MUMBAI.- In Paaras, Shine Shivan presents a new body of work that extends the artist's preoccupation with mythical stories and folklore. Paaras—a touchstone—converts metals to gold. The act of painting reflects a similar form of alchemy and magic, of translating and reimagining stories and myths that percolate.
Across his practice, Shivan has traversed a vast terrain of mediums: from work in taxidermy, performance and pastel. Here, the artist turns to oil for the rst time, executing monumental works that take root from ancient myths, but are remarkably contemporary in their execution.
In Shivan's painterly language, the artist amalgamates personal experiences of pilgrimage while carrying with him a vast repertoire of visual references: Persian paintings, Indian miniatures, colonial paintings, and Chola bronzes—each absorbed into a distinctive artistic language that the artist continues to hone.
This body of work emerges from Shivan's encounters with stories, songs, and oral traditions connected to the regions he travelled through. Many of these narratives centre on ideas of doubling and switching—motifs that become central to his work. Themes of merging identities, embodiment, and fluidity recur through these paintings, echoing devotional and poetic traditions where love and form often intermingle.
Born in 1980, Shine Shivan grew up in the lush landscape of Kulananda, Kerala, where frequent visits to a nearby forest fostered an early and enduring connection to the natural world. Even after his family later moved to Faridabad, Haryana, this environment remained a constant source of inspiration.
Over the past decade, Shivan has developed a distinctly personal visual language to articulate his charged ideas. With earlier explorations in taxidermy, performance, and video, he has turned to pastel, and more recently oil, drawing on myth, folklore, and fables shaped by his travels across the country.
Shivan’s work has been exhibited widely, including at the Tate Modern, London; MOCA Taipei; the Prague Biennale 5; and Kastrupgårdsamlingen, Copenhagen.
His accolades include the Culture and Education Society National Level Award and the Ravi Jain Annual Fellowship from Dhoomimal Art Galleries (both 2005); the All India Camlin Art Foundation Euro Art Tour (2007–08); the Lalit Kala Akademi Scholarship (2008); the PEERS Residency at KHOJ Studios (2009); and a shortlist nomination for the ŠKODA Prize Twenty (2010).
Selected shows: Nidhivan, Solo show, 2022, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai IN-CULT, Solo show, 2019, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, Finding India, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Taipei, 2010
