Bharati Kapadia

Bharati Kapadia’s artistic career evolved from her exposure to India’s Modernist art movement. In this lot, we find traces of her early work in graphic design which went on to provide the basis for her later style. These works are an experimentation with negative and positive spaces, intricate patterns and Kapadia’s preoccupation with the rhythms of nature.

Kapadia was born in Mumbai and studied at the Sir J. J. School of Applied Arts. Thereafter she joined Pundole Art Gallery where she worked as a gallery assistant and graphic designer. It was during her time at Pundole that she formed ties with the pioneering modernists who passed through the gallery, and became increasingly involved in these artist’s networks, eventually becoming quite close with Sayed Haider Raza. After leaving the gallery, she went on to co-found the artists’ group ‘Astitva’ in 1972, which was dedicated to providing a space for artists to debate alternatives to the growing stronghold of commercial art.

She has exhibited in India at Gallery Chemould, Lakeeren Art Gallery and Jehangir Art Gallery, and has also participated internationally in residencies, exchanges, lectures and art initiatives at global institutions. Her most recent solo show ‘Staging the Sets’ (2008) was held at The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai and also in Munich and Vienna.