Liana's lullaby
Ranjani Shettar is perhaps best known for her immersive sculptural installations, composed of numerous non-representational forms, which combine natural and industrial materials like beeswax, wood, organic dyes, vegetal pastes, lacquer, steel, and cloth. Her work also includes prints, which employ a range of techniques. Shettar’s skill and ambition are clear in Liana’s lullaby, a 16-foot-long scroll made from five hand carved wood blocks. Shettar first created a series of drawings with watercolor that formed the basis of the woodblocks. The primary inspiration for this work, as with the entirety of her practice, is the natural world. Here it is reflected not only in the wood used for the block printing, but also in her subject, Liana, a woody vine that organically and rhythmically unfolds across this scroll. The vine’s forms are abstracted in a way that might suggest a musical score.
Artwork Details
- Title: Liana's lullaby
- Artist: Ranjani Shettar (Indian, born Bangalore, 1977)
- Date: 2015
- Medium: Laser-cut relief block print on henna-dyed muslin (rolled into scroll)
- Dimensions: 7 1/8 in. × 16 ft. 6 in. (18.1 × 502.9 cm)
- Classification: Textiles
- Credit Line: Gift of Deepak Talwar, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.877
- Rights and Reproduction: © Ranjani Shettar
Courtesy Talwar Gallery, New York ׀ New Delhi - Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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