Raqib Shaw
Raqib Shaw is a Kolkata-born, London-based artist renowned for his opulent, jewel-like paintings and sculptures. Shaw’s upbringing in a family of merchants surrounded by antiques, textiles, and jewels greatly influenced his distinctive visual language.
His work draws on a vast range of influences, including Persian carpets, Renaissance art, Japanese lacquerware, and mythology from both Eastern and Western traditions. His highly detailed, fantastical worlds often feature mythical creatures, warriors and sensual scenes, blending beauty with violence and decadence. His meticulous technique, which recalls the ancient art of cloisonné, involves the use of vibrant enamels, rhinestones, and glitter to create surfaces that shimmer with intricate patterns and vivid colors.
Shaw has exhibited at major institutions, including the Tate Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Scottish National Gallery, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. His first traveling retrospective, Ballads of East and West, continues to tour internationally.
