ALL OF CIVILISATION ON A LEAF
MANNAT GANDOTRA
LUCE GALLERY
Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024
Opening: Tuesday, November 28, 6:30 pm. The artist will be present.
Online exhibition walkthrough video
Exhibition view, All of Civilisation on a Leaf, Mannat Gandotra, 2023, Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Luce Gallery is pleased to announce “All of Civilisation on a Leaf”, the first solo show by Mannat Gandotra in Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024. The exhibition features a new series of large-scale vibrant paintings.
Gandotra is an Indian London-based painter who creates lyrical abstract works with a bold color palette, visible brushstrokes, and distinctive lines, all formed through spontaneous gestures. Her work is diaristic, visualizing her personal experiences and perceptive observations, imbuing a spectrum of sentiments onto the canvas. When viewed together, the paintings on view seek to explore the complexity and intensity of our emotions by enveloping viewers in a seductive dissonance of form and pigment.
The exhibition’s title, All of Civilization on a Leaf, is borrowed from a painting she created earlier in her career that felt deeply relevant to this body of work. For Gandotra, this phrase served as a prompt, inspiring robust visual compositions that encapsulate the vastness and intricacies of our human existence, condensed and distilled until it finds a perch on a humble leaf, or in this case, within the confines of the canvas.
Growing like wild gardens, Gandotra’s forms flourish in chaos, with colors vying for attention, and lines dancing to silent tunes. Her works seem to capture moments of pure opposition, yielding equal parts creation and destruction, condensing and expanding. In her search for inspiration, she is drawn to unconventional details or elements out of place, such as a flowing river disrupted by protruding rocks or smooth wood grains interrupted by gnarly knots. Her objective is always to look beyond the symmetry and precision of traditional beauty, instead aiming to emulate and emphasize the imperfect imperfections in our world. To achieve this, she paints intuitively, allowing the fluidity of brushstrokes and pools of color to guide her toward compositions, forming a collaborative effort between creation and creator. In the studio, she often works on these paintings in groups simultaneously - like those on view here - giving them shared characteristics akin to siblings sharing the same womb.
In Asking for a Stampede (2023), garish pink, cobalt, and neon-orange shapes swirl in a sea of pale chartreuse and algae-green forms. The composition pulls towards and away from each side and corner, offering no clear orientation, granting freedom to the viewer for exploration in any direction. As the eye traverses the canvas, darker areas of saturated teal draw you deeper below the surface, encouraging contemplation. Meanwhile, brighter patches of lime green energize and excite, lifting your gaze to the shallow surface, and evoking a sense of anticipation. In this piece, echoes of Wassily Kandinsky's musicality and the pure expressionism forms of artists like Lee Krasner are evident. Overall, this painting embodies a tension between light and dark, diaphanous and opaque, perhaps hinting at one element waiting for its moment to swiftly eclipse the other, as the title alludes. Yet, as with all of the artist’s titles, they are not meant to be narrative or conceptual. Rather she likens them to how we name children, where an individual’s name serves to identify them, rather than be used to define or express their entire story.
The strength of Gandotra’s work lies in how she communicates a genuine spontaneity by skillfully manipulating forms, line weight, and opposing colors, to guide the viewer towards feeling rare and powerful emotions reminiscent of fleeting joyful laughter or a fluttering heart in love.
Mannat Gandotra, Asking for a Stampede, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm (70.8 x 70.8 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, A Few Chimneys, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm (70.8 x 70.8 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, Picky Bits, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 210 cm (70.8 x 82.6 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, Brick Laying, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 180 x 210 cm (70.8 x 82.6 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
The exhibition walkthrough video will be online at www.lucegallery.com/video.php.
Mannat Gandotra (2001, Delhi, India) lives and works in London, United Kingdom. She is a painter working in lyrical abstraction. A discerning observer, the artist draws inspiration from facets of her daily life and experience in search of the unconventional to create paintings that are lively, emotive, and saturated with color. In London, Gandotra is currently a student at the Royal College of Art after she graduated with a BFA in 2023 from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. She has exhibited in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Mannat Gandotra, In Another Life, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on paper, sheet size 106 x 130 cm (41.7 x 51.1 in), overall dimensions 123 x 147.2 cm (48.4 x 57.9 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, The Low Bridge is Flying High, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on paper, sheet size 150 x 134 cm (59 x 52.7 in), overall dimensions 167 x 151 cm (65.7 x 59.4 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
All of Civilisation on a Leaf
Mannat Gandotra
Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024
Opening: Tuesday, November 28, 6:30 pm. The artist will be present.
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 11:00 am - 6:30 pm
+39 011 0564991 / info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Online videos featuring exhibition walkthroughs: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
ALL OF CIVILISATION ON A LEAF
MANNAT GANDOTRA
LUCE GALLERY
Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024
Opening: Tuesday, November 28, 6:30 pm. The artist will be present.
Online exhibition walkthrough video
Exhibition view, All of Civilisation on a Leaf, Mannat Gandotra, 2023, Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Luce Gallery is pleased to announce “All of Civilisation on a Leaf”, the first solo show by Mannat Gandotra in Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024. The exhibition features a new series of large-scale vibrant paintings.
Gandotra is an Indian London-based painter who creates lyrical abstract works with a bold color palette, visible brushstrokes, and distinctive lines, all formed through spontaneous gestures. Her work is diaristic, visualizing her personal experiences and perceptive observations, imbuing a spectrum of sentiments onto the canvas. When viewed together, the paintings on view seek to explore the complexity and intensity of our emotions by enveloping viewers in a seductive dissonance of form and pigment.
The exhibition’s title, All of Civilization on a Leaf, is borrowed from a painting she created earlier in her career that felt deeply relevant to this body of work. For Gandotra, this phrase served as a prompt, inspiring robust visual compositions that encapsulate the vastness and intricacies of our human existence, condensed and distilled until it finds a perch on a humble leaf, or in this case, within the confines of the canvas.
Growing like wild gardens, Gandotra’s forms flourish in chaos, with colors vying for attention, and lines dancing to silent tunes. Her works seem to capture moments of pure opposition, yielding equal parts creation and destruction, condensing and expanding. In her search for inspiration, she is drawn to unconventional details or elements out of place, such as a flowing river disrupted by protruding rocks or smooth wood grains interrupted by gnarly knots. Her objective is always to look beyond the symmetry and precision of traditional beauty, instead aiming to emulate and emphasize the imperfect imperfections in our world. To achieve this, she paints intuitively, allowing the fluidity of brushstrokes and pools of color to guide her toward compositions, forming a collaborative effort between creation and creator. In the studio, she often works on these paintings in groups simultaneously - like those on view here - giving them shared characteristics akin to siblings sharing the same womb.
In Asking for a Stampede (2023), garish pink, cobalt, and neon-orange shapes swirl in a sea of pale chartreuse and algae-green forms. The composition pulls towards and away from each side and corner, offering no clear orientation, granting freedom to the viewer for exploration in any direction. As the eye traverses the canvas, darker areas of saturated teal draw you deeper below the surface, encouraging contemplation. Meanwhile, brighter patches of lime green energize and excite, lifting your gaze to the shallow surface, and evoking a sense of anticipation. In this piece, echoes of Wassily Kandinsky's musicality and the pure expressionism forms of artists like Lee Krasner are evident. Overall, this painting embodies a tension between light and dark, diaphanous and opaque, perhaps hinting at one element waiting for its moment to swiftly eclipse the other, as the title alludes. Yet, as with all of the artist’s titles, they are not meant to be narrative or conceptual. Rather she likens them to how we name children, where an individual’s name serves to identify them, rather than be used to define or express their entire story.
The strength of Gandotra’s work lies in how she communicates a genuine spontaneity by skillfully manipulating forms, line weight, and opposing colors, to guide the viewer towards feeling rare and powerful emotions reminiscent of fleeting joyful laughter or a fluttering heart in love.
Mannat Gandotra, Asking for a Stampede, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm (70.8 x 70.8 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, A Few Chimneys, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm (70.8 x 70.8 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, Picky Bits, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 210 cm (70.8 x 82.6 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, Brick Laying, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 180 x 210 cm (70.8 x 82.6 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
The exhibition walkthrough video will be online at www.lucegallery.com/video.php.
Mannat Gandotra (2001, Delhi, India) lives and works in London, United Kingdom. She is a painter working in lyrical abstraction. A discerning observer, the artist draws inspiration from facets of her daily life and experience in search of the unconventional to create paintings that are lively, emotive, and saturated with color. In London, Gandotra is currently a student at the Royal College of Art after she graduated with a BFA in 2023 from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. She has exhibited in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Mannat Gandotra, In Another Life, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on paper, sheet size 106 x 130 cm (41.7 x 51.1 in), overall dimensions 123 x 147.2 cm (48.4 x 57.9 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
Mannat Gandotra, The Low Bridge is Flying High, 2023, acrylic and charcoal on paper, sheet size 150 x 134 cm (59 x 52.7 in), overall dimensions 167 x 151 cm (65.7 x 59.4 in), Photo Nicola Morittu, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin
All of Civilisation on a Leaf
Mannat Gandotra
Turin, from November 28, 2023, to January 12, 2024
Opening: Tuesday, November 28, 6:30 pm. The artist will be present.
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 11:00 am - 6:30 pm
+39 011 0564991 / info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Online videos featuring exhibition walkthroughs: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
