Asim Waqif is an Indian artist based in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

, whose work is influenced by interdisciplinary fields of art, architecture, ecology and design. He makes site-specific or

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

installations and sculptures, which are often made out of discarded or reclaimed waste materials, like bamboo, rope, tar or trashed metal. In Waqif's 2012 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' profile, he was quoted as saying: "Contemporary Indian art is so disjointed from the public. It’s elitist. I want to connect with the average person in India." In March 2020, he was named one of the 10 Indian artists shaping

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

by the online art platform ''

Artsy Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conn ...

''.

Biography

Waqif was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, India, and trained as an architect at the

School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (SPA New Delhi) is a higher education federal institute located in New Delhi, India specializing in education and research, and serving as the national center of excellence, in the fields of plann ...

. After graduating, he worked as an art director for TV shows and then moved into producing documentaries and independent films, before ultimately dedicating himself fully to his art practice.

Career

Waqif's debut solo show in Europe was held at

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

in December 2012, titled ''Bordel Monstre'' or "Monstrous Mess". He used detritus from previous exhibitions and repurposed it to create an immersive installation. In a review of the installation, American artist Robert Barry wrote in the ''

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

'' magazine: "''Bordel Monstre'' is a fascinating exercise in making use of things otherwise neglected: constructed in a corner of the Palais de Tokyo which hasn’t previously been used, made out of materials discarded at the end of the previous exhibition. And if its exterior form resembles the damage wrought by a force of nature, its construction was as spontaneous and unplanned as the weather.". In 2017, Waqif's large-scale site-specific immersive installation, ''Salvage'', was mounted in downtown Vancouver, in association with the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

, Canada. Architectural in nature, it was assembled using doors, windows, roofs, tiles and wall sections, which were either sourced from demolition sites or discarded materials from local buildings.

Solo exhibitions

*2012 - ''Punha'', site-specific installation at

Bhau Daji Lad Museum Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum is the oldest museum in Mumbai. Situated in the vicinity of Byculla Zoo, Byculla East, it was originally established in 1855 as a treasure house of the decorative and industrial arts, and was later renamed in honour of ...

, Mumbai *2012 - ''Bordel Monstre'' at

, Paris *2013 - ''Khalal'' at

Gallery Nature Morte Peter Nagy (born 1959) is an American artist and gallerist. Nagy is the owner of Gallery Nature Morte, founded in New York City and now located in India. Early life Nagy was born in 1959 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He studied at the Parsons Sch ...

, New Delhi *2013 - ''Epreuves'' at Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris *2017 - ''Salvage'' at

, Canada *2018 - ''Residual Fear'' at

, New Delhi

References

External links

*
India Art Fair - Asim Waqif
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waqif, Asim Indian male artists School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi alumni Living people 20th-century Indian sculptors 21st-century Indian sculptors Indian contemporary artists Indian male sculptors People from Hyderabad, India Artists from Hyderabad, India Indian installation artists Indian contemporary sculptors 1978 births 20th-century Indian male artists 21st-century Indian male artists