Kirtika Kain

Blue Bloods

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is delighted to present Blue Bloods, an exhibition of new works by Kirtika Kain.

Exhibition Dates: 2 December 2023 – 25 January 2024

Blue Bloods is a constellation of new material paintings that reflect on the unseen colour and vibrancy of Dalit history. Paying tribute to the colour of Dalit resistance, Blue Bloods is an imagining of the grandeur of an ancient history that has not been valued or archived, but has been absorbed and witnessed by the body, the earth and the cosmos. Each canvas is created by laying raw materials associated with religious festivals and prayer, including cotton wicks, pigments and powders, golds, glass, grains, oils and waxes. The surfaces are compressed, erased, built upon and let to dry layer by layer, an intuitive and unpredictable process unique to each work in the series.

Through the Blue Bloods series, I am reflecting on maternal ancestors and exploring the depth and dimensionality of our history and culture, something that is so evident in Dalit literary tradition and song. I am thinking of a whirring festival of shades, of celebration, of dance and light, that blasts open the singular narrative of our oppression.

–Kirtika Kain, 2023

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Blue Bloods XVII, 2023
cotton wicks, rangoli pigment, tar, gold leaf, acrylic paint
214 x 152 cm

Blue Bloods XII, 2023
cotton wicks, rangoli pigment, tar, gold leaf, acrylic paint
214 x 152 cm

Blue Bloods IV, 2023
turmeric, lotus seeds, tulsi beads, Rosewood beads, bronze pigment, acrylic paint, wax
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods I, 2023
acrylic paint, Holi pigment, gold pigment, plastic
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods III, 2023
cotton wicks, wax, artist pigment, acrylic paint, tar, gold leaf, Holi pigment
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods V, 2023
tar, copper leaf, acrylic paint, cotton, sindoor, wax, artist pigment, copper pigment
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods VII, 2023
wax, gold leaf, tar, acrylic paint, coconut leaf grass, lotus seeds, artist pigment
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods XI, 2023
cow dung, rangoli pigment, gold leaf, artist pigment, tar, wax
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods VI, 2023
cotton thread, rangoli pigment, artist pigment, tar, acrylic paint, gold leaf, gold paint, tar
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods VIII, 2023
cotton wicks, rangoli pigment, gold leaf, tar, artist pigment, acrylic paint
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods II, 2023
rice, impasto, acrylic paint, artist pigment, tar
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods XV, 2023
cotton wicks, rangoli pigment, wax, acrylic paint, artist pigment, tar, copper leaf
120 x 120 cm

Blue Bloods XVI, 2023
paper, acrylic paint, wax, rangoli pigment, copper leaf, silver leaf, artist pigment, tar
107 x 107 cm

Blue Bloods XIII, 2023
gold leaf, acrylic paint, tar, plaster, rangoli pigment
102 x 51 cm

Blue Bloods XIV, 2023
copper leaf, glass, acrylic paint, copper paint, rangoli pigment, Holi pigment, tar
61.5 x 46 cm

Blue Bloods X, 2023
silver leaf, artist pigment, glass, sindoor, acrylic paint
61.5 x 46 cm

Blue Bloods IX, 2023
gold leaf, rangoli pigment, acrylic paint, glass, artist pigment
61.5 x 46 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 Uppercase
Gallery Lane Cove, Sydney, 2019-20

Kirtika Kain Corpus
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, 2019