Shanta Rao

Artist (France)

The work of Shanta Rao (French and Indian, lives and works in Paris) plays with the ideas of origin and evolution. By using an entropic approach that scrambles or nullifies genealogies, she transforms source-objects (such as text, sound or matter) into a technical-handmade magma. As such, these objects are in a constant state of flux and hybridization: a text becomes a picture, a diagram or music score, then sculpture or video. Sometimes single pieces standing alone, at other times complex installations inbetween abstract modeling and disobedient representation, Shanta Rao’s artwork invites the viewer into an experience of changing forms.

Learn more: www.shantarao.net

 

Work in Progress

During the residency The Calanques, Shanta Rao explored the world of jellyfish, whose growing presence on the beaches of the Calanques National Park poses questions of otherness, highlighting the link between humans and other animal species. Born from a collaboration with the researchers Guillaume Marchessaux and Justine Gadreaud, the artist’s research around cellular functioning and the metamorphic capacities of certain jellyfish led to studies associating painting, moulding and video images. These studies sought to compare various sculptural and scientific research. Following these drafts and a dialogue with the exhibition curator Raphaël Brunel, particularly around issues of morphogenesis, dissemination and invasive phenomena, an exhibition combining the work of Rao with the artist Mimosa Echard has been planned for January 2019, at the Edouard Manet Gallery / Ecole des Beaux Arts Gennevilliers. 

Shanta Rao was in residency at Camargo in January-February 2018.