Anjolie Ela Menon, Landscape with Head, 1985, Painting, 40 x 30 cm
Courtesy of Aicon Gallery
At Aicon Art we specialize in modern and contemporary non-Western art with a special focus on South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The New York gallery provides a vital platform for Modern and Contemporary artists from these regions to realize their vision in a global and ever-shifting world. Alongside in-depth, focused solo shows, the gallery presents a program of curated group exhibitions that are international in their scope and ambition.
In solo shows, Aicon has shown the work of established artists such as Rasheed Araeen, Rachid Koraichi, Rekha Rodwittiya, M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza, and S. H. Raza. The gallery has also presented ambitious solo shows of younger artists, such as Abdullah Syed, Abir Karmakar, Salman Toor, Adeela Suleman, and G. R. Iranna. Group shows have included Readymade: Contemporary Art from Bangladesh as well as Between Line and Matter: Impulse of Minimalism in South Asia and the Middle East. The gallery has collaborated with museums such as the Art Institute, Chicago; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Jewish Museum, New York and the Louvre, Abu Dhabi. Exhibitions have been reviewed and the gallery has been profiled by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, Art Asia Pacific, ArtForum and the Financial Times.
Saks Afridi
Rasheed Araeen
Ashish Avikunthak
G. R. Iranna
Anjolie Ela Menon
Saad Qureshi
Rekha Rodwittiya
Adeela Suleman
Abdullah M. I. Syed
Salman Toor
Rachid Koraïchi
Saba Qizilbash
Ahmed Morsi
Surendran Nair
Victor Ekpuk
Mohammad Omer Khalil
Faiza Butt
Peju Alatisse
Rina Banerjee
Born 1940, Burnpur, West Bengal, India
Menon’s studies in Paris in the 1960s exposed her to the techniques of medieval Christian iconography, particularly Byzantine art. A period of experimentation led to a muted palette of translucent colors, by her layering thin glazes of oil paint onto hardboard. The finely textured surfaces were further enhanced by burnishing the finished work with a soft dry brush, creating a glow reminiscent of medieval icons. As her style continued to evolve, Menon developed the distinctive features of early Christian art – namely the frontal perspective, the averted head, and the slight body elongation – but took the female nude as a frequent subject. The result is a dynamic relationship of eroticism and melancholy. Menon developed her artistic approach of distance and loss in her later works through her thematic depiction of black crows, empty chairs, windows, and hidden figures.
Menon’s prolific output has resulted in solo and numerous group exhibitions internationally. Her works have been acquired by major museums in India and abroad and reside in both private and corporate collections. She is also well known for her murals and has represented India at the Algiers Biennale and in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Solo exhibitions include the Winston Gallery, Washington, USA; Doma Khudozhinkov, U.S.S.R; Rabindra Bhavanand Shridharani Gallery, New Dehli; Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta and a major solo exhibition at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco in 2006.
The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
Prajit Dutta, Partner
Harry Hutchison, Director
New York, USA
35 Great Jones Street
10012
T: +1 212 725 6092
