MEENAKSHI SENGUPTA ‘FLAVOUR CHART’ Show Information: Curator: Abhay Maskara Preview: August 8, 2013, 6:30pm to 9:30pm Show Dates: August 9 – September 28, 2013 Location: Gallery Maskara, 6/7 3 rd Pasta Lane, Colaba, Mumbai – 400 005 Gallery Timings: 11am to 7pm, Tuesday – Saturday Mumbai, India – July 26, 2013: Gallery Maskara is pleased to announce artist Meenakshi Sengupta’s debut solo show Flavour Chart at Gallery Maskara. Meenakshi appropriates a variety of familiar motifs and themes from both the Indian and Western pictorial traditions. She recontextualizes them in the light of contemporary issues; combining icons of “high” art and those of mass culture with wit and irony to redefine their role as cultural signifiers. “I use painted images and photographs alike, just as I take advantage of a range of media – from gouache to serigraphy and digital prints, to articulate my ideas. My exposure to the various pictorial traditions of India gave me the opportunity to explore traditional Indian miniature painting. While traditional Indian painting is grounded in mythology, I push formal and aesthetic boundaries to produce new meaning.” The fundamentally hybrid character of her work subverts the obsolete “tradition/modernity”, or “Indian/western” dichotomy. It undermines the perception of art as a mirror of a state of cultural purity, and underscores its discursive character as shaped by history and culture. About the artist – Meenakshi Sengupta Meenakshi Sengupta was born in 1987, Kolkota, India and holds a B.V.A. 2011 (Painting), from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India and a M.F.A. 2013 (Painting) with distinction (Gold Medal), from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, India. In her work, Sengupta uses traditional pictorial representation to push formal and aesthetic conventions producing new meaning. Using wit and irony she explores gender relationships in contemporary life. In 2010, Sengupta's work was shown at the GenNext at Aakriti Gallery, Kolkota, India and the Annual Exhibitions of the Camlin Art Foundation and the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, India. In 20112012 her work was part of group shows at Studio 21 and La Mere, Kolkota, India and Nandan Gallery, Santiniketan as well as the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, Mumbai, India. In 2013, she will have her solo debut at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai, India.