I-POP: Encounters Between India and the West
Rajiv Menon Contemporary is proud to present I-Pop, a two-person presentation of Indian artists Tarini Sethi and Viraj Khanna. The artists in I-Pop articulate an emerging pop aesthetic in India. Embroidery, textile, and craftsmanship have been at the forefront of Indian popular expression, and have been major juncture points for the cultural encounter between India and the West. The presentation challenges the distinction between the “folk” and the “popular,” specifically honing in on embroidery and metalwork design as forms of globally influential popular aesthetic practices. Tarini Sethi and Viraj Khanna take this popular culture of materiality and elevate it to the realm of fine arts, locating a powerful pop aesthetic in the process. I-Pop marks the rise of two major young talents from India, demonstrating the significance of South Asia as a major global aesthetic force.
Tarini Sethi's sculptures take us into a world of her own making, challenging the normative standards of form and gender. Tarini’s figures reflect utopian worlds where bodily structures are malleable and fluid. Tarini is interested in the blurring of boundaries--between erotic and abject, human and non human--creating a world that’s ultimately defined by love and acceptance. Her work responds to the culture of sexual repression and gender inequality she encounters in India, creating universes that dare to imagine otherwise. Her bold use of stainless steel is not only provides a feminist lens on contemporary Indian sculpture, but also engages with popular and folk practices of making, challenging the distinction between craft and art. This work marks Tarini's first inclusion of enamel in sculpture, bringing color into conversation with her bold use of stainless steel.
Viraj Khanna's unique embroidery-on-cotton characters bring life to India's encounter with globalized aspiration. Referencing consumer culture alongside the wider contemporary art canon, Viraj's figures are hybrids of desires and feelings, composite beings that are a blur of sensations, wants, and cultural referents. His distinct, imaginative figurative style employs Indian techniques of embroidery, finding a youthful voice to speak to a moment of global encounter. His creative use of traditional embroidery techniques like zardozi and ari bring the aesthetics of India's global consumer culture--defined by fashion and design--into a painterly mode, combining languages of realism and abstraction to speak to the emerging modes of being in South Asia.
Rajiv Menon Contemporary is proud to present I-Pop, a two-person presentation of Indian artists Tarini Sethi and Viraj Khanna. The artists in I-Pop articulate an emerging pop aesthetic in India. Embroidery, textile, and craftsmanship have been at the forefront of Indian popular expression, and have been major juncture points for the cultural encounter between India and the West. The presentation challenges the distinction between the “folk” and the “popular,” specifically honing in on embroidery and metalwork design as forms of globally influential popular aesthetic practices. Tarini Sethi and Viraj Khanna take this popular culture of materiality and elevate it to the realm of fine arts, locating a powerful pop aesthetic in the process. I-Pop marks the rise of two major young talents from India, demonstrating the significance of South Asia as a major global aesthetic force.
Tarini Sethi's sculptures take us into a world of her own making, challenging the normative standards of form and gender. Tarini’s figures reflect utopian worlds where bodily structures are malleable and fluid. Tarini is interested in the blurring of boundaries--between erotic and abject, human and non human--creating a world that’s ultimately defined by love and acceptance. Her work responds to the culture of sexual repression and gender inequality she encounters in India, creating universes that dare to imagine otherwise. Her bold use of stainless steel is not only provides a feminist lens on contemporary Indian sculpture, but also engages with popular and folk practices of making, challenging the distinction between craft and art. This work marks Tarini's first inclusion of enamel in sculpture, bringing color into conversation with her bold use of stainless steel.
Viraj Khanna's unique embroidery-on-cotton characters bring life to India's encounter with globalized aspiration. Referencing consumer culture alongside the wider contemporary art canon, Viraj's figures are hybrids of desires and feelings, composite beings that are a blur of sensations, wants, and cultural referents. His distinct, imaginative figurative style employs Indian techniques of embroidery, finding a youthful voice to speak to a moment of global encounter. His creative use of traditional embroidery techniques like zardozi and ari bring the aesthetics of India's global consumer culture--defined by fashion and design--into a painterly mode, combining languages of realism and abstraction to speak to the emerging modes of being in South Asia.
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Tarini SethiThe Fire Within, 2024Stainless Steel and Enamel3 x 4.4 ftCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist -
Tarini SethiUnder the Sun and Out of the Blue, 2024Stainless Steel and Enamel3.3 x 4.4 ftCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Tarini SethiThe Harmony in the Chaos, 2024Stainless Steel and Enamel3.2 x 2 ftCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaPost Drinking Look, 2024Embroidery on Cotton27 x 34.6 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaAn Expensive Holiday, 2024Embroidery on Cotton34.6 x 35 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaI Used to be sooo young, 2024Embroidery on Cotton27 x 36 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaWhat a fun night! I don't remember anything, 2024Embroidery on Cotton27 x 36 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaHaving Fun in Baku, 202434.6 inches x 26 inchesEmbroidery on CottonCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaDon't I look better than the groom, 2024Embroidery on Cotton27 inches x 35 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaGarden area of a Michelin star restaurant, 2024Embroidery on Cotton37 inches x 56.6 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaWhy am I even buying this, 2024Embroidery on Cotton37 inches x 56.6 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj Khanna50 dollars noodle night, 2024Embroidery on cotton26 inches by 34 inchesCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaI am not who you think I am Part 1, 2024Embroidery on Cotton42 x 68 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaI am not who you think I am Part 2, 2024Embroidery on Cotton42 x 68 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaDoes this picture work for my dp ?, 2024Embroidery on Cotton70 x 40 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
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Viraj KhannaHow do I look ?, 2024Embroidery on Cotton63 x 43 inCourtesy of Rajiv Menon ContemporaryCopyright The Artist
TARINI SETHI is a fine artist based in New Delhi, India.
Sethi works across mediums, with rich drawing and painting practices that she then translates into large metal works. Across her practices, she creates her own language of futurism, imagining the body as a site of infinite possibility.
Sethi works across mediums, with rich drawing and painting practices that she then translates into large metal works. Across her practices, she creates her own language of futurism, imagining the body as a site of infinite possibility.
Challenging the normative standards of form and gender,Sethi's figures reflect utopian worlds where bodily structures are malleable and fluid. She is interested in the blurring of boundaries, between erotic and abject, human and non human, creating a world that’s ultimately defined by love and acceptance. Her work responds to the culture of sexual repression and gender inequality she encounters in India, creating universes that dare to imagine otherwise.
Sethi's aesthetic practice draws upon the deep world of Indian art history, referencing various schools of painting in her signature compositions. Her metal works translate the two dimensional works into immersive experiences, where light and shadow are as much a medium as metal itself.
VIRAJ KHANNA (b. 1995, Kolkata, West Bengal, India) is a visual artist from India who primarily works with the medium of textile. He studied Business Administration at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 2018. Khanna's works have been exhibited in solo shows at the LOFT, Gallery Art Exposure, Kolkata (2021); Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai (2022) ; the India Art Fair (2023) and recently at the National Gallery of Modern Art Mumbai (2023). He is currently pursuing his MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago.
