Description
Mekhala Bahl
Mekhala Bahl’s artwork combines the creativity and imagination found instinctively in a child with the skill and technique of a professional artist. Working across multiple mediums including paint, ink, pencil work and quilting, Mekhala Bahl constructs colourful abstract mindscapes teeming with seemingly chaotic lines, circles, amorphous shapes and childlike drawings reminiscent of doodles. While the images scattered throughout her work (such as chairs, ice cream cones, letters) all connect back to Mekhala Bahl’s own environment and childhood experiences, the sheer abundance of these shapes allows the viewers to claim them and invest them with their own personal experiences. Established conventions are free to be challenged as Mekhala herself does when working with found printed-paper whose patterns she incorporates and subverts. Dominant in all her work is a sense of humour, energy and fun. As she marks, scratches, rubs, effaces, smudges and pours, her works become more of a reflective gesture than a communicative experience.
Mekhala Bahl was trained at the College of Art, Delhi and then at Rhode Island School of Design. Her practice involves primarily printmaking and painting, using material as diverse as silk, wood, plastic and paper. She has worked, and exhibited in many cities and different countries like Italy, France, Japan and America. Selected exhibitions include Indigo Blue Art, Singapore [2013], The Geometry of Error, Gallery Espace, Delhi [2009], Blur, Monte Castello Art Gallery, Italy.
She has participated in multiple workshops and residencies, serving as the Artist-in-Residence at the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture at Umbria, Italy. She has also been part of the Indo-French Residency Programme. In 2013, Bahl was awarded the Student of the Year in Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is also the recipient of the G.W. Hodge Ritchie Award for Excellence in Printmaking, USA in 2002
The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
MEKHALA BAHL
Born in 1980 Kanpur, India
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
EDUCATION
2003
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
2001
College of Art, New Delhi, India, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting (transferred to Rhode Island School of Design)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009
The Geometry of Error, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2007
Anecdote, Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Francaise, New Delhi
2006
Drawings and Prints, Triveni Gallery, New Delhi
2003
Lucent, Benson Hall Gallery, Rhode Island
2002
Vaaz, Benson Hall Gallery, Rhode Island
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009
Re-visiting Materiality II, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
On Canvas, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
2008
Place, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
Keep Drawing, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2007
Portfolio show at Southern Graphics Conference, Kansas City, Missouri
Art in Step, Gallerie Ganesha
High on Art, Visual Arts Gallery, New Delhi
2006
India on Canvas, Auction and Exhibition
Multiplicity and the Self, Visual Arts Gallery, New Delhi
Footprints – Women in Printmaking, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai; Colab Art and Architecture, Bangalore, and Welcom Art Gallery, Vadodra
17/03, ABS Lanxess Gallery, Vadodara
2005
Mercury Rising, Visual Arts Gallery, Delhi
Imaging Materiality, Visual Arts Gallery, New Delhi
Blur, Montecastello Art Gallery, Montecastello, Italy
2004
Navsar, India Habitat Center, New Delhi
2003
Arches Annual Print Exhibition, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Massachusetts
2002
Roma, Palazzo Cenci, Rome
2001
Print Matrix: Print Media Exhibition, Fine Arts Galleries, Fairfax, Virginia
1999
Scapes, Gauguin Gallery, Pont Aven, Brittany, France
RESIDENCIES AND WORKSHOPS
2007
Artist-in-Residence, Indo French Residency Programme
Painting and Mixed Media Residency, School of Visual Arts, New York
2006
Annual RPG art camp, Marve, Mumbai
Learning Center, Art Instructor, Kusumpur-pahari, New Delhi
2005
Artist-in-Residence at International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture, Montecastello, Umbria, Italy
AWARDS
2003
Student of the Year, Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design
2002
G. W. Hodge Ritchie Award for Excellence in Printmaking, USA
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