Guided by her material choices and formal subjects, Kaveri Raina establishes parameters for moments of confluence and resistance throughout her practice. Her abstract compositions, derived from reoccurring forms that she creates while drawing, emerge as triumphant and monumental. Applying graphite to paper with great pressure and repetition, she builds dense vessel-like forms and abstract figures, which she refers to as “image inventions.” She carries these shapes and drawing materials into her paintings on rough, unprimed burlap surfaces through and over which her mediums glimmer and hover.

CURRICULUM VITAE
Born 1990, New Delhi, India
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

EDUCATION
2017
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

2016
Masters of Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2011
Bachelors of Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing | Studio Concentration: Photography, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

SOLO EXHIBITONS
2024 
reflection as witness, Casey Kaplan, New York, NY 

2023
Songs of silence, yet bluebirds hum, PATRON, Chicago, IL

2022
image as a burden, death as a womb, Chapter NY, New York, NY

2020
Partings, Swaying to the Moon, PATRON Gallery, Chicago, IL
NO LACKS, ME AND MY SHADOW, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019
Linger to Gaze, Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy
Linger Still, Assembly Room, New York, NY

2017
Gods do Handstands; Spices Simmer, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL

2016
Will I Be Missed I, Kent State University, Stark, OH
Will I Be Missed, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH

2012
Journey to the Center of Infinite: New Delhi – Ohio, Gateway Gallery II, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023
Kaveri Raina and Coral Saucedo Lomelí: What Do You Remember About the Earth, Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY

2021
A Space for Monsters, Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2020
Hildur Jonsson, Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH

2019
Here or There, Paolo Arao, Curated by Audree Anid and Rachel Tretter, Rata Projects, New York, NY
Sarah.Canright, Kaveri.Raina, Permanent.Collection/Co-Lab Projects, Austin, TX
K.2, with Kerry Downey, Wild Project, New York, NY

2018
Pleasure at a Distance, with Katie Kirk, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
To Hover, with Cathy Hsiao, Roots and Culture, Chicago, IL

2017
Exchange Between, with Katie Kirk, DemoProject Space, Springfield, IL
Material Significance: The Density of Flowers, with Cathy Hsiao, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Gravity Model, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada 
Intimate Landscapes, The Orange Advisory, Minneapolis, MN

2023
A soft place to land, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Deep! Down! Inside! Hales Gallery, New York, NY 

2022
Heft, PATRON, Chicago, IL

2021
E/MERGE: Art of the Indian Diaspora, Nation Indo-America Museum, Lombard, IL

2019
spaceless, Deli Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
garcia, raina, shore, tossin, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
Paint School, Shandaken Projects, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
In-Betweenness, Acre Residency, LVL3, Chicago, IL
She Persists: A Century of Women Artists in New York, Curated by Jessica Bell Brown, Gracie Mansion Conservancy, New York, NY
Entering a Song, Koenig & Clinton, Brooklyn, NY

2018
Life as We Know It: A Storehouse Project, Millersville University, Millersville, PA
Indo-American Gala, Chicago, IL
The Annual, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
Painterly Intricacies, Gallery 310, Marietta College, Marietta, OH
The Dangerous Professors, Flatland Gallery, Houston, TX

2017
Nandi, The Condo Association, Curated by Dominique Knowles, Chicago, IL
Automythography, Anastasia Tinari Projects, Chicago, IL
K.R.F., Devening Projects + Editions, with Wolfgang Flad and Isabel Kerkermeier, Chicago, IL

2016
Not Just Another Pretty Face, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
We’ve Met Before, Chicago Artists Coalition, Curated by Faye Gleisser, Chicago, IL
Girlband, The Lorna Room, Chicago, IL
Xenophilia, Curated by Megha Ralapati, Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, IL
Cosmos Pornography and the Flickering Fiction of Place, Curated by Antoinette Suiter, Art Helix Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Small Works, Trestle Gallery, Curated by Heather Darcy Bhandari, Brooklyn, NY
Surfaces, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH
Emerging Illinois Artist, Triennial Juried Exhibition, Juried by Kelly Shindler
McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, IL
Master’s of Fine Art Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Curated by Kelly Shindler The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2015
Survivalists, Studio 213, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL
Small and Wonderful, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH
Hidden Process, Open Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL
Ornate Activate, Shirin Gallery, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, New York, NY
Moveable Feast, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH
Small Wonders, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Columbus, OH

2014
School of Art, Urban Edge Art Space, Waukegan, IL
Unstable Artifacts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Origins of Abstraction, Carnegie Gallery, Columbus OH
Greater Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus OH

2013
You Call that Art?, Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
Her Stories, Taubman Museum, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, Roanoke, VA
Stories to Tell, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH

2012
Seventh Annual Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry Juried Show, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH
6th Annual Art Auction Benefit, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY
South Asian Women’s Creative Collective 15th Anniversary: Her Stories, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
Spring Juried Art Exhibition, Ohio Art League, Columbus Metropolitan Main Library, Columbus, OH
6X6X2012, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY

2011
Art Scape, John Fonda Gallery, Theatre Project, Baltimore, MD
Undergraduate Commencement Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Art walk Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Painting Exhibition I, Maryland Institute College of Art, Open House, Baltimore, MD

ARTIST TALKS, LECTURES
2019
Artist Talk, Rata Projects, New York, NY
Artist Talk, Assembly Room, New York, NY
Artist Talk, Triangle Arts Benefit, New York, NY

2018
Artist Talk, Maryland Institute College of Art, Pushing Color, Baltimore, MD
Lighthouse Works, Artist Talk, Fishers Island, NY
Marietta College, Visiting Artist Lecture and Critiques, Marietta, OH
University of Chicago, Illinois, Visiting Artist Lecture, Chicago, ILӬ

2017
School of Art Institute of Chicago, Visiting Artist Lecture and Critiques, Chicago, IL
Chicago Artists Coalition, Artist Conversation with Megha Ralapati, Chicago, IL

2016
Kent State University, Visiting Artist Lecture | Stark, OH
Hammond Harkins Gallery, Artist Conversation with Greer Pagano, Curator, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH

2015
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Artist Talk | The Painting and Drawing Department, Chicago, IL

2013
Geh 8 Studios, Artist Talk | Dresden, GermanyӬ2012 Roy G Biv Gallery, Artist Talk | Columbus, OH

RESIDENCIES
2018-19
Paint School, Shandaken Projects, New York, NY

2018
Triangle Arts Association, Dumbo, NY
ACRE, Stueben, WI
Lighthouse Works Fellowship, Fishers Island, NY

2016-17
Chicago Artists Coalition, BOLT Residency, Chicago, IL

2016
Ox-Bow Fall Residency, Saugatuck, MI | Full Funding

2014
Greater Columbus Arts Council, Artist Exchange Fellowship, Dresden, Germany

2013
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont

2011
Arpana Caur Art Studios, New Delhi, India

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, NOMINATIONS
2017
Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant Nominee, New York, NY
Alice C Cole Fellowship, Finalist, Wellesley College Art Department
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Fellowship Award

2016
Ox-Bow Fall Residency Award
James Nelson Raymond Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Clare Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize Finalist, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2014-16
Harold and Virginia Haydon Scholar, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Enrichment Grant

2014
Greater Columbus Arts Council, Artist Exchange Fellowship, Dresden, Germany

2013
Visual Artist Fellowship Award, Finalist, Greater Columbus Arts Council
Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist in Community Professional Development Grant

2012
Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry People’s Choice Award
Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist in Community Supply Grant
Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant

2010
Betty Cooke ‘46 Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art
Fred and Joanna Lazarus 30-Year Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art

2007-‘11
Achievement Award of Excellence, Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art, Presidential Scholarship”¨Maryland Institute College of Art, Dean’s List”¨Ohio Governor’s Scholarship recipient, Maryland Institute College of Art

EXHIBITION TEXTS
2019
Ralapati, Megha, Kaveri Raina: Beyond This, Beyond That. Essay for Linger StillӬ

2017
Grabner, Michelle, Push and Pull: Experimenting with Painting’s Stabilities. Essay for Gods Do Handstands, Spices Simmer

2016
Morris, Matt, Hyperreal Hanuman: Painting into Global Flows. Essay for Will I Be Missed

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019
Artist Feature, Harper’s Magazine, August Issue
Crowin, William, “Life in Motion: permeability, transparency and disembodied form in Tommy Mintz and Kaveri Raina” ArtCritical, New York, NY
Hector, Katie, “Linger Still, Kaveri Raina at Assembly Room,” Art Spiel
Jordan, Patti, “Kaveri Raina’s Linger Still, curated by Emily Burns at Assembly Room,”ArtFuse
Steinhauer, Jill, “On Display at the People’s House: A Century of Persistence,” New York Times
Ginger Magazine, Artist Feature, Brooklyn, NY

2018
Chicago Woman Magazine, Artist Feature Interview, Chicago, IL
LVL3, Artist of the Week Feature Interview, Chicago, IL

2017
Miller, Chris, “Artists on the Make: Review of Automythography,” NewCity Art
DePaul University, Asian American Art Oral History Project Interview, Chicago, IL

2016
Clark, David, “Kaveri Raina: Hammond Harkins Galleries,”The Artist’s Periscope
Wachunas, Tom, “Burlap Ballads,”ARTWATCH
Tonguette, Peter, “Textured paintings crafted from both sides of canvas”,The Columbus Dispatch
LePique, Annette, “Girlband at Lorna Room”, Chicago Artist Writers

2015
Feature Artist, Interview by Emily Burns, MAAKE Magazine
Babu, Chaya, “The art of South Asian identity, history, politics”, India Abroad
Memarian, Omid, “Ornate Activate, the Crossroad of Art and Identity”, Huffpost Arts & Culture Mantey, Jackie, “Moveable Feast,”The Columbus Dispatch

2014
Yates, A. Christopher, “A Fellowship of Creativity”, The Columbus Dispatch
Tigges, Jesse, “GCAC exhibit showcases some of Columbus’ finest”, Columbus Alive

2012
Cotter, Holland, “Her Stories”, The New York Times
Wahi, Jasmine, “Her Stories”, Catalog, and Essay, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective

2011
Artist Spotlight, Cara Ober, Urbanite Baltimore Magazine
Creating Minds: Perspectives on Contemporary Indian Artists, Worthington News