Neha Vedpathak

Vedpathak’s upbringing in India has played a vital role in her studio practice. Her work is deeply influenced by the rituals and meditation practices that were a prevalent part of her childhood. Using a self invented technique she calls “plucking,” Vedpathak spends hundreds of hours separating the fibers of handmade Japanese paper with small pins. The process is slow, repetitive, and ultimately a meditation. Painted, sewn, and collaged, the result is a colorful abstract composition on a lace-like paper canvas. Vedpathak’s oeuvre fearlessly defies categorization and resides in a tactile space between mediums and isms. Leading with the material and the inventive process, she is a chronicler who weaves together inspiration and ideas from politics, feminism, and eastern philosophies. Through her studio practice Vedpathak aims to broaden the dialogue and understanding of issues related to identity, spirituality, and social and gender politics.

 

Neha Vedpathak’s work is in multiple private and public collections including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; Madhya Pradesh State Art Museum, Bhopal, India; Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO; and Camac Art Centre, Marnay Sur Seine, France.  Widely shown in the United State, Europe, India and Singapore, Vedpathak’s work has been included in multiple exhibitions including the Baker Museum, Naples, FL; Arizona Sate University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ; the Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC; the Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL; the National Indo-American Museum, Chicago, IL; the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts, Auburn, AL; and her 2021 solo exhibition, Time (Constant, Suspended, Collapsed, at the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI.

 

Vedpathak has received numerous awards and residencies including at the Anderson Ranch Art Center, Aspen, CO, The Kresge Foundation Gilda Snowden Award, Detroit, MI; The Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL; and the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts, Greece and Camac, France.