About Pragya Bhargava

Pragya Bhargava is a practicing artist, researcher and educator currently based in India. She graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) Degree from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore and a Bachelors of Science (Physics Major-First Division) from IGNOU. She has recently completed her MRes Fine Art and Humanities from Royal College of Art, London. Pragya’s research and practice reflects her interest in landscapes, time and distance. 

Pragya Bhargava relies on her background in art and science to study landscapes as a function of time and distance. She is interested in finding material translations for the elements that impose their influence in shaping both earthly and cosmic landscapes and often looks at the intersection of materials and methods that include drawing, painting, photography and engagement with people. 

The series in this display forefronts the latency of dark matter by elaborating on the missing mass of the Virial Theorem and the distortions due to gravitational lensing. The gap in these approaches is identified as the lack of comprehensive, material understanding of dark matter. But darkness is revealed by the light that surrounds it. Latency, materiality and distortions all have inherent parallels in painting. The tacit knowledge of making, the role of materials and the distortions of form can, not only embody the intricacies and latency of dark matter but also contribute to them. The artworks are a part of a research project where a composite practice-led methodology is adopted to shape the ambiguous critical context and explore a range of interpretive possibilities. The resulting paintings are thus a work of science fiction presenting a constellation of cosmic connections investigating the unseen and elusive web of dark matter in the universe. 

Education

2019- 2020 Master of Research in Fine Art and Humanities from Royal College of Art, London

2015- 2018 Bachelors in Science (Physics Major) with First Division from IGNOU

2011- 2014 Bachelors in Fine Arts with First Class Honours from Lasalle College of the Arts (Goldsmith’s College, University of London)

1999- 2010 Sangeet Visharad Pratham Khand (Senior Diploma) in Kathak Classical Dance from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Delhi

Awards, Grants, Residencies

2020-2021 Artreach- Kiran Nadar Museum of Art Teaching Fellowship

2020 A Glass Envelope Residency

2012- 2014 Lasalle College of the Arts Scholarship

2013 Winston Oh Travel Practice Award

2009-2010 Kalashri Award for Fine Arts

2009 Karamveer Puraskar- National Award for Social Justice and Citizen Action

Exhibitions

2021

Research Biennale, RCA, London, UK

2020

Make it Public, Design Museum, London, UK

DIG, San Mei Gallery, London, UK

WIP Show, Dyson Gallery, London, UK

Community Art Installation for Reckitt Benckiser & Global Citizen, Delhi, India

2019
A Eulogy to Things that Never Were, Hyderabad India

2016
Gelb, Luzern, Switzerland

2014
Spot Art, ARTrium@MICA, Singapore

The LASALLE Show, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

2013

Spot Art, ARTrium@MICA, Singapore

The Winston Oh Travel Award, Singapore

Georgetown Arts Festival, Penang, Malaysia

The LASALLE Show, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

The Art of Greening, Singapore