Artist Bio:
Born in Mavelikara, Kerala Leena Raj R studied at Raja Ravi Verma College, Mavelikara where she completed her Bachelor and Master of Fine Art (2006, 2010) specialized in painting. Her solo exhibition titled Over the Horizon was held at BC gallery, Mattancherry (2015). Some of her significant group shows include A Portrait of the land, Dhi Artspace Hyderabad (2022), Leaving silence behind, Art gallery, Chalakudy (2022), Lokame Tharavad, Alappuzha (2021), The show must go on, Thalassemia Art Society (2020), Concept 2020, Durbar Hall Ernakulam (2020), Cochin art fair (2017, 2019), Coir Kerala installation (2019), Rebounds, Art Museum, Thiruvananthapuram (2018). Her works have been regularly exhibited at Kerala Lalit Kala Academy annual exhibition and camp since 2005 and 2011.
Leena lives and works in Mavelikara, Kerala
Artist Statement:
Leena Raj expands the idea of one’s home beyond the marked space of four walls and imagines a communion of beings that sometimes merge and mold into each other. Inspired by popular proverbs used in Malayalam language and children’s literature, she creates surreal landscapes with animals, birds and trees as her protagonists. An avid observer of flora and fauna surrounding her neighborhood in Mavelikara, she renders her compositions with miniaturesque detail and enlarges the presence of nature as the supreme power. Her works are narrations of a plausible ethos of feast and celebration if only one were to live in harmony with nature.
