Statement
I am interested in mapping connections between the human condition and the environment we inhabit. Using the body and abstracted organic forms as metaphor for land/earth/people, my work investigates themes in personal history, gender constructs, social order and colonization. I draw from a broad range of influences including history, myth, the natural world, antiquarian illustration, religious iconography and mystical philosophies. My practice is currently focused on drawing, photo and installation based art.
Artist Bio
 Samanta Batra Mehta is a banker turned artist having pursued degrees in Economics and Information Systems from St Xavier’s College, Bombay and the London School of Economics, London before her foray into art. She has attended various art-making classes and workshops including the year long Aesthetics of Indian Visual Art at the Bombay University and Summer School in Drawing and Painting at the Central St. Martins, London. She has also been trained in traditional Byzantine icon-making at the Prosopon School of Iconology, New York. Samanta’s drawings, photo and installation based art maps connections between the human condition and the environment we inhabit. Using the body and abstracted organic forms as metaphor for land/earth/people, her work investigates themes in personal history, gender constructs, social order and colonization. She draws from a broad range of influences including history, myth, the natural world, antiquarian illustration, religious iconography and mystical philosophies. Her work has been exhibited at various international venues including at the Queens Museum, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, AIR Gallery and Guild Art in New York, the Hunterdon Museum and the Visual Arts Center in New Jersey, Gallery BMB and Bodhi Art Gallery in Bombay and at the Salon Du Dessin Contemporain 2010 in Paris with Galerie LMD where she was invited to make a 24 foot long site-specific mural. Most recently her work will be seen at Art Stage, Singapore 2012 and at the India Art Summit in January 2011. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo show with Shrine Empire Gallery in New Delhi slated for December 2011. She lives and works in New York City.
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