Statement

I make art that emphasizes the intersections between drawing and sculpture, stasis and motion, the functional and the non-functional. My work shares a common language with minimalist traditions, accentuating reductive form, modularity, geometry, and difference in scale. Informed by architecture and landscape, I question how site, space, and place affect the way we experience the same form, and how a conscious strategy to limit materials and compositional choices can lead to endless permutations and combinations. While site-based installations form a large part of my practice, I also have a sustained drawing practice. Often these are preliminary studies, or a response to my installations, while the majority are stand-alone pieces.

My practice is shaped by researching concepts, constructing a plan, and embracing serendipity. Planning is a necessary tool, however, my most powerful works of art have emerged from spontaneous ideas that are realized through a bold pursuit of intuition.

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Biography

Avantika Bawa is an artist, curator, and educator based in Portland, OR, and often resides in her hometown, New Delhi, India.

Bawa has an MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in the same from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India.

She has participated in the Ucross, Skowhegan, MacDowell, Kochi Biennial Foundation, and Djerassi residencies among others. Noteworthy solo exhibits include shows at: The Portland Art Museum, Schneider Museum, Ashland, OR: Suyama Space, Seattle, WA, The Columbus Museum, GA, Saltworks Gallery, and the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Atlanta, GA: Nature Morte, and Gallery Maskara, India: Lazy Eye, Yucca Valley, CA; and Disjecta, Portland, OR. Large scale installations include, iterations of The Scaffold Series at Rann, Kutch, India (2019-20), Art Beyond, Ashland OR (2021) and The Sculpture Park, Jaipur, India (2024).

In April 2004 she was part of a team that launched Drain - Journal for Contemporary Art and Culture. www.drainmag.com. In 2014 Avantika was appointed to the board of the Oregon Arts Commission. She is currently Professor of Fine Arts at Washington State University, Vancouver, WA.

For a full list of exhibits, please view the downloadable resume.