Madi Acharya-Baskerville
My practice incorporates painting, sculpture and installation using found objects and materials . I am interested is what already exists in our environment and can become a resourse rather than creating something from scratch.
My paintings refer to a sense of loss, a nostalgia for lost origins but simultaneously hint at new beginnings, discovering new places some of which are within our imagination, being collaged from experiences rather than a product of stark reality. The found surface itself has a past, marked, textured, battered, worn out hence marking time whilst the irregular edges suggest a continuity beyond what can be viewed.
My more sculptural work involves found objects and materials juxtaposed with more natural forms such as large branches discovered in woodlands across the UK. I want to explore the tension between natural and synthetic materials, how they can co-exist and the resulting structures can come to resemble organic, sometimes alien yet recognizably human forms. Using beadwork and textiles, which originate from the South Asian Culture where I grew up, I continue to be fascinated by sparkling jewelry, decorative accessories and ornate textile patterns from childhood.
EDUCATION:
MA Fine Art, Cardiff Institute, University of Wales, Cardiff
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 The Double Act, First Plinth Public Art Award, Royal Society of Sculptors
2024 Caught in the Act (solo) Royal Society of Sculptors, London
2024 I Dream a Palace (solo) The Lightbox, Woking
2022 Creek Dreams, Seager Gallery, London
2021 My life as a bird, (solo) Darl-e-and the Bear, Oxfordshire
2021 On The Road of Sea Stars, Zuzushii Art Laboratory, Hastings,
2019 ‘I wish my hair was as long as yours’, (solo) Magdalen Art Space, Oxford
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 London Art Fair, April Contemporary, London
2024 Antimonumental, Thamesside Studios Gallery, London
2024 Standing Ground, Thamesside Studios Gallery, London
2023 Fragments of our time, British Textile Biennial 2023, The Whitaker, Blackburn
2023 The Stuff of Life The Life of Stuff, Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich
2023 Hoarfrost on our lips, Paradise Works, Manchester
2023 ‘Zari Sona Moti’, Darl-e and the Bear, Oxfordshire
2022 ‘Exchanges: Recent Additions to the Collection’ The Whitworth, Manchester
2021 Ground Work, APT Gallery, London
2021 Displace, Bloc Projects, Sheffield, curated by Uthra Rajgopal
2021 Absent Authors, APT Gallery, London
2019 Parallel Lines: Drawing and Sculpture, The Lightbox, Woking
2019 by the way Lewisham Arthouse, London
2018 ‘and the value of nothing’, Studio 1:1 Gallery, London
2017 Material World, An International Perspective, SJE Arts, Oxford
2016 Psychedelic Breakfast,Vinyl Deptford, Deptford X Fringe, London
2016 ‘Looking Up’, Studio 1:1 Gallery, London
2016 Material World, Ancien Musee de Peinture, Grenoble
2014 ‘Alps and Spires’ Museum of Oxford, Oxford
2013 ‘Sanctuary’ Home, Away and Common Ground, Part 2’, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London
2011 ‘Sanctuary’ Home, Away and Common Ground, Part 1,National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2022 That Island Feeling,Terrace Gallery,London
2018 Objection, Angus Hughes Gallery, London
2009 Jam: Cultural Congestions in Contemporary Asian Art, artist-curator with Dr Outi Remes, South Hill Park, Bracknell (funded by ACE, National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan)
PRIZES, AWARDS, OPEN SUBMISSIONS
2023 First Plinth Award, Royal Society of Sculptors, London
2023 The Primary Residency Prize awarded following selection for New Art Exchange Open 2023
2023 New Art Exchange Open, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
2022-23 Selected for UAL Decolonising Art Institute 20/20 Program, Residency at Lightbox, Woking as part of this
2022 Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter
2022 Black Swan Arts Open, Black Swan Arts, Frome
2022 Summer Exhibition, Royal Society of Sculptors, Cromwell Place, London, selected by Isabel de Vasconcellos
2022 Habitat, Contemporary Six,Manchester
2021 Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England for the project ‘Developing ceramics as part of sculptural work in the context of museum collections’.
2021 Summer Exhibition, Royal Society of Sculptors, London, selected by Sigrid Kirk
2020 RWA Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2020 Summer Exhibition Royal Society of Sculptors (selected by Nicky and Robert Wilson, founders of Jupitor Artland)
2016 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London (selected by Cathie Pilkington RA)
COMMISSIONS
2023 First Plinth Public Art Award Commission
2022/2024 20/20 Project, Residency and Commission
2020 ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ participatory project commissioned by Modern Art Oxford as part of the public program for Kiki Smith exhibition, ‘I am a Wanderer’.
RESIDENCIES
2024 Residency at Primary, Nottingham
2022-2023 20/ 20 Project, Residency and Commission, Decolonising Institute University of Arts, London
2020 Groundwork APT, APT Gallery, London
2011 Sanctuary, Neyri, Kenya
PRESENTATIONS
2024 In Conversation with artist-curator Raghavi Chinnadurai, Primary, Nottingham
2024 In Conversation with Jes Fernie, Royal Society of Sculptors
2024 Artist Talk, I Dream a Palace, The Lightbox
2023 Meet the Artist, in conversation with Sarah Brown, director of The Lightbox, Woking,
2020 and 2023 Visiting lecturer at Chichester University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘If objects could speak what would they tell us?’ My blog about DYCP activity
‘What we leave behind’ an essay by Uthra Rajgopal, Independent Curator and Writer Specialist in South Asian Textiles
I wish my hair was as long as yours, catalogue with essay by Stephanie Straine, Curator of Projects and Exhibitions, Modern Art Oxford
Artist of the month feature in Axisweb, 2018 https://www.axisweb.org/artist-of-the-month/2018/madi-acharya-baskerville/
Summer Exhibition Illustrated 2016, Exhibition Catalogue
‘Sanctuary Part 2’ Home, Away, Common Ground, Catalogue, forward by John Hollingworth MBE, Director of Brunei Gallery, SOAS, 2013
‘Sanctuary Part 1’ Home, Away, Common Ground, 2011
COLLECTIONS
Three ceramic works acquired by the Lightbox, Woking following 20/20 residency and commission supported by Decolonizing Institute, UAL, 2024
The sculpture ‘Here to stay’ has been acquired as part of the Art Fund New Collecting Award, as part of the permanent collection at the Whitworth, the University of Manchester, 2021
Work in private collections in London, Oxford and France
Helping Artists Keep Going
Axis is an artist-led charity supporting contemporary visual artists with resources, connection, and visibility.