Catwalk

Arpita Singh masterfully manipulates watercolor in this work from the late 1990's. The artist's diaphanous layers of pigment, ethereal figures and wandering sense of perspective lend her works a dream-like quality that is both surreal and reassuringly straightforward. Her free-floating compositions evoke the style of traditional Indian Kantha embroidery, a technique in which salvaged fabric remnants are pieced together in an effort to create a new cohesive textile. Singh, whose work is often intensely autobiographical, spent four years working as an art designer in both the Calcutta and Delhi Weavers Service Centers, and her carpet like application of paint and figures seem reminiscent of these textiles. This work is indicative of Singh's break with abstraction in the late 80's, and her figures are a part of a loose and enigmatic narrative, preserving a sense of the artist's unique hand in an era dominated by mass produced imagery.