The ARTIST

Silhouettes  |  Patterns  |  Tapestry

ABOUTBiography

pragya@pragyajain.com | www.pragyajain.com

Pragya Jain is a native of New Delhi where she completed the first twelve years of her schooling at the Modern School, New Delhi. In 2001, India’s former president Dr Abdul Kalam awarded her with a Distinction in Arts following the AISSC Exams. Pragya gained admission to the prestigious Delhi School of Arts after ranking seventh in the three-step entrance examination process. Soon after graduating with a BFA in 2005, she had her first public showing in New Delhi.
She spent the next six years building her body of work in the United States which was exhibited in New York City, Amherst, Boston, and several cities in Connecticut. For the last 11 years Pragya has called Bangalore, Karnataka her home. Her first solo exhibition in the city at Sublime Galleria in 2009 was a complete sell out and helped her gain patronage from of prominent collectors including the Prestige and Salarpuria Groups. In 2018 she co-founded eco-conscious brand Artychoke with the intention of creating homeware and accessories adorned with her designs.

Artist Statement

My childhood was immersed in art—my parents collected paintings and sculptures for as long as I remember and gave a lot of importance to my creative education including Indian classical dance and music. Conversations with artists were commonplace in my home and helped set the backdrop for my own practice today. To me, art is telling an uninterrupted story on the canvas. Memories, inspiring conversations, and nature are my main sources of inspiration. I try to find rhythm and geometry in these elements. My colour palette can be as vibrant as the rainbow and on occasion, monochromatic with intense drama. Horses, ballerinas, birds, fish, elephants, cows are regular motifs and often show up on my canvases in a multi-faceted grid or checkerboard format.

My main goal is to communicate through colours and I am forever fascinated by the human experience. I spend hours finding perfect symmetry on my canvas adding layer-upon-layer to achieve geometric perfection. It signifies our desire to find comfort in repletion, routine, and structure. This is what I believe to be a direct representation of what the human mind wants and acts like. Ultimately, I wish that my creations exude positivity and happiness. This vision inspired the eco-conscious homeware label Artychoke that I started in partnership with my mother and sister. We are constantly creating pieces that can fit into every aspect of everyday life. I find beautiful irony in how I have created the perfect symmetry in my role as an artist and designer—one cannot live without the other.