Indian born artist Jaishri Abichandani will be in conversation with historian and independent curator Francesca Pietropaolo, discussing her solo exhibition Dirty Jewels. Taking place at the gallery in Clifford Street, the event is set to be an energising and wide-ranging discussion of her recent work, not to be missed.

Venice-based Francesca Pietropaolo has long been an admirer of Jaishri's work, contributing an essayCrystal Visions Amidst the Shades to the catalogue for the current show.
Coinciding with the Frieze Art Fair, the exhibition is Jaishri's first with the gallery and features works in a wildly diverse range of media including sculpture, photography, installation and mixed-media painting.

In her work she examines the political ramifications of our individual and collective identities through the lens of her experiences as a South Asian-American artist. Her works project overt political messages played out through a deft selection of imagery that blends the contemporary and the traditional, often crossing opposing figures found in mass media to present novel interpretations of current events whilst other works serve as commentaries on the relationship between the West and South Asia, gender issues, and the nature of authority.

ABOUT JAISHRI ABICHANDANI

Born in Mumbai and based in Brooklyn, Jaishri Abichandani has exhibited in the Guangzhou Triennial, the Beijing 798 Biennial, and institutions that include P.S.1. and the Queens Museum of Art in New York; as well as the Institut Valencia d'Art Modern. An accomplished curator, she founded the South Asian Women's Creative Collective in 1997, and later served as Founding Director of Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art. Her work is held in collections that include the Momenta Art Video Library, the Burger Collection, the Florian Peters-Messers Collection, and the Saatchi Collection.

ABOUT FRANCESCA PIETROPAOLO

With an academic background based in Italy (Università Ca' Foscari, Venice) and the United States (Columbia University, NY), Francesca Pietropaolo has focused her research interests on postwar European and North American art, and international contemporary art. She has worked with the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis; The Museum of Modern Art, New York and Tate Modern as well as on international loan-based shows. She also worked closely with the Director of the 52nd Venice Biennale, and has contributed essays to various exhibition catalogues. As an art critic, she has contributed to Flash Art International, and writes for ARTnews, Art in America, and Arte e Critica.

Published to coincide with the exhibition is a 64 page full-colour illustrated catalogue, with essays byFrancesca Pietropaolo, an art historian and independent curator, and Uzma Z. Rizvi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies at Pratt Institute of Art and Design, Brooklyn, New York.