Rina Banerjee is considered one of India’s most important post-Colonial artists, and a new exhibit in San Jose is affording her some perhaps overdue recognition.
Described as the artist’s first major career retrospective, “Rina Banerjee: Make Me a Summary of the World” is showing at the San Jose Museum of Art through Oct. 6.
Organized in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, “Summary” features some of Banerjee’s best-known installation pieces and more than two two dozen sculptures, as well as works on paper.
Born in Calcutta and currently based in Philadelphia and New York, Banerjee utilizes found objects gathered around the world — from African jewelry to feathers to light bulbs and Murano glass — to explore issues of identity, tradition, globalism and feminism.
“For 20 years, Rina has been using her work to disrupt conventional notions of identity, delving into the complex territory of cultural fragmentation and self-identification, which makes her an important voice today,” says San Jose Museum of Art curator Lauren Schell Dickens.
Following the San Jose showing, “Summary” will embark on a nationwide tour.
Details: Museum hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; $8-$10; sjmusart.org.
