Sheela Gowda

Honoring the achievements of mid-career artists, the Maria Lassnig Prize was awarded to Sheela Gowda in 2019 and this exhibition is organized in conjunction with it.

Sheela Gowda (b. 1957) studied Painting in Bangalore and in London. For her sculptures and installations, she uses materials that, due to their consistency, color, and odor, create a narrative atmosphere and concomitantly unfold metaphorical power. Materials such as cow dung, kumkuma powder, incense, and coconut fibers, as well as hairs, needles, and threads combine connotations of everyday use with a poetic charge and refer to urban and rural life in India.

In her work, the everyday life of the Indian middle class, the conflicts of women in their working and private lives, and images of political and social tension conveyed through the media had already become recurring artistic preoccupations.

Curated by Eva Huttenlauch, the exhibition will be accompanied by a publication.