The Flame of The Forest is a tree that can change the view of the entire forest in a very powerful and graceful way in its full vermillion glory. Its unmistakable crimson crown, supported by pale bronze green leaves and a twisted trunk is a fascinating flora considered sacred by Hindus.

Ranjani Shettar’s new site-specific installation, “Flame of the Forest” at Third Floor-Hermès consists of beautiful sculptural pieces in the form of a wall installation entitled “Green Breeze”, a floor artwork in teak and a hanging sculpture in rose wood. These are inspired by the enigma and magnanimity of natural structures such as the Flame of the Forest.

Seduced by their simplicity and openness, our experience of Shettar’s works yields wonderment and a surrender to their splendour. The artist employs the evocative forms and textures of wood to construct organic shapes reminiscent of seeds in a pod or multiplying cells – its lush colours and divine treatment of wood convey a tactile eroticism.

Shettar’s organic structures encompasses modern technologies and traditional craft techniques reflective of India’s collision of tradition and modernity and more universally, of contemporary life’s facets of change, adaptation and displacement. Shettar use of materials such as beeswax, sawdust, wood, latex, PVC tubing, silicone rubber and metal, manifests into artworks of irresistible geometrical order and sensuality.

Based in Bangalore, Ranjani Shettar gained considerable international recognition with a recent exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the 20th Century at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), NY and solos exhibitions held at prestigious venues like The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009), The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (2008-09) and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2008).

Other prominent participations include 10th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK (2010); 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2008), 9th Lyon Biennial, France (2007), 8th Sharjah Biennale (2007), and 15th Sydney Biennale, Australia (2006).