Ayesha Sultana’s solo exhibition speaks an intensely personal language

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Kolkata: A bark of a tree feels like skin on a fragile body, paintings of a resplendent sky and infinite void between the sea and empty sky – Ayesha Sultana’s work that will be on display for two months starting Thursday at Kolkata’s Experimenter gallery speaks an intensely personal language.

Entitled bare Bones, the paintings deal with the body and stillness, its relationship with space and movement.

Sultana feels the vast empty space and translates it in her work subtly for the viewer.

Her painting is an investigation of deriving forms from her surroundings to create an understanding of space. It permeates her consciousness that she interprets for her audience.

Minimalistic aesthetics, which is rather rare among South Asian artists, defines the style of Sultana, whose work at the studio is marked with silence, deep reckoning and distance.

A series of 30 paintings – oil on canvas, oil on linen and oil on board – will be on display from February 11 to April 10, 2021.

Ayesha, 37, was born in Bangladesh but was trained in painting (both at under-grad and post-grad levels) at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. She also taught there for two years.

Her paintings have been showcased at exhibitions in New York, Vienna, Rome, Paris, South Korea, New Delhi, Dhaka, Kolkata and Lahore. Her work is also in the collection of Tate Modern in London, X Museum in Beijing and KNMA and Devi Art Foundation in New Delhi.

The exhibition will remain open between 11 am and 6 pm every day except Sundays and other days mandated by the government. Wearing of masks and physical distancing measures will be followed at the gallery.