Chitra Ganesh - Paper Variables 2025
Chitra Ganesh
2025 Paper Variables
Chitra Ganesh, Portals (Mourning Dove), 2025.
Pigmented cotton base sheet with stenciled linen pulp paint.
20h x 16w in. Variable 5/15.
Dieu Donné is pleased to release Portals, a new Paper Variables edition series by Chitra Ganesh. Created in collaboration with Master Collaborator Tatiana Ginsberg, the project consists of three suites—Mourning Dove, The Gift, and Prismatic. The series draws on hand-papermaking techniques such as washes and stenciling, brought to life through Ganesh’s bold and symbolic iconography.
Artist Statement
“A mourning dove perched on a floating tree, a levitating rose with an open eye at its center, a disembodied hand crossing the skies on a cloud, holding a prism: these are instances of my iconography, rooted in surrealism and myth.
This series allowed me to experiment through the generative materiality of paper. I explored the capacious shapeshifting medium with colorful spray washes, watercolor-like brush strokes, stencils, ink droplets, and sharp lines typically achieved in relief and silkscreen. Combined, these elements catalyzed a process both playful and surprising, resonating with the imagery’s dreamlike transformations to provide the viewer with multiple points of entry and open-ended narratives of contemplation and wonder.”
About the Artist
Brooklyn-based artist Chitra Ganesh has been exhibiting her work in New York City and internationally for the past 25 years. Ganesh's work is rooted in drawing and painting and has evolved to include murals, animation and public art installations. Her drawing-based practice sheds light on the potential of speculative storytelling to offer new ways of relating to both art history and the current moment. Her shape-shifting characters and lush environments often weave together imagery from comics, science fiction, surrealist art, presenting strong protagonists whose journeys expand upon mythic texts and popular culture forms such as comics and video games.
Ganesh holds a BA in Art-Semiotics and Comparative Literature from Brown University, and an MFA from Columbia University. She has exhibited widely across the U.S., Europe, and South Asia and her work is held in prominent public collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her major public art installation, Regeneration is currently on view at Penn Station in New York City. Building a speculative visuyal voocabular of resilience and regeneration is foundational to her practice.
For more information, please visit
https://www.chitraganesh.com
About Paper Variables
Celebrate the possibilities! The Paper Variable series are unique collectable works in a limited edition. Each piece is handmade in our studios, and artists love the chance to experiment with different colors and additions to make each piece distinctive. For collectors, it’s an opportunity to acquire works by well known artists at an attractive price. Signed and numbered by the artist.