About the work

Shaw's vision is transgressive and is explored through highly personal imagery that is both opulent and fantastical. Combining iconography from both East and West, Shaw draws on a wide range of sources including art history, mythology, poetry, theatre, religion, science and natural history. Highly detailed, his paintings are executed with an unique technique, where pools of enamel and metallic industrial paints are manipulated to the desired effect with a porcupine quill. Every motif is outlined in embossed gold, a technique similar to ‘cloisonné’ found in early Asian pottery, which is a source of inspiration to Shaw, along with Uchikake (Japanese wedding kimonos), Byobu (screens), Hokusai prints, Kashmiri shawls, medieval heraldry and Persian miniatures, carpets and jewellery.

Date and country of birth

1974, IN

About the artist

Born 1974 Calcutta, Raqib Shaw lives and works in London. Graduated from BA Fine Art Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (2001), and MA Fine Art Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (2002).

Shaw's transgressive vision is explored through highly personal imagery that is both opulent and fantastical. Combining iconography from both East and West, Shaw draws on a wide range of sources including art history, mythology, poetry, theatre, religion, science and natural history. Highly detailed paintings are executed by manipulating pools of enamel and metallic industrial paints with fine needles and porcupine quills. Every motif is outlined in embossed gold, a technique similar to 'Cloisonné' found in early Asian pottery.

Selected solo exhibitions include Reinventing the Old Masters, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2018); Raqib Shaw, Dhaka Art Summit (2018); The Whitworth, Manchester (2017); White Cube at Glyndebourne (2016); Rudolfinium, Prague (2013); Manchester Art Gallery (2013); Absence of God, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2009); Raqib Shaw at the Met, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2008); Garden of Earthly Delights, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2006); and Art Now: Raqib Shaw, Tate Britain, London (2006). Selected group exhibitions include Grayson's Art Club, Manchester Art Gallery (2021); Cranach: Artist and Innovator, Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park (2020); No horizon, no edge to liquid, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2020); and WOW! The Heidi Horten Collection, Leopold Museum, Vienna (2018).