Artist Bio
Alka Mathur is a visual artist who works with mixed media. She is an alumna of the Sir J.J School of Art, Mumbai, India. Her artistic practice entails mental reconstructions articulated as assemblages on fabric, paper and cloth. Using natural dyes, earth pigments and found objects, Alka strives to blur the line between traditional and contemporary.
Nature plays a significant role in the artist’s work. The contours and cracks of the parched land of her home Rajasthan, have always found their way into her relationship with material - the rustic, frayed edges which are worked over but never refined. She photographs nature and then interrupts their easy or direct readings by abstracting them into compositions of lines, planes, textures and symbols. Earth, matter and the divine feminine energy are themes which inspire and permeate her practice. The kantha or running stitch is an integral motif, representing the meditative, repetitive process analogous to the everyday rituals of women reworking old pieces of cloth.
Her more recent assemblages use tea bags and tea stains on handmade paper, on which she writes a daily journal. These works are both anecdotal and autobiographical - incorporating ordinary, everyday happenings where the artist presents herself in fragments, while also encouraging the viewer to become a participant.
She has held solo and group shows in India and abroad, including Bangladesh, UK and The US. Some prominent shows include solo exhibitions at The Bikaner House, Delhi (2016); Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center (2012); Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland (2013); Nehru Center, London (2011). Alka was an artist in residence at The Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US (2006) and Cleveland, US (2013). Her works are in several public and private collections in India and abroad.
Nature plays a significant role in the artist’s work. The contours and cracks of the parched land of her home Rajasthan, have always found their way into her relationship with material - the rustic, frayed edges which are worked over but never refined. She photographs nature and then interrupts their easy or direct readings by abstracting them into compositions of lines, planes, textures and symbols. Earth, matter and the divine feminine energy are themes which inspire and permeate her practice. The kantha or running stitch is an integral motif, representing the meditative, repetitive process analogous to the everyday rituals of women reworking old pieces of cloth.
Her more recent assemblages use tea bags and tea stains on handmade paper, on which she writes a daily journal. These works are both anecdotal and autobiographical - incorporating ordinary, everyday happenings where the artist presents herself in fragments, while also encouraging the viewer to become a participant.
She has held solo and group shows in India and abroad, including Bangladesh, UK and The US. Some prominent shows include solo exhibitions at The Bikaner House, Delhi (2016); Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center (2012); Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland (2013); Nehru Center, London (2011). Alka was an artist in residence at The Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US (2006) and Cleveland, US (2013). Her works are in several public and private collections in India and abroad.