CURRENT EXHIBITION

Siji Krishnan, *To be or not to be*, 2023-24
Watercolor on rice paper pasted on canvas, 18 1/8 x 18 1/8 inches

Siji Krishnan
Liminal Spaces
April 26 - June 8, 2024

Michael Kohn Gallery is pleased to announce Liminal Spaces, an exhibition of new works by Indian artist Siji Krishnan. For her U.S. debut and first solo exhibition with the gallery, Krishnan presents a group of large-scale paintings and works on rice paper. The exhibition will be on view from April 26 through June 8, 2024.

Recognized for her emotional landscapes which capture the experience of growing up in the vivid countryside of southern India, Siji Krishnan unravels her psyche on canvas in a dialogue between personal and collective memory.Her family paintings—intricately detailed portraits framed by sensorial impressions of rural village life—examine the kinship between humans and the natural world. Seemingly delicate, the weightless rice paper surfaces are reminiscent of the long, narrative registers of the 16th century Bayeux Tapestry or the subtlety of Giorgio Morandi’s still lives. The works transcend their contemporary trappings and genre associations to create something wholly original

Liminal Spaces offers a continuation of Krishnan’s work in the spirit of the Perennial Upanishadic dictum, vasudhaiva kutumbakam: “the world is one family.” In this exhibition, the artist builds her own sense of familial identity as a mother; the act of creation (both on the canvas and in her body) allowing her to “gain a fresh perspective and experience new life.” Each of her subjects, though rooted in the artist’s familiar past, are concentrated in the present and prompt the viewer to listen attentively to their stories.

To achieve her signature textural quality, Krishnan layers together fibrous, brittle rice paper. Watercolors are then built up in thin washes of delicate blue and earth tones to achieve a supple, singular patina resembling an old map or sepia-toned photograph. The absence of the illusion of depth means Krishnan’s brushstrokes and subjects stand out sharply; the topography of the natural world blending with the architecture of village life. Her works on linen carry a similarly effortless quality.

The entanglement between humanity and ecology manifests across this body of work on both the microscopic and macroscopic levels. In Womb, the title refers both to the figure of the pregnant woman and her reflection in the rippling pool of water she stands in. Saying bye features accumulation and repetition; the silent gesture of a waving hand of a mother echoes the communication of her baby in utero. With Krishnan’s brush, a cluster of trees becomes a portrait as much as a disparate group of individuals transforms into a landscape. “I started seeing the landscape as a metaphor for this internal transformation,” says Krishnan. “As a result, a realm beyond verbal expression started unfolding. The whole process was something organic, which led to a fragile ecosystem on the canvas.” In their fragility, Krishnan’s landscapes stand as their own and establish a nuanced perspective in contemporary portraiture.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

Rosa Loy, Glade

March 9 - April 20, 2024
Gallery 1 & 2

William Brickel, Was It Ever Fair

January 20 - March 2, 2024
Gallery 1 & 2

Li Hei Di, Oscillating Womb

November 2, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Gallery 1 & 2

Faris Heizer, These days

November 2, 2023 - January 6, 2024
Gallery 3

COMPOSITION

September 15 - October 21, 2023
Gallery 1 & 2

Ed Moses, Edges, Magmas and Waterfalls

September 18 - October 30, 2021
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

101 Years of Still Life: 1920-Present

August 7 - September 11, 2021
Gallery 1 & 2

Joe Goode, 20 Years Later

June 18 - August 7, 2021
Gallery 3

William Brickel, I’d Tell You If I Could

June 11 - July 31, 2021
Gallery 1 & 2

Chiffon Thomas, Antithesis

April 9 - May 21, 2021
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Jellyfish, Curated by Samantha Glaser-Weiss

January 31 - March 13, 2020
Gallery 1 & 2

Octavio Abúndez, Facts, contradictions, puzzules…

November 9, 2019 - January 16, 2020
Gallery 1 & 2

Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Tears of Things

September 13 - November 1, 2019
Gallery 1 & 2

María Berrío, A Cloud’s Roots

June 1 - August 30, 2019
Gallery 1 & 2

Heidi Hahn, Burn Out in Shredded Heaven

April 6 - May 23, 2019
Gallery 1

Jarvis Boyland, On Hold:

April 6 - May 23, 2019
Gallery 2

Gonzalo Lebrija, Veladuras Nocturnas

January 19 - March 23, 2019
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Rosa Loy, So Near And Yet So Far

November 9, 2018 - January 9, 2019
Gallery 1 & 2

Tony Berlant, Fast Forward

September 22 - November 3, 2019
Gallery 1 & 2

Jess, Secret Compartments

July 21 - September 7, 2019
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Sheets

June 1 - July 14, 2018
Gallery 1 & 2

Mark Innerst, New Paintings

April 6 - May 24, 2018
Gallery 1 & 2

Gesture | Form | Pop | Process

February 27 - March 29, 2018
Gallery 1 & 2

Engender

November 11, 2017 - January 27, 2019
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Chingaderas Sofisticadas

September 16 - November 4, 2017
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Dennis Hopper, The Lost Album

July 8 - September 1, 2017
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Dean Byington, Theory of Machines

May 19 - June 30, 2017
Gallery 1 & 2

Joe Goode, Old Ideas with New Solutions

March 23 - May 13, 2017
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Bruce Conner, LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS

February 9 - March 15, 2017
Gallery 1

Bruce Conner, A MOVIE

November 11, 2016 - February 8, 2017
Gallery 1

John Altoon, Works from the Estate

September 16 - October 29, 2016
Gallery 1 & 2

Ori Gersht, Floating World

July 9 - September 10, 2016
Gallery 1 & 2

Wallace Berman, American Aleph

May 6 - June 25, 2016
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Ryan McGinness, #metadata

March 19 - April 15, 2016
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Dean Levin, XTC

January 16 - February 27, 2016
Gallery 2 & 3

Lita Albuquerque, Embodiment

January 9 - February 27, 2016
Gallery 1

Simmons & Burke, Dutch Masters

November 6 - December 19, 2015
Gallery 1

Object/Space: Robert Ryman + Giorgio Morandi

September 19 - October 31, 2015
Gallery 1

The West Coast Avant-Garde, 1950 - Present

July 18 - September 4, 2015
Gallery 1 & 2

Jess’s Didactic Nickelodeon

June 6 - July 10, 2015
Gallery 3

William Monk, The Cloud is Growing in the Trees

May 29 - July 10, 2015
Gallery 1 & 2

Camille Rose Garcia, Mirror, Black Mirror

April 25 - May 20, 2015
Gallery 3

Tom LaDuke, Candles and Lasers

April 11 - May 20, 2015
Gallery 1 & 2

LAND, AIR, SEE

February 21 - April 2, 2015
Gallery 1 & 2

Troika, Cartography of Control

January 10 - February 12, 2015
Gallery 1 & 2

Eddie Martinez, Nomader

September 12 - October 25, 2014
Gallery 1 & 2

Lita Albuquerque, Light Carries Information

November 15 - December 20, 2014
Gallery 2

Joe Goode, Flat Screen Nature

July 12 - August 29, 2014
Gallery 1, 2 & 3

Bruce Conner, CROSSROADS & WORKS ON PAPER

November 8 - December 20, 2014
Gallery 1 & 3

Mark Ryden, The Gay 90s West

May 3 - June 28, 2014
Gallery 1, 2 & 3