Biography
Raqib Shaw’s transgressive vision is explored through highly personal imagery that is both opulent and fantastical. Combining iconography from both East and West, Shaw draws on a wide range of sources including art history, mythology, poetry, theatre, religion, science and natural history.
Highly detailed, his paintings are executed with pools of enamel and metallic industrial paints meticulously applied and manipulated to the desired effect with a porcupine quill. Every motif is outlined in embossed gold, a technique similar to ‘cloisonné’ found in early Asian pottery, which is one of many sources of inspiration to Shaw.
1974 Born in Calcutta, India. Lives and works in London.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
Raqib Shaw: Landscapes of Kashmir, Pace Gallery, New York
2018
Reinventing the Old Masters, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Bearing Points, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2017
Raqib Shaw, The Whitworth, Manchester
2016
Self Portraits, White Cube, Bermondsey, London
Raqib Shaw, White Cube at Glyndebourne, Lewes, East Sussex
2015
New Sculptures and Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Marais, Paris
2013
Paradise Lost, Pace Gallery, 508/510/534 West 25th Street, New York
Raqib Shaw, Galerie Rudolfinium, Prague
Raqib Shaw, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester
2012
Of Beasts and Super-Beasts, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Marais, Paris
2011
Paradise Lost, White Cube, Mason's Yard, London
2009
Absence of God, White Cube, Hoxton Square, London
2008
Raqib Shaw at the Met, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2006
Art Now: Raqib Shaw, Tate Britain, Millbank, London
Raqib Shaw: Garden of Earthly Delights, Museum of Contemporary Art Miami, North Miami
2005
Garden of Earthly Delights, Deitch Projects, 76 Grand Street, New York
2004
Garden of Earthly Delights, Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
WOW! The Heidi Horten Collection, Leopold Museum, Vienna
Bearing Points, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka
2015
Thief Among Thieves, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver
2014
Eurasia. A View on Painting, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris
2012
7th Asia Pacific Triennal, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Rebirth and Apocalypse in Contemporary Art, 1st Kiev Biennale Arsenale, Kiev
Phantoms of Asia, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
2011
Asian Contemporary Art from Private Collections, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Un rêve d’éternité, Fondation Boghassian, Brussels
Painting Between The Lines, CCA Waits Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
East ex East, Brand New Gallery , Milan
2010
Kupferstichkabinett: Between Thought and Action, White Cube, Mason's Yard, London
The Beauty of Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney
2009
The Power of Ornament, Belvedere (Orangery, Lower Belvedere), Vienna
Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Islam & Modernity, Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin
Nightmare Full of Unspeakable Things, Concept V, New York
2007
Panic Room: Works from The Dakis Joannou Collection, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens
2006
Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Around The World in Eighty Days, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Passion for Paint, National Gallery, London
Passion for Paint, Bristol City and Art Gallery, Avon
Passion for Paint, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
2005
Expanded Painting, Prague Biennale, Prague
2004
Plantmania! Art and The World of Plants, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland
2003
Nation an Nature; Vaster than Empires, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings
Nation an Nature; Vaster than Empires, Worcester City Art Gallery, Worcester
Nation an Nature; Vaster than Empires, The Yard Gallery, Nottingham
Nation an Nature; Vaster than Empires, Lethaby Gallery, London
2002
Chancellor’s Forum, London College of Fashion, London
Direction 2002, London Institute Gallery , London
2001
Future Map, Lethaby Gallery, London
