Talk, by Suminder Virk, January 14th 2025
About Suminder Virk, artist
Suminder Virk is an established artist working in non-representational painting – guided by constant observation of her surroundings. She has a BA and an MA in Fine Arts from Birmingham City University. She was co-founder of Althorpe Studios and Gallery (2010 – 2018) a charity supporting local artists.
She set up Chrome Yellow Arts Ltd ( 2013- 2022) which operated an art shop in South Leamington. Currently she runs the Paper & Palette workshops in a venue in Leamington Spa.
Suminder predominantly works with oil on canvas and employs a range of production techniques in her studio practice which is based in Coventry. Throughout her career she has exhibited extensively in the West Midlands, including the Open at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum in 2022. Since returning from Chandigarh earlier this year, she has been short listed for the Royal Academy Summer show and was selected for a show at Tarpey Gallery in Castle Donington.
She is currently exhibiting at LTB showrooms in the Black & White Gallery in Coventry. The exhibition will be up until the end of October.
She set up Chrome Yellow Arts Ltd ( 2013- 2022) which operated an art shop in South Leamington. Currently she runs the Paper & Palette workshops in a venue in Leamington Spa.
Suminder predominantly works with oil on canvas and employs a range of production techniques in her studio practice which is based in Coventry. Throughout her career she has exhibited extensively in the West Midlands, including the Open at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum in 2022. Since returning from Chandigarh earlier this year, she has been short listed for the Royal Academy Summer show and was selected for a show at Tarpey Gallery in Castle Donington.
She is currently exhibiting at LTB showrooms in the Black & White Gallery in Coventry. The exhibition will be up until the end of October.
These images show my studio in Coventry, which is where I work from. The paintings on the wall are the work I produced in India.
About Suminder's AMA Talk, Jan 14th 2025
My talk is going to be about my yearlong residency in India in 2023. I will be talking about the work I produced during this time inspired from the architecture of my hometown Chandigarh in North India, which was designed by the renowned architect Le Corbusier and the surrounding landscape.
My residency included the creation of a photo journal forming an exploration of urban and rural areas. Working predominantly in Indian ink and oil paint, inspiration for the new art works came from the brutalist architecture and from the observation of environmental practices e.g. stubble burning by farmers which is an ongoing concern for Indian authorities and environmental activists.
I have always felt drawn to the straight lines and stark geometric shapes of the Chandigarh architecture. I grew up there and have visited quite regularly. The architecture is a mix of modernist and brutalist. Le Corbusier, who designed the city, has influenced a generation of architects towards modernism in the 20th century. I love the play of light and shadows on the city’s streets in the bright sunshine or at night under the bright lights. During my recent stay I had the opportunity to see these beautiful buildings through the different seasons. My smaller architectural paintings have influences of traditional miniatures and the content reflects my love of the Chandigarh skyline and urban structure. My deep interest in Indian heritage is reflected in the use of fine lines which connect to the tradition of henna painting.
While travelling, I witnessed farmers burning fields. This had a profound impact, leaving me compelled to observe, photograph and sketch. Several of my new paintings are based on the observations from the scorched fields in and around Uttarakhand and Haryana. I was instantly drawn in, the colossal image, despite being utterly destructive got my attention. The darkness of the charcoal, swirling smoke and shiny gold stubble remnants peeking through as if desperate. Tractor tyres leaving deep curved lacerations in the soil as though the farmer was undertaking a brutal etching on the landscape.
I managed to chat with a farmer who explained the reason for burning the crops but the environmental concern just presents a giant contradiction. This experience fed into my series of paintings inspired from fields, flames and ashes plus the movement created by the wind. I was able to return days later to observe the remains. I collected some of the ashes to mix with my paint to use in this series.
For the paintings, I worked with the canvases on the floor, the gestural marks formed using sticks and Indian brooms as well as brushes. The drawings are Indian ink on paper, again using a variety of tools.
I currently work in my studio in Coventry. I have exhibited extensively in the West Midlands, including the Open at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum in 2022. Since returning from Chandigarh earlier this year, I have been short listed for the Royal Academy Summer Show and am selected for an Autumn show at Tarpey Gallery in Castle Donnington.
I also operate a small art group called Paper & Palette offering weekly life and portrait drawing sessions in Leamington Spa.
www.sumindervirk.com
www.instagram.com/sumindervirkstudio/
www.paperandpaletteworkshops.com
My residency included the creation of a photo journal forming an exploration of urban and rural areas. Working predominantly in Indian ink and oil paint, inspiration for the new art works came from the brutalist architecture and from the observation of environmental practices e.g. stubble burning by farmers which is an ongoing concern for Indian authorities and environmental activists.
I have always felt drawn to the straight lines and stark geometric shapes of the Chandigarh architecture. I grew up there and have visited quite regularly. The architecture is a mix of modernist and brutalist. Le Corbusier, who designed the city, has influenced a generation of architects towards modernism in the 20th century. I love the play of light and shadows on the city’s streets in the bright sunshine or at night under the bright lights. During my recent stay I had the opportunity to see these beautiful buildings through the different seasons. My smaller architectural paintings have influences of traditional miniatures and the content reflects my love of the Chandigarh skyline and urban structure. My deep interest in Indian heritage is reflected in the use of fine lines which connect to the tradition of henna painting.
While travelling, I witnessed farmers burning fields. This had a profound impact, leaving me compelled to observe, photograph and sketch. Several of my new paintings are based on the observations from the scorched fields in and around Uttarakhand and Haryana. I was instantly drawn in, the colossal image, despite being utterly destructive got my attention. The darkness of the charcoal, swirling smoke and shiny gold stubble remnants peeking through as if desperate. Tractor tyres leaving deep curved lacerations in the soil as though the farmer was undertaking a brutal etching on the landscape.
I managed to chat with a farmer who explained the reason for burning the crops but the environmental concern just presents a giant contradiction. This experience fed into my series of paintings inspired from fields, flames and ashes plus the movement created by the wind. I was able to return days later to observe the remains. I collected some of the ashes to mix with my paint to use in this series.
For the paintings, I worked with the canvases on the floor, the gestural marks formed using sticks and Indian brooms as well as brushes. The drawings are Indian ink on paper, again using a variety of tools.
I currently work in my studio in Coventry. I have exhibited extensively in the West Midlands, including the Open at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum in 2022. Since returning from Chandigarh earlier this year, I have been short listed for the Royal Academy Summer Show and am selected for an Autumn show at Tarpey Gallery in Castle Donnington.
I also operate a small art group called Paper & Palette offering weekly life and portrait drawing sessions in Leamington Spa.
www.sumindervirk.com
www.instagram.com/sumindervirkstudio/
www.paperandpaletteworkshops.com
I had an exhibition for my family on the Terrace of my parent's home in India. In the picture are my sister and nephew looking at my artwork.
This image is from a rural area in Uttrakhand region of India. I was in the process of looking into scorched fields by local farmers for my series on burning fields. I am sitting on a plough for a rest.
Review of Suminder's talk, by John Hunt, Chair. 20th January 2025
Suminder recently spent a year in the city of Chandigarh in northern India. Suminder’s parents live in the city and she was able to set up a studio space in the family home and this enabled her to produce work that was visually based upon the city and surrounding countryside. It was the results from this work that Suminder presented to the AMA audience.
Suminder spent some time explaining the origins of her city following the end of ww2 and the partition of India. Chandigarh was built in these post world war years and the architect was Le Corbusier whose monolithic, concrete buildings are featured in Suminder’s paintings and photographs. It was the contrast between the austerity of the Le Corbusier structures and the rich colours of the city generally that she combines in her painted works, using a technique that interprets the shuttered-stucco effects to be seen in the constructional methods of the city buildings.
Suminder also spent some time making photographs of the city and the landscape. These mostly black and white images and making full use of the tonal contrasts that she found there, made for a compelling alternative to her drawings and paintings.
The farmers who work the land outside the city are prone to burn the crop stubble after the harvest. This goes on despite it being outlawed by the authorities. Suminder has made a series of ink drawings, freely applied and capturing the burnt and enrusted effects of this practice.
It was clear that Surminder made excellent use of the time that she spent in India and has built, I would suggest, a strong basis for the development of her imagery in the near future. The images that she showed to us were small but powerful. Her current work is already growing in size and this should provide for interesting viewing when she next exhibits her work.
The AMA members were treated to a very different viewing from the pots, plants and wind-swept coastlines that we are accustomed to seeing.
John Hunt AMA.
Suminder spent some time explaining the origins of her city following the end of ww2 and the partition of India. Chandigarh was built in these post world war years and the architect was Le Corbusier whose monolithic, concrete buildings are featured in Suminder’s paintings and photographs. It was the contrast between the austerity of the Le Corbusier structures and the rich colours of the city generally that she combines in her painted works, using a technique that interprets the shuttered-stucco effects to be seen in the constructional methods of the city buildings.
Suminder also spent some time making photographs of the city and the landscape. These mostly black and white images and making full use of the tonal contrasts that she found there, made for a compelling alternative to her drawings and paintings.
The farmers who work the land outside the city are prone to burn the crop stubble after the harvest. This goes on despite it being outlawed by the authorities. Suminder has made a series of ink drawings, freely applied and capturing the burnt and enrusted effects of this practice.
It was clear that Surminder made excellent use of the time that she spent in India and has built, I would suggest, a strong basis for the development of her imagery in the near future. The images that she showed to us were small but powerful. Her current work is already growing in size and this should provide for interesting viewing when she next exhibits her work.
The AMA members were treated to a very different viewing from the pots, plants and wind-swept coastlines that we are accustomed to seeing.
John Hunt AMA.