PAINTING

Sukeshi Sondhi began her foray into fine art in 2008 with painting, primarily oils and acrylics, on canvas. Over time she has explored and incorporated the mediums of silk screen, installation using domestic found objects, 2D and 3D collage, as well as performance art into her practice. Since her move to Pittsburgh from Singapore in 2020, Sukeshi has felt the need to express her on-going connection and fascination with the urban landscape by wielding the brush again.

Shut Your Eyes to See

Shut Your Eyes to See (2023-present) is the latest in the series of abstract paintings inspired by urban landscape. Sukeshi structures her compositions with geometric shapes---lines, squares, rectangles---suggestive of architectural forms, like beams and tiles, bricks and stone, windows and doors. These simplified outlines provide the basis for exploration of light, color and texture which are informed by the artist’s experiences of places and sensations. The works retain an inherent duality---they are both geometric and gestural, conceptual and tactile.

The artist and her works are heavily influenced by her global urban-nomad lifestyle. Constant exposure to sights of redevelopment and gentrification, to sounds of construction and renovation has resulted in Sukeshi channeling these disruptive encounters in her art making. Experimentation with materiality and scale keeps the work relevant and evolving.

Shifts in Urban Landscape

Shifts in urban landscape (2021-2023) Urban landscapes are repositories of personal and collective memories. The artist is  exploring ways to render her perspective through the geometric abstraction by applying layers of acrylic, and graphite markings on canvas, burlap and corrugated cardboard. For Sukeshi the geometric shapes form an uncluttered and calm space in these tumultuous times. These works reference the serendipitous connections made during the artist’ move to Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh (USA) from Singapore during the height of covid in mid-2020.

The process and consequences of  redevelopment in urban landscape as evidenced by changes in architecture, demographics, and subculture holds an ongoing fascination for the artist. Her artwork engages in an interplay between the relationship of  line, color, form and space.  Sukeshi prefers that the meaning of a visual element not be definitive but, rather that it change according to the perception of the viewer. By distilling cityscapes into abstract geometric forms, Sukeshi subverts the traditional genre of landscape painting, challenging the viewer’s expectations of the work of art and inviting new interpretations of the ordinary and everyday.