Page 26 - 2016octissue

Art Gallery at Western New

England University Features

Work of Priya Nadkarni

The Art Gallery of Western New England University is hosting "Pleasure Index," an exhibit by painter Priya
Nadkarni, from October 2­ November 3. The Art Gallery is located in the St. Germain Campus Center, where
Nadkarni will offer insight into her work during a Gallery Talk on Thursday, October 13, at 7:00 p.m.

Priya Nadkarni has shown her work in both solo and group exhibitions in spaces such as the Kimmel Center
Galleries at New York University, Jersey City Museum, Cuchifritos Gallery NYC , Zimmerli Art Museum,
Concordia College, and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. She is a recipient of the international Elizabeth
Greenshields Foundation Grant as well as a fellowship from the University of Massachusetts, and was a 2013
artist­in­residence at the Blue Mountain Center.

She received her MFA in Painting from University of Massachusetts Amherst and her BFA in Printmaking from
Rutgers University. Priya is originally from New Jersey and currently lives in Springfield, MA.

"My work reveals the underbellies of the American consciousness," explains Nadkarni. "These paintings conjure
up images of anonymous girls in poofy dresses, bountiful tables filled with earthly delights, and the lingering
vestiges of a televised beauty contest. The imagery used in my work serves as a metaphor to describe notions of
power, lust, and excess, that pulsate through the American psyche and drives one towards achieving world
domination."

"In the age of European imperialism, kingdoms were won and celebrated through paintings that depicted young
royalty and the spoils of war. These works evoke a haunting legacy of this tradition, that reflects the need for
consumption and possession that runs rampant in our times. Our innate desire and our intrinsic nature to acquire,
to persist and to pervade­­ it rules over us far stronger than any collective of culture or of history. Unless, of
course, we decide to choose freedom," Nadkarni added.

All Art Gallery events are free and open to the public.