Sreshta Rit Premnath (1979, Bangalore) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in New York.
He completed his BFA at The Cleveland Institute of Art (2003), his MFA at Bard College (2006), and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program (2008). In 2009 he attended Skowhegan; in 2011 he received the Art Matters Foundation Grant and the Civetella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship; and in 2012 he was awarded the Arthur Levitt Fellowship from Williams College.
Premnath’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions including Folding Rulers, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; The Last Image, Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago, 2012; Storeys End, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, 2011; Rhizome, Wave Hill, New York, 2011; Leo (procedures in search of an original index), Gallery SKE, Bangalore, 2010; Zero Knot, Art Statements, Art|41|Basel, 2010; as well as numerous group exhibitions, including The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India, YBCA, San Francisco; Before and After, Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris, 2010; Spectral Evidence, 1A Space, Hong Kong, 2010; Other than Beauty, Friedman Benda Gallery, New York, 2010.
He is the founder and co-editor of the magazine Shifter along with Matthew Metzger; has curated On Certainty, Bose Pacia, New York, 2009; and the ongoing Project for an Archive of the Future Anterior in collaboration with Thom Donovan.
Premnath currently teaches in the MFA program at Parsons College.
Education
2008 The Whitney Museum of Art, Independent Study Program, New York, NY
2006 MFA, Studio Art , The Milton Avery Graduate School of Fine Arts, Bard College, Annandale, NY
2003 BFA, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2002 Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland
Residencies
2011 Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, Umbria, Italy
2009 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
2002 Yale-Norfolk Painting Residency, Yale University CT, USA
Editorial Projects
2004-
Founder, Editor, Shifter Magazine: (www.shifter-magazine.com)
Shifter is a topical magazine that is published both in print and as a free, downloadable pdf file. Shifter invites emerging artists, poets, theorists and scientists to contribute. The Magazine published its 16th issue in May 2010. Shifter is also distributed by Printed Matter and is placed in the Museum of Modern Art’s Library.
Solo Shows
2013
Gallery SKE, Bangalore (upcoming)
2012
“Folding Rulers,” Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis
“The Last Image,” Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago
2011
“Storey’s End,” Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin
“Rhizome,” Wave Hill, New York
“Surrender,” Alcott Gallery, University of North carolina, Chapel Hill
2010
“Leo” (procedures in search of an original index), Gallery SKE, Bangalore
“Zero Knot,” Art Statements, Art|41|Basel, Switzerland (with Gallery SKE)
2008
“Black Box”, Gallery SKE, Bangalore
2007
“KCAPUT,” a Spacelab at Spaces Gallery, Cleveland
2006
“How To Wave A Flag In A Vacuum,” Islip Art Museum, Long Island
2004
“Site/Seeing,” Gallery SKE, Bangalore
Curatorial Projects
2009
“On Certainty,” Bose Pacia Gallery, New York, NY: A project curated by me consisting of a show, a series of lectures and a new issue of the magazine Shifter. www.oncertainty.net
2010-
“Project for an Archive of the Future Anterior”: An ongoing collaboration with Thom Donovan in which we interview artists, writers, scientists, and colleagues from various disciplines and discuss unrealized social and/or personal projects. By producing an archive of futures which have yet to come to pass perhaps it is possible to alter the course of the future, as well as change the way we narrate and remember the past.
Awards
2012
Arthur Levitt Jr. ’52 Fellowship, Williams College
2011
Art Matters Foundation Grant
Civetella Raniere Foundation Fellowship
2009
Tuition Grant, Skowhegan School of Art
2007
Tuition Grant, Whitney Independent Study Program
2003 – 2006
Portfolio Grant, MFA at Bard College
2003
The Otto F. Ege Memorial Award, The Cleveland Institute of Art
The Third Agnes Gund Award, The Cleveland Institute of Art
2002
ISC (International Sculpture Center) Outstanding Student Achievement in Sculpture Award
Joseph McCullough Painting Scholarship, The Cleveland Institute of Art
Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, Yale University School of Art: Norfolk
2001
Edward Frost traveling scholarship for study at the Edinburg College of Art
Group Shows
2013
“The Hollow Center,” Curated by Nina Horisaki-Christens, Smack Mellon, New York
Interstate Projects, New York (Upcoming)
2012
“Contested Territories”, curated by Miguel Amado, Dorsky Gallery, New York
“Its Endless Undoing”, Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York
“==”, curated by Matt Keegan, Michele Didier, Paris
2011
“The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India”, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
“Water Water Everywhere,” Curated by Elizabeth Ferrer, Rotunda Gallery, New York
2010
“Before and After,” Curated by Bill Cournoyer, Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris
“Spectral Evidence,” Curated by Steven Lam, 1 A Space, Hong Kong
“Other than Beauty,” Friedman Benda Gallery, New York
“Love Letters To a Surrogate”, Torrance Art Museum, CA
“36 Dramatic Situations,” Louis V. E.S.P., New York
“Structures Within an Intervention,” Curated by Meenakshi Thirukode, The Guild, New York
2009
“Beyond The Instance of an Ending,” curated by Susan Jahoda and Jesal Kapadia, at Herter Gallery, Amherst
The Third Side (studies in radical nostalgia), curated by Bethany Ides, Performance Works NW, Portland
“We Must Indeed All Hang Together,” curated by Beth Capper, Paige Johnson, Ariel Pittman and Kelly Shindler, at SAIC Sullivan Galleries, Chicago
“Back, Forth and Round About,” Thomas Erben Gallery, New York
“Moment as Monument,” Thomas Erben Gallery, New York
“Dear Jabir,” curated by Gitanjali Dang, Guild Gallery, Mumbai
“A Perfect Human,” Curators Milena Hoegsberg and Megha Ralapati, Dorsch Gallery, Miami
“Good Looking: Vision and Society in Contemporary Art,” Grey Noise Gallery, Lahore
“Contemporary Art From India ,” Lawrence Eng Gallery, Vancouver
2008
“Mornings in Mexico”, Book Project Curated by Steven Lam and Tamar Guimaraes, Guangzhou Biennial
Whitney Independent Study Program, 548 W 22nd Street, New York
“Unnamable Name,” Curated by Todd Ayoung, Københavns Hovdbibliotek, Copenhagen
“Current,” Curated by Nivedita Magar, Gallery SKE, Bangalore
“Global Honking Ground,” Organized by 16 Beaver, Yerba Buena Art Center, San Francisco
“The Audacity of Desperation,” Curated by Steven Lam, PS122, New York
“The Stories We Tell,” a program of experimental short videos, Art In General, New York
2007
“Spectral Evidence,” Curated by Steven Lam, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn
“Unnameable Name,” Curated by Todd Ayoung, Tompkins County Library, Ithaca, NY
“Between To and From,” Curated by Veronica Mijelshon and Eleanor Eichenbaum, New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit, NJ
“Usufruct, Curated by Seth Nehil,” Linfield Art Gallery, OR
“If Then As If,” Curated by Branden Koch, Brooklyn
2006
“Yamini Nayar and Sreshta Premnath,” Bose Pacia Gallery, New York
“In The Country of Last Things Forever,” Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
2003
“The Traveling,” (collaboration with Alison O. Daniel), a Spacelab at Spaces Gallery, Cleveland
Press
2012
“Sreshta Rit Premnath and Matthew Metzger”, Artforum.com Critic’s Pick
“New Currents”, Art Asia Pacific, April 2012
2011
“Sreshta Rit Premnath at Galerie Nordenhake”, Contemporary Art Daily, Dec 2011
“Sreshta Rit Premnath”, Platform Magazine, Nov/Dec 2011
“5 Questions for Contemporary Practice with Sreshta Rit Premnath”, Art 21 Blog
“La “Ricerca” di Sreshta Rit Premnath”, Exibart.com, July 2011
2011 Almanac, Art Asia Pacific, Vol VI, Pg 124
2010
“Lion’s Share,” Marta Jakimowicz, Art India, Vol XV Issue II
“Ambiguities of The Symbol,” Marta Jakimowicz, The Deccan Herald
“Beast a Man Can Get,” Jaideep Sen, Time Out Bangalore
“Aspect Blindness: Arnold Kemp and Sreshta Rit Premnath,” by Thom Donovan, Art 21 Blog
“Between Forgetting and Remembering,” by Koon Yee-wan, Muse Issue 41, Sep 2010
“Spectral Evidence,” by Doretta Lau, Critic’s Pick on ArtForum.com
“Spectral Narrative in Hong Kong,” by Robin Peckham, Art Slant
“The Spectacle of Power,” by Nalini S Malaviya, The Bangalore Mirror, June 6 2010
2009
“Younger Than Jesus: Artist Directory”
“Once in a Blue Moon,” review by Zehra Jumabhoy in Art India
“All the Art that’s Fit to Drink,” by Noah Marcel Sudarsky in Artscape Magazine
“Contemporary Art from India,” reviewed in Canadian Art
“Back, Forth and Round About,” reviewed by David Rothenberg in Evil Monito
“To Err is Perfect,” “A Perfect Human” reviewed on Artlurker.com by David Rohn
2008
“Black Box” reviewed in Flash Art by Heidi Fichtner
“Collapse of Certainty,” Black Box reviewed in The Deccan Herald Bangalore by Marta Jakimovicz
“Current” reviewed in Deccan Herald Bangalore by Marta Jakimovicz
“Conceptual Ithaca,” Unnameable Name reviewed in The Ithaca Times by Warren Greenwood
2007
“Spectral Evidence” reviewed in The New York Times by Holland Cotter
“Spectral Evidence” reviewed on ArtForum.com
Shifter Magazine reviewed by poet, Linh Dinh on International Exchange for Poetic Invention