We are pleased to present work by celebrated Indian artist Sohan Qadri, one of the few modern painters of note deeply engaged with spirituality, in our newly renovated and expanded Chelsea gallery.
This is the first solo exhibition of Qadri’s work since his death in 2011 and a rare opportunity to see some of his early oils on canvas alongside a selection of masterfully rendered paper works. This exhibition also includes one of only a handful of ultra large-scale paintings by the artist.
Sohan Qadri was a poet, painter and Tantric yogi. He is known for luminous, dye-infused works on heavy paper, which explore the notion of emptiness or voids. Relying on a language of orifices and elongated paths or lines, Qadri abandoned representation in search of transcendence. He was particularly inspired by Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, which emphasizes the notion of sunyata or emptiness.
Born in Chachoki, a village in the Punjab, in 1932, Qadri was initiated into yogic practice at age seven. In 1965, he left India and began a series of travels that took him to East Africa, North America and Europe. He eventually set up a studio in Zurich before settling in Copenhagen where he lived for forty years. His works are in the collections of the British Museum, London; the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts; the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
We will be presenting talks about the artist and his work Tuesday through Saturday at 3 pm for the duration of the exhibition; no RSVP necessary.

Opening Reception : Thursday 15, 6 to 8 pm

mpefm USA art press release