to all major areas of concerns and issues: socio- political, ecological, environmental, psychological & philosophical and existential.

As an individual part of a social structure, having to navigate through all socio-political repercussions and develop perspicacity on human related issues, having to cope with emotive response of alienation, insecurity and fear (products of our “Post Modern” era) the duality of exploration is reflected in the concepts underlying my prints as well as in performance works.




Catharsis, Purification, Purging, Healing, Filtration, condensation and extraction of Pure /Self are key elements in my works. The major areas of my concerns are humanitarian whether they are related to war, migration crimes, women or socio-political issues.

All these thoughts and ideas go through a distillation process (psychological or physical) such as curiosity, doubt and philosophical questioning. It starts with collecting the source and data, to extract a purified element out of it, and then all this goes in alchemical jar (metaphorically to mind and body) to extract the Essential (purified element) which helps one healing experience and catharsis.

My journey as an artist developed from philosophical questions and became more complex when I was exposed to reality of prevailing social structure, like the first-hand experience of 2002 Gujarat riots, in Baroda Gujarat, where men, women and children were brutally killed, tortured and their private parts cut open, burnt etc. This affected drastically my thinking process and as an emotive response I performed ‘Saffron Border’ in 2003 at Kanoria Art Center and Bangalore Kala Mela Festival.



As previously stated, I went to Glasgow print studio residency for nine month and after experiencing Glasgow I felt a hollowness void space in whole set up process. I turned toward my own roots, exploring both western and Indian alchemy, looking for answers, for healing and catharsis.

This residency was fruitful in evolving my perspective, presenting me the elements of healing and use of natural materials like milk, salt, turmeric ash etc.. That I still use. This residency led to my solo show at Glasgow Print studio – ‘Dichotomy Between and Body and Mind’ and later after three years with ‘Katharsis in Forbidden Zones’ which was about how one could achieve catharsis and also get healed, with installation, painting and video performance.



While I was developing my performance area I was simultaneously working on Printmaking and it was like a meditative performance. As I mentioned before, Printmaking has the ideal tools to bring various layers to the thinking process, through juxtaposing and overlapping, and I can add several dimension of thought in one complete picture.

This is the ongoing process of my research, to build a language and bring complex structure in a frame.

I am experimenting different techniques not commonly used together. My approach is usually multi plate photo etching and silkscreen. The main reason for liking these two mediums is because in these mediums there are more scope and possibility of working in detail and I can get the results with maximum precision. These mediums (etching and silkscreen) also give me the possibility to work in many colors, as many as 11 to 12 colors, and I can also use photographic and graphic images with intricate detailing.

I chose to specialize in printmaking because it involves innovative process of exploring the medium (e.g. creating multiple layers to structure the work) through a range of printing techniques such as silkscreen, photo-etching, offset and lithography. Also, making more than one original, through editions, answers my need of reaching wider audiences.















In my works the accidental quality is quite rare, my print works are usually preconceived ideas which come from preparatory paintings. To print I have to plan the plate making process thoroughly in order to get the exact result I have conceived. Lots of calculations on how many plates I am going to use, how it has to be worked technically, how many layers, colors and which images will be overlapped, are some major challenges while matching the image that I have conceived..

I really enjoy the combination of Painting, Printmaking & Performance. It really helps me to bring out my ideas into a different visual language. I feel the printmaking process as a ritual act because it requires immense focus and high level of discipline. I enjoy the challenge of preparing plates according to my requirements, with precision. It becomes both a challenge and a pleasure to mould zinc and iron plates by exploring all possibilities and techniques to get the results I want.

During my Master’s second year I had taken one big project for my final display. I wanted to make a print with 11 to 12 colors, so I prepared multiple plates as required with all possible techniques including aquatint, photo etching, gum bite etc.. When I printed the first proof (which was one laborious process of 3 hours of inking and wiping and top rolling the plates), I could not get the result I wanted and I took over 100 prints without succeeding.




I wanted to know what was wrong and analyzing the whole process I came across with one mistake, so I corrected that and then I get one of the best print till date. In this whole process I learned many things by making this particular project.





I work with various alchemical elements and essentials as the base to analyze different stages of purification.

The main concern in my work is to visually address issues of my subject “purification” and understanding how we achieve the idea/notion of Utopian land and Self. This idea is being visually worked with the help of references taken from old alchemical process. I am using old format to analyze, explore and understand our present day issues with contemporary language and modern perspective. I use images and text as metaphor, and they are juxtaposed to meet the requirements of the work. The images are inspired from various sources of my research on this subject mixed with my own ideas.


I have also used my own performance images in my works involving myself going into to the process of purification to understand it. The imagery that has evolved in my paintings is a combination of surreal and minimalist. Once, I have used directly copper etched plates with gold foils as part of one installation, instead of taking any print out of it. I would like to go beyond the boundaries of traditional printmaking and explore more possibilities.





In recent years I have been developing my works using all printing medium either it is woodcut, etching, silkscreen or lithography




The greatest difficulty for printmakers is having to depend on established Print Studios or have to own their setup for working. In India there are few studios where artist can go and work, and most of them are not updated with the latest facilities, usually they have just basic facilities and is difficult for artists to achieve desired results. Most of my photo etching plates are done outside from commercial block maker and are very expensive. Although I have worked in different printmaking studios still I have not been able to establish my own.



This article was written by Dimple B Shah and all images used were provided by her.

You can get to know her on her Facebook page.



Hope you enjoyed. If so, please leave a comment.
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Tuesday, October 2, 2018

The artist as a shaman - Echoes or Shamanism




The artist as a shaman - Echoes or Shamanism
24.09.2018 | REVIEW - Nadeche Remst



Performance event  curated by Nina Boas and Ieke Trinks ( organized by PAE Performance Art Event ) 


Dimple B Shah, photo: MADS Photographic
Is there a better way to understand shamanism than to experience it? In the weekend event Echoes of Shamanism organized by PAE (Performance Art Event) at Zone2Source, artists and thinkers bend about ideas about shamanism in contemporary art practice by having everyone experience it.

Dimple B. Shah from India asks the audience to stand outside in a circle, hand in hand, to feel the other's pulses with our eyes closed. She starts by squeezing the person next to her, after which the intention is that the gesture goes around the entire circle and returns to Shah herself. In the end no one comes back to her. She closes by giving a wipe of turmeric to everyone's right hand. Nobody understands exactly what this is for, but her credibility ensures that it is accepted accepting as something meaningful.
Dimple B Shah Photography Konstantin Guz
In the exhibition space Irina Birger shows her video work The Book of Happiness and Sadnesssee. In the video she leafs through her sketchbook, while she talks about her experience during an Ayahuasca ceremony, a centuries-old ritual in the Amazon, that serves as a medicine for body and soul. In a monologue Birger talks about this psychedelic experience, in which different themes seem to come back, such as relationships with others, but also themselves. In brightly colored drawings geometric structures can be seen that raise questions about femininity and emancipation, while she tells how men and women separated from each other in a ceremony. And you always hear her ask her questions about the inevitable dependence of the sexes: "It is necessary to realize that the mission is still needed," says the voice-over.
Jasper Griepink Photo: MADS Photographic
What the artists share is the belief in the possibility of human transformation

Irina Briger Photograhy by Konstantin Guz 
Birger's work is about the relationship between the individual and the collective, about belonging to a group such as during the Ayahuasca ceremony, which ultimately falls apart after experiencing the spiritual journey. There is social criticism in it. In recent years, undergoing such a ceremony has increased in popularity. The search for your inner self by immersing yourself in rituals and traditions of indigenous cultures is a beloved activity, after which everyone returns to the individualist, capitalist society. Such social criticism can also be seen in the work of Jasper Griepink, with his project Ultra Ecosexual Polyamory. Permaculture ASAP(2017) gives a utopian answer to the interaction between man and nature. In the accompanying spoken word manifesto he encourages man to deter the established order (the degenerative system of capitalism) by making love with nature. He wants to restore the relationship between man and nature and also develop a regenerative system that enables nature to be able to restore itself. At a time when it appears that human action is destructive for the earth, this seems more than necessary.

On Friday, when the emphasis is on contextualizing shamanism in performance art, with a closing lecture by philosopher Fons Elders, the most important element seems to be missing: the experience of the performances. The Saturday afternoon is planned for this, with sometimes simultaneous performances by Irina Birger, Jasper Griepink, Kleoni Manoussakis, Dimple B Shah and Akuzuru Tala. As a visitor you become whether you want to or not on the path to transformation and emotional purification. In the Glass House of Zone2Source also installations by Jasper Griepink, Dimple B. Shah and Akuzuru Tala can be seen, which are (or will be) part of the performances. Irina Birger's office setting also looks like an installation, where a screen shows the continuous animation Ouroboros or What's Eating You(2016) shows - which Birger developed during her residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin for the series TOTALITARIAN (2017). Ouroboros is the Greek word for tail-eater: a snake that eats its own tail, creating an infinite circle, an age-old mythical symbol for infinity, as a metaphor for the human condition.

Irina Birger invites the visitors to take a seat in front of her. She talks to you for ten to fifteen minutes, where she almost acts as a therapist, asking about your personal frustrations. In the meantime Birger intuitively draws with chalk on a black A4 sheet, which later on the glass wall allows a series to be formed - as a representation of the diversity of individuals.

A completely white appearance appears between the green branches of a pine. Jasper Griepink moves gracefully through the man made city park. He plays with the branches and rubs them against his body in a sexual manner. I hear a child respond: "And I also hear a nice song!" This is in contrast to the strange looks he gets from people who happen to be walking through the park.
In the accompanying spoken word manifesto, Griepink urges people to deter the established order (the degenerative system of capitalism) by making love with nature.


Dimple B Shah Photography by Konstantin Guz 
Dimple B. Shah created in the dark exhibition space of the Glass House a performance called Negotiating Purity - Albedo (Encoutering Catharsis) , with rituals from Jainism . I end up in an area stunned by incense, where Shah has installed her tent wrapped in white cloth. Visitors are given the opportunity to experience a ritualistic process by sitting in the tent opposite her. The emphasis here is on the involvement of all five senses. She concludes with the request to make a figure from the side-by-side heaps of rice, as a step towards catharsis .


 Akuzuru, photo: MADS Photographic
The highlight is how Akuzuru Tala, A kuzuru, allows the visitor to experience a process of transformation. The artist from Trinidad and Tobago does not leave her inspiration of the Carnivals unnoticed. With the suit she wears and the sculptural white mask she becomes part of the installation in which she moves, makes charcoal figures, hits glass vials, sticks with sticks against sticks, while making experimental noises. Eventually she cuts loose from her installation and then keeps a procession out.

Echoes or Shamanism exudes a certain optimism, something that is not unimportant at the time of ubiquitous gloom about the developments in the Anthropocene. Not everyone seems to be ready to make love with nature, but in a kind of trance they leave the Amstelpark.

Echoes of Shamanism , organized by PAE (Performance Art Event), Zone2Source, 14 - 16 September 2018, with Irina Birger, Jasper Griepink, Kleoni Manoussakis, Dimple B Shah, A kuzuru and Fons Elders.


Nadeche Remst
is a trainee at Metropolis M




Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Art of the Lived Experiment


Grand Rapids Art Museum  April 10 - July 31, 2015

                                                                                          ARTISTS

Dimple B Shah  Metamorphic Distillation  Etching 46.5 x 23 inches 2006

Katherine Araniello
(London), Bobby Baker (London), Anna Berndtson(Malmö), Jeremy Burleson(Oakland), Brian Catling (London), Ellie Collins (London), Ellen Friis (Copenhagen), Raphaëlle de Groot(Montreal), Tony Heaton (London), Wendy Jacob (Boston), Floris Kayak (London), Martin Kernels (New Haven), David Lock (London), Kate Mahony (London), Maurice Mbikayi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Alison O’Daniel (Los Angeles), Sinéad & Hugh O’Donnell (Dublin), Bekki Permian (London), Simon Raven (London), Dimple B. Shah (Bangalore), Katherine Sherwood (Berkeley), Laura Swanson (New York), Matthew Thompson (London), the vacuum cleaner (London), Aaron Williamson(London)




















The inaugural DisArt Festival was from April 10-25, which enlivened the city with several expansive disability art exhibitions, a film festival, a fashion show, theatrical and dance performances, and other learning opportunities, all aimed at championing creativity and conquering prejudice in order to unite and strengthen the community at-large.




The centerpiece of the DisArt Festival was Art of the Lived Experiment. This exhibition was seen at DaDa Fest in Liverpool, England, and made its U.S. premiere in Grand Rapids. Art of the Lived Experiment featured the work of 20 internationally renowned disability artists, including sculptor Tony Heaton and performance artist Simon Raven. In addition to these works, six additional North American pieces were commissioned for the U.S., including those by mixed-media artist Jeremy Burleson and performance artist Raphaelle de Groot. The exhibition was organized by UICA, and was displayed at UICA, The Fed Galleries at KCAD, and Grand Rapids Art Museum from April 10 – July 31, 2015.




Co-curated by Amanda Cachia and Aaron Williamson for DisArt 2015, the exhibition brought together a range of artworks, including sculpture, video, painting, drawing, photography, ceramics and performance by US and international artists, many showing for the first time in this country. Process-based and performative work was strongly featured. An introductory “Ignition Room” at UICA presented an eclectic range of historical ephemera that illuminated the exhibition’s themes and included an acoustic chair, a gold disc and hearing aid as worn by singer Johnnie Ray, and material relating to Goya, Kafka, Isaac Newton, Sarah Bernhardt and Yves Klein. A fully illustrated publication accompanies the exhibition, and an accessible iOS app, ‘Access UICA,’ that is driven by iBeacon technology was active at all three venues.
Dimple B Shah     ' RESISTING COMBUSTION'      Etching     30 x20     2006 


VENUES

Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts

2 Fulton St W, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

April 10 - July 31, 2015


Kendall College of Art and Design, Ferris State University

17 Fountain St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

April 10 - July 31, 2015

Grand Rapids Art Museum

101 Monroe Center St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

April 10 - July 31, 2015

Saturday, July 14, 2018

DaDaFest: Art of the Lived Experiment



DaDaFest : Art of Lived Experiment
Sat ,08 Nov 2014-Sun 11 jan 2015

Exhibition at BlueCoat, Liverpool
  http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/events/view/exhibitions/2277

Exhibiting artists: Katherine Araniello, Bobby Baker, Anna Berndtson, Brian Catling, Ellie Collins, Stephen Cripps, Ellen Friis, Joseph Grigely and Amy Vogel, Tony Heaton, Melanie Jackson and Esther Leslie, Floris Kaayk, David Lock, Kate Mahony, Maurice Mbikayi, Sinead and Hugh O’Donnell, Mike Parr, Bekki Perriman, Simon Raven, Adam Reynolds, Juliet Robson, Dimple B Shah, Terry Smith, Matthew Thompson, the vacuum cleaner, Aaron Williamson

Art of the Lived Experiment addresses the idea that both art and life are in a state of continual change and uncertainty. Both are subject to flux and transformation.

Dimple B Shah   Etching 'Process of Distillation  37 " x 23 Inches 2006 
In contrast to the objectivity of modern science, the ancient practice of alchemy – turning base metalsinto gold - believed that the presence of the experimenter was integral to the experiment itself. In contemporary art, can the artist’s own subjectivity be incorporated, like the alchemist’s, into their work in new, experimental and challenging ways?The artists in this exhibition address this question, not through the fixed certainties of autobiography or illustration, but by acknowledging that the unfixed, mutable nature of existence demands constant adjustment and experiment.

Curated by artist Aaron Williamson for DaDaFest International 2014, the exhibition brings together a range of artworks, including sculpture, video, painting, drawing, photography, ceramics and performance by UK and international artists, several showing for the first time in this country. Process-based and performative work is strongly featured, and includes Brian Catling’s durational performances in the gallery.

Dimple B Shah   Etching  ' Metaphoric Combustion '   47" x 24" inches  2006 


An introductory ‘Ignition Room’ presents an eclectic range of historical ephemera that illuminates the exhibition’s themes and includes an acoustic chair, a gold disc and hearing aid as worn by singer Johnnie Ray, and material relating to Goya, Kafka, Isaac Newton, Sarah Bernhardt and Yves Klein. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Dichotomy Between Body and Mind- Gallery III Glasgow Print Studio


GLASGOW PRINT STUDIO

Gallery III


Dimple B Shah 
Dichotomy between Body and Mind

Dimple B Shah  Studio Setting- Transmutation Digital Print on Canvas
7 x 3 Feet 2006 

Gallery III presented works by Dimple Shah, a multidisciplinary artist from Bangalore who was  been  at Glasgow Print Studio  March to December 2006 ,thanks to financial assistance  from a Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award. During her time here Dimple has used Glasgow Print Studio workshop facilities to make several new works in etching and digital print, she has also produced new work in paint.artists in residence

“My work has developed in number of ways over the past few years yet from the very beginning of my art practice I have worked in paint, printmaking and performance art. Recently my intention has been to blend these three mediums in to an interdisciplinary language.

In the last few years my work has been concerned with identifying “self ” both on macro and micro levels.
- As an individual who is part of social structure, a self who has to navigate through repercussions of political upheavalsand develop perspicacity on related human issues.
 - As an individual on a personal level of existence, coping with emotive responses of alienation, insecurity and fear,  the byproduct of ‘modern‘ era.

Dimple B Shah     'Confronting City Present and Past'                     Etching               46.5 x 23 inches     2006  

The duality of this exploration is reflected in concepts underlying in my painting, prints and performance work.In the series of works in this exhibition I have tried to present different aspects of “self”, the different parallel dimension of complex human mind relation to finding the ‘true nature of self '.

Dimple B Shah   ' Monologue -Blindfold' Etching 10 x 6 inches  2006
Part of Portfolio Exchange 'Blindfold- 1' Between Scottish and American Artists coordinated by Dimple Shah and Mario Kiran


My works presented for this exhibition addressed the conflicting nature of human of mind and body. I  explored various processes of mind and body,  to extract the ‘purified self’ or ‘true self’ and also to talk of ways of purification (distillation).  References were drawn from my back ground as a Jain and other western sources which I came across in my search to find the answers.  I addressed these issues on different levels by bringing various parallel dimensions into a picture, visually and conceptually.
The change in my environment from Indian to western culture had made me look in my own roots again.  The west is always has been attractive force due its glamour; experiencing Glasgow has helped me made me realize the importance of my own culture. It has also introduced me to other aspects of different cultures. My work has also focused on identity of my ‘self’ and coming to Glasgow has introduced another dimension in thinking and has of course given me way to go one more step forward. I had tired in my work to bring this conflict of my identity in different perspective and different levels. The imagery is drawn from various sources. My work has changed drastically in terms of imagery and colour.  The images in my work are associated with ideas and juxtaposed together to reveal a meaning.  My work can be read at various levels and is complex in nature. Also,I always attempt to bring various aspects of the mind, conscious and subconscious and dreams.”

 - Dimple Shah   2006



Gallery III
Glasgow Print Studio,

25 King Street, Glasgow G1 5QP
0141 5520704 gallery@gpsart.co.uk
www.gpsart.co.uk

28th October - 18th November 2006.
Private view: 6 pm - 7.30 pm Friday 27th October 2006

Sunday, January 7, 2018

PINK CITY LIVE ART 2017


ART PERFORMANCE - Body / Space seeing through cultural topographies

( Curatorial Project For Jaipur Art Summit )
Jaipur Art Summit 2017 , Jaipur
14th DEC to !8th DEC 2017 








Curatorial Note:

Jaipur City has history of 290 Years, Monuments, Buildings, People and Space is embedded in the history and present. The city has gradually evolved culturally in and out, breathing and registering every minute changes, witnessing emotional connection of people and experiences. The city has layers of stories embedded within, wish they could speak! 

The proposed concept for Pink City Live Art, 2017 would revolve around the idea of Body & Space. Topographies of the city and body of performance artists will be the canvas to reflect and connect socio cultural context of the city. This performance festival enables an opportunity to individual artist to read through the soul of the city from the past and present. This concept opens up the subject of 290 years of transformation. Metamorphosis of the city is been gradual; few things have remained same and many things around have seen changes over the years, every generations has added to the tone of the city, that need to be noted trough varied perspective, and the Structural, Cultural & Social Transformation of the city can be seen through body action and Live Art.

This concept gives scope to express mainly through body; it can be either spontaneous or processed response to the Pink City. This event will give artists an opportunity to look into local and global perspective into oral or written present & past of the city, looking into history in socio-cultural context, grasping through monuments, customs, traditions etc., and learning and responding through body and space.

Artist  Invited 
Artur Grabowski (Poland)
Dorothea Seror ( Germany)
Raghu Wodeyar ( India)
Sundar Lama (Nepal)
Shubho Saha (Bangladesh)
Smitha Cariappa ( India)
Manas Acharya (India)
Murari Jha (India)
Yuzuru Meadea  (Japan/Singapore)


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