Birth of a New World by Rithika Merchant

The team at TARQ  presents Birth of a New World by Rithika Merchant as part of Mumbai Gallery Weekend. This is her second solo exhibition at TARQ, following Where the Water Takes Us in 2017. In this new series of watercolours and collages, Merchant focuses on the contemporary moment. With the world around us constantly, and rapidly evolving, the artist looks to a more primordial time, where she begins to search for answers in the stars. She proposes to create paths to a new world, similar to what you would see in an observatory. These works take a holistic view of the universe to try and answer what comes after the Holocene and Anthropocene when the earth started changing in a much more rapid and real way. As she examines what we will be left with, Merchant also questions ideas of achieving Utopia for the universe as we explore space. 
Through a combination of watercolour, gouache, ink, collage elements and use of organic shapes and colours, she looks to our collective archives seeking answers to understand where we find ourselves right now, searching for balance and harmony in this modern world. With nature continuing to play a vital role in her works, Rithika invites us to ponder the age-old questions of what is deemed worthy of saving and how do we strike a balance? Is there a possibility of a utopia or are we chasing after the unattainable? What will we take with us and what gets left behind? 

About the Artist 
Rithika Merchant (b. 1986) received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Parsons - The New School of Design, New York (2008). Since graduating, she has exhibited her work extensively, including a number of solo exhibitions in India, Spain, Germany, France and the United States. 
Her most recent solo shows include, Mirror of the Mind at Galerie L.J, Paris, France (2019); Where the Water Takes Us at TARQ, Mumbai (2017) and Ancestral Home at Galeria Bien Cuadrado, Barcelona (2017).

Her recent group exhibitions include a twoperson show Osmosis at TARQ, Mumbai, curated by Shaleen Wadhwana (2019); Spring! A Group Show of Contemporary Drawing at Galerie LJ, Paris (2019) and Chloe Couture at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kieve, Ukraine (2019). Other groups shows include Homo Faber at The Michaelangelo Foundation, Venice ( 2018) ; Portal at October Gallery, London (2018) and Sensorium / The End Is Only The Beginning Sunaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts, Goa (2018). She has also collaborated with Chloé, a French fashion house on multiple collections for which she was awarded the Vogue India Young Achiever of the Year Award at its Women of the Year Awards 2018. She was also named one of Vogue Magazine’s Vogue World 100 Creative Voices. She currently divides her time between Mumbai and Barcelona.