Delhi-born, Sydney-based artist, Kirtika Kain examines how oppressive social hierarchies and power structures have been enforced upon and embodied by generations before her from the perspective of an outsider. Kain incorporates a myriad of humble materials that relate to themes of valuation, corporeality, ritual and the manual labour of the lower classes including iron filings, gold, vermillion and bitumen. Through diverse alchemical and experimental printmaking processes, Kain attempts to transform these everyday materials into aesthetic object of value; thus, re-defining and re-imagining a personal and collective narrative.
Kirtika Kain, The illusion of your history, 2023, installation view, 24th Biennale of Sydney: 'Ten Thousand Suns', Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2024.
Installation view, Kirtika Kain, Tar, Mosman Art Gallery (18 May – 18 August 2024). Courtesy of Mosman Art Gallery
Installation view, Memory Lines, City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, Wellington (8 March – 30 June 2024). Courtesy of City Gallery Wellington
Kirtika Kain, Blue Bloods I, 2023, acrylic paint, Holi pigment, gold, pigment, plastic, 120 x 120 cm
Installation view, Kirtika Kain, Blue Bloods, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney (2 December 2023 – 25 January 2024)
Kirtika Kain Her, 2019, gold paint, human hair, charcoal, wax, hand made paper, 169 x 226 cm
Kirtika Kain pitch III, 2019, silkscreened tar, shellac and copper on kozo and hand made Indian paper, 63 x 66 cm
Kirtika Kain epigraph, 2019, silkscreened iron filings, tar and wax on kozo paper, 74 x 60 cm
Kirtika Kain The Solar Line XVIII, 2020, Oil paint, gold pigment, beeswax, disused silk screen, 67 x 59 cm
Kirtika Kain The Solar Line XXVIII, 2020, Tar, screen printing emulsion, copper leaf, silicon carbide, disused silk screen, 41.5 x 34 cm
Kirtika Kain The Solar Line VI, 2020, Gold paint, sindoor pigment, binder medium, disused silk screen, 59 x 46 cm
Kirtika Kain The Solar Line XXVII, 2020, Tar, plaster, rice paper, disused silk screen, 67 x 58 cm
Kirtika Kain Roma, 2019, natural pigment, oxidation, wax, etched copper, 66 x 48 cm
Ten Thousand Suns
24th Biennale of Sydney, 2024
Group Show, The First 40 Years
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2024
Kirtika Kain Blue Bloods
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2023-24
Kirtika Kain Stone Idols
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2021
Group Show, The Solar Line
NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship, Artspace, Sydney, 2020
KIRTIKA KAIN
Born 1990, New Delhi, India
Lives and works in Sydney
EDUCATION
National Art School, Master of Fine Arts
National Art School, Bachelor of Fine Arts
Macquarie University, Bachelor of Psychology
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Tar, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia
Blue Bloods, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
The Lunar Line, Jhaveri Contemporary, India
Earth 200 CE, Verge Gallery, Sydney
Lustration, Firstdraft, Sydney
Stone Idols, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Uppercase, Gallery Lane Cover, NSW
Corpus, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, Sydney
Memory Lines, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Hyphenated, Manly Art Gallery and Musuem, Sydney
Melbourne Art Fair, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne
The First 40 Years, Roslyn Oxley9 Galery, Sydney
Entwined Within, The Concourse, Chatwood, Sydney
I Grant You My Freedom, Shrine Empire, Delhi
Raw Records: Materials in Practice, Blacktown Arts Centre
Okkoota ಒಕೂ$ಟ, Arts House, Melbourne
Plea to the Foreigner, 13th Bamako Encounters, African Biennale of Photography, Mali, Bamako
Empty Pockets, Gertrude Emerging Curator Program, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
Captivate, National Art School, Sydney
Wake Up Calls For My Ancestors, Oyoun, Berlin
Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne
Looking at Painting, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney
2020 NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship, Artspace
ART AID Gippsland, Gippsland Art Gallery
HOME Bushfire Relief Art Auction, Sydney
Close Encounters, Leo Kelly Blacktown Art Centre, Blacktown
Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Art Centre,
4A A4 2019, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney
NEXT, Sydney Contemporary
Faux Pas, AIRspace Projects Inc
June Mostra, The British School at Rome, Rome
Spazi Aperti, L’Accademia di Romania, Rome
EMANATE, New England Regional Art Museum
The Fall, Dominik Mersch Gallery
Released: Postgraduate Exhibition, National Art School
Materiality, Home@735
National Art School, Sydney Contemporary
Drawing Exchange 2018, Hoff Studios, NAS, CAS
2018 LIBRIS AWARDS, Artspace Mackay
Swan Hill Prize, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery
Press Play, Stairwell Gallery
Blacktown City Art Prize, Leo Kelly Blacktown Art Centre
Hornsby Art Prize Exhibition, Wallarobba Arts Centre
The Other Art Fair Sydney, (for National Art School)
VOLUME 2017 Another Art Book Fair, Artspace
Gippsland Print Award, Gippsland Art Gallery
My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open, ESD Gallery
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award, Gallery Lane Cove
Grads 3, Factory 49
27.04.17, Home@735
Saatchi & Saatchi Graduate Exhibition, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney
New Grads 1, Factory 49
National Art School Graduate Exhibition, NAS Gallery
Wall Mural, National Art School
Substraight, Stairwell Gallery
The New Wave, Stairwell Gallery
Jocelyn Maughan Drawing Prize, National Art School
20 x 20 Exchange: A Collection of Contemporary Australian Printmaking, Curtin University Technology, RMIT, National Art School.
AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship
Parramatta Artist Studios, Sydney
Winston Churchill Trust, Finalist
Blacktown City Art Prize, Finalist
University Medal, Master of Fine Arts, National Art School
British School at Rome NAS resident, Italy
Sanskriti Kendra Residency, New Delhi, India
Art Incubator Grant Recipient
Dyason Bequest recipient, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Blacktown City Art Prize, finalist
Artspace Mackay Libris Awards, Finalist
Swan Hill Print and Drawing Prize, Finalist
Blacktown City Art Prize, Finalist
Hornsby Art Prize Honourable Mention
Hornsby Art Prize Printmaking Category, Winner
Gippsland Print Award, Finalist
Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award, Winner
Bird Holcomb Foundation MFA Art Scholarship
Artscene Printmaking Prize
Sue Proctor Prize for Art History and Theory
Ellen O’Shaughnessy Printmaking Prize, National Art School
COLLECTIONS
Blacktown City Council
Lane Cove Council
National Art School Student Archive and Collection
Various private collections in Sydney
PUBLISHED WRITING
Nalini Malani: Casting Shadows, Artist Profile, Issue #61
Kirtika Kain on Cathy L. Nabroyan, Collected Writings by Artists on Artists, CoBo Social
The Embers Remain, Sambhasan, Volume 01, Issue 05, University of Mumbai
‘Discovery’ profile, Artist Profile, Issue #46
‘Registering Print’s Past,’ IMPRINT, Volume 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Susan Acret, Kirtika Kain's Elemental Journey, Ocula Magazine
Billie Philips, Kirtika Kain, Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Biennale of Sydney
Art Guide Editors, The acpoalypse as imagination and reslience. Must-sees at the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Art Guide
Nikita Holcombe, Kirtika Kain, Artist Profile, Issue 65
Judith Blackall, The Power of Art, Art Collector, Issue 106
Kale, Neha, ‘Notes From the Near Future’, Art Guide Australia, 23/09/2020.
Tsui, Denise, ‘Tackling Caste — in the studio with Kirtika Kain’, COBO Hong Kong, 21/07/2020
Interview with IMPRINT Magazine, Print Council of Australia, https://www.printcouncil.org.au/manly-dam-project-2/
Art Collector, 'Kirtika Kain: Corpus', https://artcollector.net.au/gallery-event/kirtika-kain-corpus/
Mariam Arcilla, 'What Next', Art Collector, Issue # 88
Mariam Arcilla and Camilla Wagstaff ‘Kirtika Kain’s Corpus’, Art Collector https://artcollector.net.au/kirtika-kains-corpus/
Marta Pellerini (interview), ‘June Mostra 2019/ Meet the artists…Kirtika Kain’, Life at the BSR blog, britishschoolatrome.wordpress.com
John McDonald, ‘Review: Tracey Moffat’s Portals and Kirtika Kain’s Corpus’, Sydney Morning Herald: Spectrum, 20/07/2019.
Emma O’Neill , ‘Art Beat: Every art show you absolutely need to see in September’, Urban: List, 13/09/2019.
Ruth Hessey (radio interview) Monday Drive 89.7 East Side FM McCormack, Paul, ‘Kirtika Kain talks art, race and oppressive social hierarchies’, https://eastsidefm.org/podcast/ruth-hessey-talks-with-artist-kartika-kane/
Arts Hub interview, https://www.facebook.com/ArtsHub/videos/
Gallery Lane Cove interview, 11/09/17 https://gallerylanecove.wordpress.com/ 2017/09/11/a-quick-chat-with-kirtika-kain-the-winner-of-the-2017-lloyd-rees-memorial-youth-art-awards/
Sharne Wolfe, HOME@735_27.04.17_REVIEW
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