Artist 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 gender constructs, socio-cultural 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.

Bio

Samanta Batra Mehta was born in New Delhi, India in 1975. She has exhibited her work at various international venues including at Bodhi Art Gallery in Bombay, the Queens Museum, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, AIR Gallery, Guild Art and Crossing Art Gallery in New York, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey and at the Salon Du Dessin Contemporain 2010 Contemporary drawing fair in Paris with Galerie LMD. Samanta has degrees in Economics and Information Systems from St Xavier’s College, Bombay and the London School of Economics, London. 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. Prior to pursuing art full-time from mid-2008 onwards, Samanta worked in Banking, Venture Capital and International Shipping. She currently lives in New York, USA.