GIGI SCARIA: TIME
New Delhi-based artist Gigi Scaria’s work focuses on "social mapping"—whether territorial, cultural, environmental or of the hierarchies and systems of our global communities. Each element draws on these themes, continuing Scaria’s inquiry into time, migration, community collapse and the beauty in labor and collaboration. He explores the layers of ancient cultures as they get subsumed in the world’s mega-cities and reflects on the unique form of city-building that exists in St. Louis by cross-pollinating the disappearing architecture and symbols from New Delhi with the Woodhenge at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The multimedia exhibition consists of recent photographs, films and a large sculpture inside the Whitaker Foundation Gallery at the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center, plus an outdoor commission located in Laumeier’s Museum Circle.
“This show is an attempt to observe the intricacies of the phenomena called ' time,' said Scaria. “Memories and histories of our 'time' are slipping into the whirlpool of change, which is only understood by the notion called 'speed.’ Invoking the Mounds at Cahokia to the present-day crisis of widespread migrant population, Time tries to grab our time through many perspectives. This is the first time my large-scale sculptural work will be exhibited in a public space abroad. I am really excited for this opportunity at Laumeier, and am looking forward to the interaction of the Park’s visitors with my work.”
Scaria’s practice focuses on the hurried transformation of cityscapes—more specifically, the sprawl of New Delhi and the chaotic demolition and displacement throughout impoverished areas. With a layer of satire and cynicism, his abstracted structures—both imagined and constructed—explore the themes and experience of “time” in an analysis of urban architecture and investigate the past, present and future of his location and the permanence and impermanence of personal and social space.
Supported by Joan and Mitch Markow and Ellen and Durb Curlee.
Visit Gigi Scaria's Microsite
Designed by Paradowski Creative, St. Louis.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Gigi Scaria was born in 1973 in Kothanalloor, Kerala, India. He received his M.F.A. in Painting at Jamia Millia University, New Delhi, in 1998 and his B.F.A. in Painting from the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1995. His works have been included in a number of important exhibitions and venues, notably the India Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, 3rd Singapore Biennale and the Prague Biennale, all in 2011. He has had solo exhibitions at the Smart Museum of Art-The University of Chicago; Ian Potter Museum of Art-The University of Melbourne; Dubai Art Fair, United Arab Emirates; Gallery Chemould, Mumbai; Galerie Christain Hosp, Berlin; Video Space, Budapest; H Cube Gallery, Seoul; The National Art Studio, Changdong, Seoul; Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi; and the Inter America Space, Trinidad. He has also exhibited at India China Contemporary Art, Shanghai; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; Helsinki City Art Museum; Kulturhuset, Stockholm; and at Vadehra Art Gallery, London. He lives and works in New Delhi.
