“Kanishka Raja,” Tilton, New York, NY. Through November 17. Also at Envoy, New York, NY.
Kanishka Raja blends pattern and decoration, Op Art, Indian miniature, doubles, mirrors, multiplies and textures to create complex psychological interiors. In The Village Voice, RC Baker recommends the show. “These 18 small canvases initially appear to depict the same vaguely modern space: suspended orange light fixtures, bookshelves, a big TV screen, a pair of doors. But differences quickly become apparent�floor tiles are laid at divergent angles, televisions transmit changing pictures, lights blaze at varying intensities. Raja executed the paintings over a period of three years, each without looking at the previous versions, delivering a dissonant frisson. Similarly, in a larger canvas featuring a mirror-image view of an airline terminal filled with empty cots, the center join is misaligned, like imperfectly married pages in a magazine spread.” Check out an installation shot of his paintings at the ICA in Boston, 2005.
