sutapa biswas

London-based artist Sutapa Biswas exhibits her work at the Roesler Hotel while Ana Linnemann, from Rio de Janeiro, takes over the gallery's courtyard.

Taking issues such as time, desire, feminism and cultural identity as her conceptual repertoire, Sutapa Biswas (1962, Santinekethan, India) develops ideas in her work that invite interpretations about space, experience and memory, while maintaining a strong relation to the history of art.

Curator Michael Asbury argues that although Biswas' production may appear at first eclectic it possesses an overall coherence that bridges issues she has explored over the years. The intimate and subjective feminine experiences are overlapped with a critical gaze towards art history - a traditional eurocentric male-dominated territory. The dynamics the artist creates between the subjective and the historical install a sense of instability in the viewers´ apprehension of the work.

One such example is Biswas´ double-screen film (shot in 16mm) Birdsong (2004), where the experience of motherhood is juxtaposed with citations to 18th century British painting and its representation of social structures. The projections occupy the ground floor gallery as part of the Roesler Hotel program. In addition to Birdsong, Biswas presents an installation composed of acrylic paintings (Untitled (Birds), 2008) that have the issue of migration as their inspiration. Another work presented consists of a video (The Trials and Tribulations of Mickey Baker, 1997) where the artist articulates time-based media with the tradition of painting. A still from the production of Birdsong welcomes the viewer to the gallery.

Biswas studied at Leeds University (1981-85), the Slade School of Art (1988-1990) and the Royal College of Art (1996-1998). Recent solo exhibitions include: Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon (2005), Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham (2004), and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2000). Participations in group shows include: From Tarzan To Rambo, Tate Modern, London (2002-2003), Art Through the Eye of A Needle, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo (2001), The Unmapped Body: 3 Black British Artists, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (1998), and the 6th Havana Biennale, Cuba (1997).

The artist is currently Reader at the University of the Arts London where she is a member of the Transnational Art Identity and Nation (TrAIN) Research Centre.