Sreshta Rit Premnath

Join us for a conversation between artist Sreshta Rit Premnath and writer Avram Alpert on Premnath’s artistic practice and new publication produced by CAG. The talk will be followed by a reception and publication launch at READ Books.

The word “knot” describes a difficult problem, a fastening, or an uncomfortable mass, tightness or tension. Sreshta Rit Premnath charts his artistic practice through the multiple definitions of this term: it is a making-visible of knots. The artist’s solo exhibition, Those Who Wait, at the Contemporary Art Gallery—his first in Canada—offered an occasion to consider the particular knots that have bound his practice for the past six years: the contradiction between the occupation and ownership of space, and the conditions of visibility and mis-recognition that define migrant experience. Drawing a line through a series of material, conceptual and written propositions articulated across numerous exhibition projects, and punctuated by astute contributions by US-based critical theory scholar Avram Alpert and Brazilian writer and curator Tiago de Abreu Pinto, this book offers an archive of these investigations.

### Biographies 

Sreshta Rit Premnath is a multidisciplinary artist and the founder and co-editor of the publication Shifter. His work has been the focus of solo exhibitions at Rodriguez Gallery, Poznan (2019); Ace Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2017); Kansas Gallery, New York (2014); Gallery SKE, Bangalore (2013); The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2012); Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago (2012); Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin (2011); and Art Statements, Art Basel (2010). He has participated in group exhibitions at venues including Westfällischer Kunstverein, Münster (2019); Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai (2017); Queens Museum, New York (2015); YBCA, San Francisco (2011); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris (2010); and 1A Space, Hong Kong (2010). With a BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA from Bard College, he attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, Skowhegan and Smack Mellon. Premnath has received grants from Art Matters and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and was awarded the Arthur Levitt Fellowship from Williams College. Based in Brooklyn, Premnath is the Director of the BFA Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York.

Avram Alpert researches literature and critical theory with a focus on the impact of globalization on modern thought and institutions. His writing examines what it means to be at once a private individual and a global subject, and how this dual demand has shaped modern life. His first book, *Global Origins of the Modern Self, from Montaigne to Suzuki* (SUNY Press, 2019) offers a history of modern selfhood, from Renaissance Europe to modern Japan. He also writes art criticism and fiction. He is a lecturer in the Princeton University Writing Program.


A detail of Sreshta Rit Premnath's installation. A big white form is hanging on a broken fence. 

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Premnath-12.jpg

Publication Launch

Join exhibiting artist Sreshta Rit Premnath for an informal conversation with CAG Curator Kimberly Phillips in his installation space, discussing the broader concerns underpinning his exhibition and artistic practice.

### Biography 

Sreshta Rit Premnath is a multidisciplinary artist and the founder and co-editor of the publication Shifter. His work has been the focus of solo exhibitions at Rodriguez Gallery, Poznan (2019); Ace Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2017); Kansas Gallery, New York (2014); Gallery SKE, Bangalore (2013); The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2012); Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago (2012); Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin (2011); and Art Statements, Art Basel (2010). He has participated in group exhibitions at venues including Westfällischer Kunstverein, Münster (2019); Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai (2017); Queens Museum, New York (2015); YBCA, San Francisco (2011); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris (2010); and 1A Space, Hong Kong (2010). With a BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA from Bard College, he attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, Skowhegan and Smack Mellon. Premnath has received grants from Art Matters and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and was awarded the Arthur Levitt Fellowship from Williams College. Based in Brooklyn, Premnath is the Director of the BFA Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York.

An aluminum bench is installed in the corner of a gallery. On it sits a thin, slumped foam cutout in a human-like form. An exit sign reading EXILE instead of exit hangs on the wall above.

thumbnail_Premnath-1.jpg

Premnath-1.jpg

with Sreshta Rit Premnath

Exhibition walk-through

For *Those Who Wait*, Sreshta Rit Premnath has developed new work in an ongoing series of investigations on the tension between ownership and occupation of space, and the conditions that define migrant experience. His works are often informed by his own observations and experiences: witnessing facilities for immigrants who await legal proceedings and possible deportation, and enduring security procedures at airports because of his skin colour. In *Those Who Wait*, Premnath employs sculpture to consider the racialized experiences of waiting. Incapable of holding their own weight, plaster-caked forms slump and lean against steel fences, which act as stand-ins for the architectural structures that detain human bodies. Visitors’ own bodies are reflected in the mirrored surfaces. As Premnath writes, “to lean is to be held,” suggesting that waiting might be reconsidered as waiting together, and spaces of uncertainty can also nurture empathy, solidarity and the seeds of political mobilization. 

Curated by Kimberly Phillips, with assistance from Julia Lamare

*Those Who Wait* is generously supported by the Embassy of the United States, Ottawa, with additional support from Brigitte and Henning Freybe. The forthcoming publication is partially funded by a Faculty Research Grant from Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York. We acknowledge the support of Emily Carr University of Art + Design towards Premnath’s initial research visit.

### Biography

Sreshta Rit Premnath is a multidisciplinary artist and the founder and co-editor of the publication *Shifter*. His work has been the focus of solo exhibitions at Rodriguez Gallery, Poznan (2019); Ace Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2017); Kansas Gallery, New York (2014); Gallery SKE, Bangalore (2013); The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2012); Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago (2012); Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin (2011); and Art Statements, Art Basel (2010). He has participated in group exhibitions at venues including Westfällischer Kunstverein, Münster (2019); Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde, Dubai (2017); Queens Museum, New York (2015); YBCA, San Francisco (2011); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris (2010); and 1A Space, Hong Kong (2010). With a BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA from Bard College, he attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, Skowhegan and Smack Mellon. Premnath has received grants from Art Matters and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and was awarded the Arthur Levitt Fellowship from Williams College. Based in Brooklyn, Premnath is the Director of the BFA Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York.





ProgramGuideFall2019.pdf

ExhibitionGuideSreshtaRitPremnath.pdf

Leaning on either side of a chain link fence, two thin, foam cutouts in human-like form sit slumped on a floor. Two of three fence sections have stretched emergency blankets instead of chain links. 

thumbnail_00-HEADER-Premnath.jpg

00-HEADER-Premnath.jpg

thumbnail_ 01-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

 01-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

Leaning on either side of a chain link fence, two thin, foam cutouts in human-like form sit slumped on a floor. Two of three fence sections have stretched emergency blankets instead of  chain links.

thumbnail_03-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

03-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

Two, thin foam cutouts in human-like forms are wedged between two chain link fence panels. An adjacent fence panel to the left has a stretched emergency blanket instead of chain links. 

thumbnail_04-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

04-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

Various chain link fences sit staggered within a gallery space. Some have emergency blankets stretched taut in replace of chain links while thin, foam cutouts in human-like forms lean against others.

thumbnail_05-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

05-SreshtaRitPremnath-2019.jpg

Those Who Wait

The word “knot” describes a difficult problem, a fastening, or an uncomfortable mass, tightness or tension. Sreshta Rit Premnath charts his artistic practice through the multiple definitions of this term: it is a making-visible of knots. The artist’s solo exhibition, Those Who Wait, at the Contemporary Art Gallery — his first in Canada — offered an occasion to consider the particular knots that have bound his practice for the past six years: the contradiction between the occupation and ownership of space, and the conditions of visibility and mis-recognition that define migrant experience. Drawing a line through a series of material, conceptual and written propositions articulated across numerous exhibition projects, and punctuated by astute contributions by US-based critical theory scholar Avram Alpert and Brazilian writer and curator Tiago de Abreu Pinto, this book offers an archive of these investigations.

Sreshta Rit Premnath

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