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Mother Jones Magazine
Op-Ed by Chiraag Bhakta
+ Supporting Essays
Occupying Negative Space
by Anuradha Vikram
Keeping it “Real”
by Vivek Boray
Our Complicity With Excess
by Vijay Iyer
+
Performance by Nikhil Chopra
on October 20, 2019
Sunday, October 20th, 2019 @Human Resources
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Why You So Negative?‘s programming included a performance, titled Rouge, by artist Nikhil Chopra, just coming off a solo show at the Met in New York, an a group show at the SFMOMA.
Rouge is a 2-hour performance action by Nikhil Chopra. During this time Nikhil will be making a large scale landscape drawing on the wall using lipstick. Often Nikhil will use material from daily life, and here lipstick, a cosmetic associated with make up, femininity, sensuality and sexuality will be used to transform the body and the space around it. Nikhil’s performances often critically examine stereotype based on identity; nationality, gender and class, while walking the fine line between performance art, theater and landscape drawing.
Nikhil Chopra was born in Calcutta and is now based in Goa. He is an Indian artist whose artistic practice ranges from live art, drawing, photography, sculpture and installations. His often improvised performances dwell on issues such as identity, the role of autobiography, the pose and self-portraiture, and the process of transformation. Chopra’s performances on the international art scene began in 2008, and Chopra has since participated in multiple international collaborations. In 2009, he participated in the 53rd Venice Biennale through Making Worlds and was apart of Marina Abramovic Presents at the Manchester International Festival. In this same year, his solo exhibition Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing IX opened at the New Museum in New York. Later, in 2014 and 2015 he performed at the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Bienal de la Habana and the 125th Sharjah Biennial. Chopra’s most recent exhibition Lands, Waters, and Skies opens on November 15, 2018 at Chatterjee & Lal in Mumbai, India.
The Black Pearl: From the River to the City Alchemy, Southbank Center, London
May 2016
Duration: 120 Minutes
Costume Design: Isha Alhuwalia
Make up: Priya Lisa Gonsalves
Photography: Shivani Gupta