About
Shiffali Wadhawan is a Delhi-based artist who has been creating art for more than a decade. Her works have been on show in many national, international exhibitions, and are represented in many prestigious private collections.
A self taught artist, with skills honed over years of extensive and diverse studio practice, Shiffali now paints seven days a week, simply creates from her heart and is adept at observing formal rules and breaking them for a reason.
Her art tells an uplifting story, but at the same time it subtly explores the preconditioned phycology of human society, it’s underbelly and impact on the natural world. She juxtaposes realism with unlikely backgrounds and metaphorical symbolism. It’s a parable filled with symbolic expression, nothing is as simple as it seems. The cinematic staging, the objects portrayed in meticulous, almost painfully realistic detail in surprising unexpected ways not only evoke mystery but challenge perception. It instigates an intimate dialogue, wherein the viewer can reflect and have a pure emotional reaction.
Studio Practice
I work mostly in thin layers and glazes of oil and acrylics on linen till I achieve the desired effect sometimes shaping my canvases to explore the feeling of going beyond the lines of what is deemed as acceptable. The tactile process of shaping and stretching my canvasses myself before I start painting gives me clarity and the sculpted look of these canvases make my work transform into an amalgamation of sculptures and paintings. For some of my work I go beyond the Canvas and work with convex mirrors as a substrate because I feel they have the power to transform the viewer into the protagonists and also let us see the bigger picture. Besides this I often work in other mediums of sculptures and conceptual art.
Exhibitions
2019: India Art Fair, Gallery Veda
2019: Within Reach, Gallery Nvya
2019: Khushii Art Loot, Hyderabad
2018: Destiny; Sold Out. A Two Woman Show curated by Georgina Maddox at Visual Arts Gallery, New Delhi
2018: 'Within Reach' by Gallery Nvya, Delhi
2018: HT Imagine Festival in Delhi, with Gallerie Nvya
2018: ‘No corners’ 18th anniversary show of Tao Art gallery, Mumbai (February 26th to March 25th, 2018)
2018: Annual art exhibition of Art Society of India, at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (January 16th to 22nd)
2017: Busan International art fair, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai (7th December 2017)