A Life In Art

Contemporary visual artist Angeli Sowani speaks with Grosvenor Gallery director Charles Moore about her early life and career, as well as her recent research into some of the fascinating, forgotten stories of Commonwealth men and women who served in the two World Wars. Angeli has shown several times with Grosvenor Gallery and her current exhibition ‘Together’ runs from 15 – 30 September 2022. Grosvenor Gallery websitewww.grosvenorgallery.com Angeli Sowani’s websitewww.angelisowani.c...

Rithika Pandey is a visual artist from Mumbai. Her paintings draw on the personal, mythological and scientific to navigate the mystical spaces within our culture and technological environments. In her complex and deeply personal paintings, she deals with issues such as hybridity, displacement and femininity. In this episode, we talk about her inspiration, travel and how music is integral to her work.Her exhibition, ‘Only What Is, Never Another’ runs at Grosvenor Gallery in London from 7- 29 A...

We are very excited to announce this special bonus episode of A Life in Art, in which William Dalrymple is interviewed by the legendary photographer Steve McCurry. The pair discuss a wide range of subjects, from their first visits India, how they met, to their work in Afghanistan and the photography of Julia Margaret Cameron. Steve also selects his favourite images from William's exhibition, which is on display at the gallery until the 30th July 2021. A recording of the zoom interview between...

In this episode we talk to William Dalrymple about his love of photography and his upcoming exhibition at Grosvenor Gallery, The Traveller’s Eye, taking place from the 1st to the 30th July 2021. We discuss his artistic heroes, his technique as well as experiences from his recent research trips.William Dalrymple is one of Britain’s great historians and the bestselling author of the Wolfson Prize-winning White Mughals, the Duff Cooper prize winning The Last Mughal, and the Hemingway and Kapucin...

Mark Shields is a contemporary painter from Northern Ireland whose work is mystical and enigmatic. Mark has been working with Grosvenor Gallery since 1997, and his monumental 2011 painting ‘A Great Gulf Fixed’ is the subject of a special exhibition at the Gallery running from 19 March – 12 April 2021. In this episode we speak to Mark about the painting, with contributions from independent curator Feargal O’Malley.Mark's work has been shown across the UK and Europe and he has regularly feature...

Zimbiri is a visual artist, born and raised in Bhutan. She currently works with traditional Bhutanese materials; ‘sa-tschen’ (earth paint) and ‘rhay-shing’ (hand-woven canvas). Her first exhibition ‘Faces', was held in 2015 and was the first female solo-exhibition ever held in Bhutan. The paintings in that show were variations of the three eyed ‘Mahayana Mask’, illustrating the metaphoric masks we wear and how we use them as a means of protection. Her recent work is a series of paintings that...

Olivia Fraser is a contemporary British artist, who for the last 30 years has lived in India. Olivia has immersed herself in Indian culture, seeking not just to paint Indian scenes, but to fully understand and appreciate the myriad of ways of seeing in this vast country, creating a hybrid aesthetic of East and West. In 2005 she studied traditional miniature painting in Jaipur, which transformed the way she worked and looked at the world around her. In this episode we talk about her inspi...

In this episode we speak to the internationally renowned artist Faiza Butt. We discuss the influences behind her stunningly detailed works, as well as issues that have been thrown up by the Coronavirus crisis. We talk about her ceramic work, a medium Faiza has a strong affiliation with, as well as the techniques used in her paintings, and how her experiences at the Slade School of Art changed her practice. We also discuss how life in London and the experiences of her children bleed into her w...

British painter Elisabeth Deane’s love of Indian miniature painting was born from a trip to Shantiniketan in West Bengal in 2011. Inspired by the work of polymath Rabindranath Tagore, she went on to study under Rajasthani masters, and later at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London. Her work is a mix of rigid geometry and flowing figurative work, drawing from sources as varied as Persian and Indian miniatures and folklore to Islamic geometry. Her first solo-show, 'Rhythmic Measures...

Wardha Shabbir is a visual artist based in Lahore, Pakistan. A graduate of the National College of Art in Lahore, Wardha employs traditional miniature painting techniques, producing paintings and sculpture in a style she describes as 'Organic Geometry'. In 2018 she was shortlisted for the Jameel Prize, and in October 2019 we held her first UK solo-show at the gallery in London.