Short Biography
Nandini Chirimar grew up in Jaipur, India and came to the USA in 1987 to study art. She completed her BFA in Drawing and Painting from Cornell University, a residency at Skowhegan School of Art, and an MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She learned viscosity printing from Arun Bose and spent four years in Japan studying woodblock printing with Taika Kinoshita. Nandini lives in New York City and has shown at Allen Gallery Chelsea, New York (solo exhibition); Ono Gallery, Tokyo; CWAJ Print Shows, Tokyo; Exhibit 320 Gallery, New Delhi; CIMA Gallery, Kolkata; AHAF Fair, Korea; SLICK II Fair, Paris; and in Erasing Borders Traveling Exhibitions.

Artist Statement
Everyday life is the foundation of my work. I constantly obeserve and think about myself, my surroundings and the traditions that shape my actions. I draw from personal history, maps, places I have lived in, relationships and my different roles as an Indian woman/mother living in America.

Researching everyday objects for their function in our life, and their social significance, is part of my process. These include household objects, things in drawers, shelves, rooms and traditional and non-traditional objects. I am fascinated by their physical characteristics and what happens when they are taken out of context and repeated or combined. As an example, threads used in Indian marriage ceremonies could be woven together using multiples of knots, or a drawing could contain thousands of minute seeds, spices, grains etc.

I use Japanese Kozo paper to make detailed drawings using pencil, watercolor and embroidery. I also work with many printmaking techniques, like etching, aquatint and Indian/Japanese woodblock printing. The mixed media drawings and prints may be layered and cut, sewn, rolled or otherwise manipulated to become objects themselves. Sometimes they morph into sculptural pieces where physical objects become the focus, like hundreds of objects collected in glass jars, or red bangles sewn on the artwork or hung from the celing.