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SHANTHI CHANDRASEKAR

Craft, Drawing, Fiber, Multimedia, Painting, Paper / Book / Illustration, Photography, Printmaking, Public Art, Sculpture / Installation, Visual / Media

Awards Received

Independent Artist

2021

My work is an ongoing search for meaning in my spiritual journey from the microcosm to the macrocosm. Using symbols, I have been trying to understand concepts that are simple yet profound.

About the Artist

Shanthi Chandrasekar is a multimedia and multidisciplinary artist from Maryland who has an academic background in physics and psychology, and has been trained in the traditional Indian art forms of Kolam and Tanjore-style painting. While many of her works are influenced by her Indian heritage, her true inspiration comes from the mystery and majesty of the world around her; her muse lives where the scientific overlaps with the spiritual.   Shanthi has won numerous awards for her works, including Independent Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and Individual Artist Grants from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County as well as from the Maryland Traditions Folklife Apprenticeships twice to teach Kolam. Her artwork is in the DC Art Bank, Montgomery Public Art, and other collections. Shanthi has exhibited, presented her work, and participated in events at several galleries and institutions, including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Gandhi Memorial Center, Katzen Arts Center at the American University in collaboration with physicist/science writer Michael Albrow, DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum in India, Art, Dagstuhl Seminar in Germany and the Smithsonian as well as at art fairs with LAMINAproject Gallery in New York City. She has shared Kolams with various audiences through presentations, workshops and exhibitions at various events and venues including the American Folklore Society, National Folklife Festival, Maryland Folklife and Traditions Festivals and the National Math Day. Her work has been reviewed by major newspapers and included in magazines and books such as Symmetry, Physics World, Scientific American and The Art-Science Symbiosis which was published in Chile.  As a Kennedy Center Culture Caucus member from 2022-24, Shanthi presented and curated events at The REACH that included topics on the juxtaposition of art and science, traditional arts and exhibitions of her artwork. She was invited as the Artisan in Residence by the National Museum of Asian Arts and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage for their partnership program in November 2023 to share Kolams by conducting a workshop, participating in a discussion and a live demonstration. Shanthi designed the Kolam concept for the 2021 Kolam Project that involved community participation from around the United States to install a 1,950-tile Kolam in Washington, DC. She continues to explore and experiment with ideas and concepts in cosmology, neuroscience and the human body and create new artwork. She currently works from her studio at Studio B in Bethesda, Maryland (US).

SHANTHI CHANDRASEKAR website SHANTHI CHANDRASEKAR

Artist's Statement

My artistic journey is a search towards the meaning of life and its place in the cosmos. Curiosity has been my driving force, leading me to ask questions about everything around me. This has led to my constant exploration and experimentation of ideas based on scientific and philosophical enquiry. Combining scientific facts and theories with my wild imagination has been fruitful in creating artwork that questions our known reality and seeks to learn more about the unknown.

Featured Work

Photos

I have always wondered about how my mind functioned, sometimes following order and sometimes just straying away daydreaming into random thoughts. This drawing is an attempt to capture that image of a fabric that has neurons, astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes all woven into its layers.
The mystery of the black hole fascinates me as it deals with concepts of singularity and infinity simultaneously. In this drawing, I have attempted to depict the extreme warping of space-time near a black hole while stars and galaxies are in the background.
An Indian woman often begins, and sometimes ends, her day by drawing Kolams on the ground outside the front door. For centuries, women have passed down these repeating patterns made from rice or rock powder from generation to generation. They symbolize the scientific and philosophical patterns innate to, and infinite throughout, the cosmos. This drawing is an attempt to show the creation of new memories as old ones are either pushed to the background or erased in the brain.
Drawing diagrams in my record book for biology lab was one of my favorite assignments in school. I would pour over the diagrams and render the details as realistically as possible. Now as an adult, I still find scientific drawing very satisfying and this series has given me the opportunity to revisit my childhood fascination with an artistic approach. The journey of the air molecules from the atmosphere through the nose and trachea to the lungs and back inspired this drawing.
Drawing diagrams in my record book for biology lab was one of my favorite assignments in school. I would pour over the diagrams and render the details as realistically as possible. Now as an adult, I still find scientific drawing very satisfying and this series has given me the opportunity to revisit my childhood fascination with an artistic approach. The complex structure of the kidneys along with the blood vessels, ureter, and urinary bladder was the inspiration for this drawing.
Though entropy is often interpreted as the degree of randomness or disorder in a closed system, it is a concept that plays a significant role in the workings of the cosmos. It can also be described as the number of possible configurations of the component microstates that are defined by macroscopic variables. This paper installation is an attempt to capture the meaning of entropy with changing macrostates and microstates depicted by the series of hole-punched circles hung from the ceiling. Each system of circles is made from the holes punched out of the largest circle.

Videos

  • Tamil Kolam- Folklife Apprenticeship

    See more information about Tamil Kolam- Folklife Apprenticeship
    In 2022-2023, master artist Shanthi Chandrasekar (Montgomery County) taught Tamil kolam (drawing) to apprentice artist Aishwariya Chandrasekar (Montgomery County) in a Folklife Apprenticeship. Film by Wide Angle Youth Media for the Maryland State Arts Council.
    Medium: Film
    Year: 2023
    Details: 7:11 minutes

  • Samadhana, Conversation- Shanthi Chandrasekar and Sarah Tanguy

    See more information about Samadhana, Conversation- Shanthi Chandrasekar and Sarah Tanguy
    Shanthi Chandrasekar was invited to be a Kennedy Center Culture Caucus member from 2022-24, during which she curated and exhibited events and exhibitions at The REACH. This video was a part of the exhibitions that were curated by Sarah Tanguy.
    Medium: Film
    Year: 2024
    Details: 34:03