Artists > Nikhil Chopra
Nikhil Chopra’s artistic practice ranges between live art, theatre, painting, photography, sculpture and installations. His performances, in large part improvised, dwell on issues such as identity, the role of autobiography, the pose and self-portraiture, reflects on the process of transformation and the part played by the duration of performance. Taking autobiographical elements as his starting point, Chopra combines everyday life and collective history; daily acts such as eating, resting, washing and dressing, but also drawing and making clothes, acquire the value of ritual, becoming an essential part of the show.
The artist has exhibited and performed globally since 2005. Participation in important solo and group exhibitions include One Water, Many Lands, Gropius Bao, Berlin, Germany (2023); Lands, Waters, and Skies, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2019); Fire Water, 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, China (2018); Drawing a Line Through Landscape, documenta14, Athens, Greece & Kassel, Germany (2017); Blackening VI, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, UK (2017); Bhairav, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (2017); The Black Pearl: the city from the river, Alchemy, Southbank Centre, London, UK (2016); La Perla Negra, La Bienal de Habana, Havana, Cuba (2016); Use Like Water, Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015); Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom, Singapore International Festival for the Arts (2014); Inside Out, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy (2012); Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing X, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai and the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (2010). The artist has also performed at Performa, New York (2008); the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009); and the Yokohama Triennale (2008). Chopra lives and works in Goa.
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b. 1974
Education:
2003 MFA Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
2001 BFA Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
1997-1999 BFA M.S. University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, IN
1995 B.COM N.M. College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai, IN
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Line of Fire, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2024 Line of Fire: Live + Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157 Installation, 47-A Design Gallery, Mumbai, IN
2023 One Water, Many Lands, Gropius Bao, Berlin, Germany
2022 Lands, Waters, and Skies, Residues of Nikhil Chopra’s 2019 performance ‘Lands, Waters, and Skies’ at The Met, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2019 Lands, Waters, and Skies, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
2018 Lands, Waters, and Skies, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2017 Blackening VI: Engine No. 3157, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
2016 Drum Solo at The Mill, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France
2015 La Perle Noire: Jarry Park, Jarry Park, FOFA Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
2014 La Perle Noire: Le Marais, Level One, gb agency, Paris, France
2012 Inside Out, Gallery Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
2012 Blackening IV: Bay 19, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia
2010 Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory drawing X, Chatterjee & Lal, and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, IN
2010 Drum Solo, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2009 Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory drawing IX, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2007 Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory drawing II, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2005 Sir Raja III, Supported by Chatterjee & Lal The Fourth Floor, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, IN.
2003 Sir Raja II, Kinnear Warehouse, Columbus, Ohio, USA
2002 Sir Raja I, 105 West Prescott Street basement, Ohio, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 Head in the Clouds, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2020 Outside, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2018 Sensorium, Goa, IN
2018 D/CODE, Mumbai, IN
2018 India Art Fair, New Delhi, IN
2017 The 10 Year Hustle, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2017 Drawing a Line Through Landscape, documenta 14, Athens-Kassel
2017 Bhairav, New North and South, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
2016 The Black Pearl: The City From the River, Alchemy, Southbank Centre, London
2015 Use Like Water, Sharjah Biennial 12, Sharjah
2015 La Perla Negra: Plaza Di Armas, La Bienal de Habana, Havana
2014 La Perle Noire: Aspenwall House, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, IN
2014 Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom, Singapore International Festival for the Arts, Singapore
2013 Rebirth of Detail, Sunaparanta Center for the Arts, Panjim, Goa, IN
2012 Frieze Art Fair, Focus, Chatterjee & Lal, London, UK
2012 fiVe ,Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, IN
2012 Inside Out: As the stars view the Palace, Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, USA 2012 Tenth Parallel North Contemporary Photography from India and South America, Fondazione Fotografia, Modena , Italy
2011 Act // ing, Meinblau – House of Arts Berlin, Germany
2011 The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India, Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, San Franscisco, California, USA
2011 H Box Artsonje, Seoul ; Today Art Museum, Beijing ; Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2011 Crossroads: India escalate (India Pavilion), Prague Biennale 5, Prague, Czech Republic
2011 In India and Far Beyond: Khoj International Artists Association, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen IFA Gallery, Stuttgart and Berlin, Germany
2011 Genaration in Transition: New Art from India, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2011 Liberalis, Projecte Sindelfingen, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, Germany
2011 Beyond the Self, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia
2011 Paris, Delhi, Bombay, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2010 Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside Out, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
2009 Kunstenfestivaldesarts 09, Brussels, Belgium
2009 The Self & the Other: Portraiture in contemporary Indian photography, ARTIUM Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo, Spain
2009 The Self & the Other: Portraiture in contemporary Indian photography, La Virrenina Centre de La Imatge, Barcelona, Spain
2009 Marina Abramovic presents: Manchester International Festival 09, Manchester, UK
2009 53rd International Art Exhibition, Making Worlds (curated by Daniel Birnbaum), La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2009 Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium
2009 Indian Highway, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
2008 Indian Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2008 CHALO INDIA!, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2008 Time Crevasse, Yokohama Triennale 2008, Yokohama, Japan
2008 Chatterjee & Lal @ Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, USA
2008 Live Art 08, Khoj International Artist’s Association, New Delhi, IN
2007 Khoj International Artist’s Association, Kashmir, IN
2007 Posing (curated by Joelle Jenson & Andrea Cote), Abrons Art Center, New York, USA
2007 House of Mirrors (curated by Deeksha Nath), Grosvenor Gallery,London, UK
2007 Performance Art Residency, Khoj International Artist’s Association, New Delhi, IN
2007 Beings and Doings (curated by Emma Ridgeway), British Council, New Delhi, IN
2006 Asian Contemporary Art week (curated by Leeza Ahmady), Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
2005 The Taste of Others (curated by Leeza Ahmady), Apexart, New York, USA
2004 Contemporaneity: International Video Art in Kyrgyzstan (curated by Leeza Ahmady),Central Asia Biennale, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Residencies:
2012 Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia
2012 Asialink, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Blackening III: Bay 19, Performance Space, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia
2011-12 Broken White II, Frei University, Berlin, Germany
2010 Centre Intermondes, La Rochelle, France
2009 Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, Belgium
2007 International Performance Art Residency, Khoj, IN
2007 Khoj Kasheer, Srinagar, Kashmir, IN
