Sunaina Bhalla

India Artist

Residence

Singapore

Technique

Painting, printmaking and mix-media

Education

Masters of Fine Arts Goldsmiths University London, UK

Masters of Fine Arts Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

Diploma, Textile Design , New Delhi Polytechnic, India

Biography

Sunaina is a contemporary artist of Indian origin, who lives and works in Singapore. Educated in India, she moved to Tokyo in the late 90’s and has spent the last two decades in various parts of North and South Asia. Having completed her formal education as a textile designer specializing in print, she chose to pursue an immersive education in the traditional art form of Nihonga in Japan, where she spent 5 years studying under Suiko Ohta-sensei of the Kyoshin-Do school. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Goldsmiths University, London where her thesis topic was ‘The Body and the Ritual of Pain’. Her work revolves around the repetitive and ritualistic nature of gestures and their traces. She explores the transformative effects of the deliberate infliction of pain on the human body during the curative process of alleviating disease and decay. By using industrial materials analogous to the fragile nature of the body, juxtaposed with fabric and embroidery, she examines the passage of time and the mark making that documents this process. Sunaina is currently researching traditional healing practices in Singapore and South East Asia with a focus on Ayurveda and Traditional Medicine that employ natural remedies like herbs in chronic health conditions like Diabetes and Breast Cancer. Concurrently, she is also rediscovering her interest in printing processes as a contemporary visual language. She runs wood block printing workshops in Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, America and Australia and is working with schools to introduce this process into curriculums in Singapore. Sunaina has exhibited in Japan, India, Singapore, Europe and the Middle East. Her works are in the permanent collections of the ESSL Museum, Vienna and Mumbai Airports Authority, India, and in various private collections globally. She has also had her works successfully auctioned at the Mainichi Auction in Japan.

Artist Statement

My work is situated within the constant cycle of pain and relief in chronic health conditions. I am always searching for that small moment, or moments of time that bring peace and calm while being surrounded by health problems like Diabetes, Cancer and Auto immune disease. Using materials like wax and spices, I am exploring traditional healing practices that mend the mind and body. Traditional art making processes like thread embroidery and wood block printing allow me to channel my focus to get to the point where the quiet moment begins. It is these moments that I strive to create through minimal use of color and large empty spaces in my work. I see my work as a foray into the larger tradition of abstraction that includes symbolism, iconography and traditional printing methods recombined to create 2 and 3 dimensional work. However, the materials and methodology are a means to an end and not an end in itself. They provide the impulse to start the process of visually portraying that which is difficult to articulate.

Solo Exhibitions

2017 – 16, Solo show, Art Konsult Gallery, New Delhi, India

2013 – Solo show, United Art Fair, New Delhi, India

2012 – Her Continuing Narratives’, Gallery Art’n Soul, Mumbai, India

2009 – Towards Utopia, Gallery Alternatives, New Delhi and Gallery Art’n Soul, Mumbai, India

2007 – A Silent Comment, Museum Gallery, Mumbai, India

2002 – The Rising Sun II, Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

2002 – Solo show, Art Folio Gallery, Chandigarh, India

2001 – Solo show of Nihonga. The first in a two part themed series: “The Rising Sun”, ANZ Grindlays, Mumbai, India

Group Exhibitions

2020 – Print Expo Fair, Austin, Texas, USA

2020 – Little India Art Project, Singapore

2019 – Group show, Le Dame Art Gallery, London, UK

2019 – Affordable Art Fair, Featured on the ‘Spotlight’ wall, Singapore

2019 – Art Rooms Awards show, Melia White House, London, UK

2019 – Art Rooms Roma (Art Awards Finalist), Rome, Italy

2019 – Kriya Festival, Presentation and workshop at the Festival, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2019 – Mainichi Auction, Tokyo, Japan

2019 – Art Rooms Roma, Selected artist (Rooms category), Rome, Italy

2019 – IRise, Group show for Women’s day, Art Houz Gallery, Bengaluru, India

2018 – The Ma Project, Two person show, Japan Foundation, New Delhi, India

2018 – Gaj Mahotsav Group show, Wildlife Trust of India, Indira Gandhi National, Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, India

2018 – The Ma Project, Two person show, Japan Creative Centre, Singapore

2017 – Maybe, MFA Graduation show, Earl Lu Gallery, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

2017 – Enriching and empowering multicultural craft, Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2017 – Multi Group show and Collaboration with KUAD+PROJECT 2016, Kyoto, Japan

2016 – Freshly Squeezed, Brother Joseph McNally gallery, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

2014 – Gita Govinda, Lecture and presentation show, India House, Singapore

2014 – The Pink Filly Show in aid of the Cancer Foundation, Gallery ArtnSoul, Mumbai, India

2014 – Mela Phulkari, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre. New Delhi, India

2014 – Word, Text, Image, Clarkes Amer, Jaipur, India

2013 – T and T Contemporarian, Group show,(in honour of Frederic Brulee Bouabre), Guadalupe, France

2013 – Affordable Art Fair, Singapore

2013 – Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai, India

2013 – The Black Frame Project, Indigo Blue Gallery, Singapore

2012 – Parallel Journeys, Two person show, collateral event during the India Art Fair at the Spanish Cervantes Centre, Spain

2012 – Public Art Project, Kala Ghoda festival, Mumbai, India

2011 – Women’s group show promoting cultural ties between India and Saudi Arabia, National Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

2010 – Under the Banyan Tree, India awakens, Essl Museum, Vienna, Austria

2010 – Where the Streets have no Name, Curated by Dr. Alka Pande for ‘The Salaam Baalak Trust: New Delhi, Singapore, South Africa

2009 – Journey V Group show in aid of Breast Cancer for the NGO ‘Passages’, at Gallery Art’n Soul, Mumbai, India

2009 – Colours of Life, CPAA Annual Exhibition, Cymroza Gallery, Mumbai, India

2009 – Creative Intent IV, Gallerie Alternatives’ 10th Anniversary show, Gallerie Alternatives, Gurgaon and The Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

2005 – First Singapore Art Show 2005, Ministry of Communication and the Arts, Judges Choice award for the work titled “Peace-Freedom”, Singapore

2005 – Contemporary Showings, Merlin Gallery, Singapore

2004 – Individuals, Two persons show with Anthony Tan, Art Loft Gallery, Singapore

2003-1999 – 4 group shows under Suiko Ohta Sensei, Kyoshin-Do school, Various locations, Tokyo, Japan

Contact

Email: sunaina.bhalla@gmail.com

Telephone: +65-98535340

Public collections

Mumbai Domestic Airport, India

ESSL Museum, Vienna Austria

Private collections

Godrej Collection

Piramal collection

Internet

Artist website

Facebook Page

Instagram

LinkedIn

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SUNAINA BHALLA's PAINTINGS