Cost of Living
January 23 – April 14, 2008
International Resource Center Gallery

The Queens Library is pleased to present Cost of Living,
a two person exhibition featuring the work of New York City-based
artists Swati Khurana and Chanika Svetvilas.

In her drawing series Popular Pastoral, Swati Khurana has revisited the formal simplicity of ink on paper. The drawings, based on images she has collected from books, newspapers, and magazines are for the artist also an act of "collage". This body of work illustrates the intersection between the artist’s own imagination with the fantastic and often outlandish world of Bollywood cinema. Khurana will also be exhibiting Save 49,500 Rupees, an installation which refers to the practice of gender-selective pregnancy termination in order to avoid paying a 50,000 Rupee dowery for a daughter’s wedding. This piece takes a hard look at the value of marriage and the value of women’s bodies in Indian culture.
 
Chanika Svetvilas transforms suitcases into sculptural expressions using found objects, text, and mixed media to critique cultural consumerism. She also scrutinizes the power dynamics of increased security and border control and transcribes themes of migration and immigration, as well as the dynamics of personal journeys. The suitcases reflect the multitude of shared experiences of Queensresidents in searching for a sense of home and new opportunities.

 

Swati Khurana was born in New Delhi, and emigrated to New York in 1977. She has shown her work widely both nationally, and internationally. Khurana received her M.A. in Studio Art and Criticism from New York University.

Chanika Svetvilas is a New York City-based artist who has shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the New York area. She received her B.S. in Studio Arts from Skidmore College.  Svetvilas is also a founding member of ThaiLinks (www.thailinks.org).

Images
Top right: Swati Khurana, Teenage Wasteland, 2006, Ink on vellum, Image courtesy the artist.
Bottom left: Chanika Svetvilas, Come out and play with me, 2007, mixed media, Image courtesy the artist.