Avantika Bawa

Avantika Bawa
Bawa at the Portland Art Museum, 2018
Born
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India
Education

Avantika Bawa (born 1973) is an Indian American artist, curator, and professor of art. [1] [2] Bawa is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in site-specific installation, drawing, printmaking, and video. [3] Drawing from Minimalism and Abstraction for inspiration, she responds to and incorporates architectural spaces and styles. [4] [2] Bawa's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

Education

Bawa has an MFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Maharaja Sayajirao University.[5]

Career

Bawa is a professor of art at Washington State University Vancouver, and served from 2014 to 2024 on the board of the Oregon Arts Commission.[6] [7]

Bawa has had solo exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, Suyama Space in Seattle; Saltworks Gallery in Atlanta; Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center in Portland, Oregon; and Gallery Maskara in Mumbai, India.[8][9]

Bawa is also one of the founders of Drain - A Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture. Archived in the Library of Congress, Drain is an online journal that explores creative perspectives on contemporary culture.[10] [11]

In 2019, Bawa was commissioned to make a commemorative game day poster for the Portland Trail Blazers January 9 game against the Chicago Bulls.[12]

Awards

Bawa is the recipient of the 2018 Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts Golden Spot Residency Award, the Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts, and the Oregon Arts Commission Joan Shipley Award.[3] [9]

As an assistant professor of fine arts, Bawa received the Early Career Achievement in Scholarship/Creative Activities from WSU Vancouver in 2013.[13]

Notable Exhibitions

The Scaffold Series

One of Bawa's ongoing projects, The Scaffold Series, uses painted scaffolds to create large sculptural interventions. [14]

In 2026, Bawa was chosen to create a site-specific installation as part of the sā Ladakh Biennale. Bawa's scaffold installation is located in the village of Henasku, located at an altitude of approximately 3,875 meters. [15]

In 2024, Bawa installed two iterations in this series. Scaffolds by the Sea was installed as part of the 26th edition of Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney, Australia. [16] [17] [18] Bawa's A Pink Scaffold in a Pink City was exhibited as part of The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur, India. [19]

In 2019, Bawa installed A Pink Scaffold in the Rann in the Rann of Kutch, a large salt desert in India. [20]

In 2016, Bawa's work was included in the Disjecta Art Center's 2016 Portland Biennial, curated by Michelle Grabner.[1] Bawa created a large golden scaffold that was installed in the vacant Astor Hotel in Astoria, Oregon, accompanied by audio recordings of construction.[21]

A Brutal Affair

Another ongoing project, A Brutal Affair, concentrates on Brutalist architecture around the world. Drawings and prints in this series have been exhibited at several galleries including the Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) in Portland, Oregon and the Blueprint 12 gallery in New Delhi, India. [22] [23]

Other Work

In 2018, Bawa had a solo exhibition of drawings and prints of the Portland Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Portland Art Museum, as part of the APEX series curated by Grace Kook-Anderson.[4] Bawa also had a concurrent exhibition at Ampersand Gallery that culminated in the publication of an artist's book.[3]

In 2017 Bawa exhibited Parallel Faults at Los Angeles Valley College in Valley Glen, California[24]

Between 2014 and 2015, Bawa showed her project Aqua Mapping in the Whitebox Gallery in Portland, Oregon and Saltworks Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia.[25][26]

In 2012, Bawa exhibited a large scale, site-specific installation called At Owner's Risk at Suyama Space in Seattle, Washington, that responded to the current and historical uses of the space: an architecture firm, an auto body shop, and a livery stable.[27][28]

In 2009, Bawa's show Mathesis: dub, dub dub, was exhibited at Gallery Maskara, in Mumbai, India[29]

Personal life

Bawa was born in Ootacamund, India.[30] She lives and works in Portland, Oregon, also frequently spending time in New Delhi.[31]

References

  1. 1 2 "Avantika Bawa | Portland2016". Portland2016. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 Cotter, Holland (25 June 2005). "Where Drawing Is What Counts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "Coliseum - Avantika Bawa". Ampersand Gallery & Fine Books. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  4. 1 2 "APEX: Avantika Bawa". Portland Art Museum. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ "Avantika Bawa". The Ford Family Foundation. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ "Avantika Bawa - Directory - WSU Vancouver". directory.vancouver.wsu.edu. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Oregon Visual Arts Ecology Project: Avantika Bawa". Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ "Avantika Bawa | Oregon Arts Commission". www.oregonartscommission.org. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Avantika Bawa". Oregon Visual Arts Ecology Project. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "Library of Congress Catalog". search.catalog.loc.gov. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "About | Drain Magazine". drainmag.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "e-givesmart.com". Trail Blazers Foundation. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "Faculty and staff earn honors from newest college | WSU Insider | Washington State University". archive.news.wsu.edu. Retrieved 21 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Meet Avantika Bawa". Canvas Rebel. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Henasku". sa website. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
  16. ↑ picketstudio.com. "Home:". Sculpture by the Sea. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Link, Indian (15 October 2024). "Sculpture by the Sea: Shining a light on Indian artists". Indian Link. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  18. ↑ Sculpture by the Sea (25 October 2024). Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2024 Indian showcase 4K. Retrieved 20 July 2026 – via YouTube.
  19. ↑ "Edition 04". The sculpture park. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "Canvas Rebel: Meet Avantika Bawa". Canvas Rebel. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "The cellular memory of place, Part Two | Oregon ArtsWatch". www.orartswatch.org. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "PNCA Library". ccac.willamette.edu. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  23. ↑ "Blueprint.12 Exhibitions: Modular Waltz". www.blueprint12.com. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  24. ↑ "LAVC Art Gallery: Los Angeles Valley College". www.lavc.edu. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "White BoxAvantika Bawa | White Box". whitebox.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  26. ↑ "Aquamapping". Saltworks. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ↑ Wiens, Taryn (18 November 2016). "The Closing of Suyama Space". Temporary Art Review. Retrieved 20 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ↑ OlallieLake (16 July 2012). AT OWNERS RISK by Avantika Bawa. Retrieved 20 July 2026 – via YouTube.
  29. ↑ "Gallery Maskara: Exhibition: Mathesis: dub, dub, dub". www.gallerymaskara.com. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  30. ↑ "Gallery Maskara: Artist: Avantika Bawa". www.gallerymaskara.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  31. ↑ "Avantika Bawa | pdx contemporary art". pdxcontemporaryart.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018.

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