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

 

 

EDUCATION

2001-2002 MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London.

1998-2001 BA (Honors) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, 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