Lot 77: Sarhad

NILIMA SHEIKH (B. 1945) Sarhad initialed and dated in Hindi (lower right) mixed media on Sanganer paper pasted on linen; diptych 23 x 62 in. (58.4 x 157.5 cm.) Executed in 2014

58.4 x 157.5 cm.

I think beauty can be a vehicle for the most violent of sentiments or attitudes, it should be allowed to contain other things. (Artist statement) Nilima Sheikh studied history at Delhi University before going on to study Fine Arts at M.S. University in Baroda. Under the mentorship of K.G. Subramanyan and Gulammohammed Sheikh, she learned the significance of craft and folk art in modern Indian art forms and the power of narrative structure. 2014 has been a significant year for Nilima Sheikh marking her long overdue debut solo museum show Nilima Sheikh: Each Night Put Kashmir in Your Dreams' held at the Art Institute of Chicago earlier in the year. Narrative is at the heart of all of her work, from her miniature-style paintings to her murals and large-scale canvases. She battles with issues of feminity, communal violence and suffering, which are reflected in her paintings, with her use of delicate line and choice of colour. "In 1997 when a group of young artists got together to form an artists' collaborative, I and many fo us who were a little older looked on with encouragement, albeit from a 'benevolent' disposition. Khoj, true to its name which measn 'search', set off on a route of experiemntation and discovery, setting up sign posts which became increasingly significant int he development of contemporary Indian art. There was no looking back, and for those fo us who are from another generation, and y note fo condescencsion has been expuged by our open admiration. Khoj has become a watershed of creativity whose ever-widening ripples have tuched the shores of other lands. It has become a movement that opens up the very range of what art in our times and of our place can encompass and where it can reach; relevant and tiner-societal. To consolidate this expansive space for expression, adventure and inter-discourse that Khoj has so uniquely provided is today all the more important, and it is time for the art community to take on the responsibility of ensuring its continuance, integrity and independence. As a part of that effort, I support Khoj." (Artist statement)