Ranu Mukherjee (b. 1966, Boston) makes hybrid work in painting, moving image and installation. Her work is marked by a deliberate use of saturated color, the collision of tempos, and sensual materiality. The numerous and often imperceptible layers she employs evoke questions of visibility, legibility and abstraction. Her recent artwork is guided by the forces of ecology and non-human agency, diaspora and migration, motherhood and transnational feminisms.
Mukherjee's work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles (2022-2023) de Young Museum, San Francisco (2018-2019); the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design (2017); the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2016); the Tarble Art Center, Charleston, IL (2016) and the San Jose Museum of Art, CA (2012) among others. Her immersive video installations have been presented in Natasha, Singapore Biennale 2022-2023, Karachi Biennial (2019) and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2016) as well as numerous group exhibitions internationally. Mukherjee has been the recipient of the 16th annual San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Awards (2023); a Pollock Krasner Grant (2020); a Lucas Visual Arts Fellowship at Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA (2019-2024); an 18th Street Arts Center Residency, Los Angeles(2022); Facebook AIR (2020); de Young Museum Artist Studio Program (2017); the Space 118 Residency, Mumbai (2014); and a Kala Fellowship Award and Residency, Berkeley (2009). Her work is in the permanent collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; De Young Museum, San Francisco; the JP Morgan Chase Collection, New York; the Kadist Foundation, San Francisco and Paris; the Oakland Museum of California; the San Jose Museum of Art; and the San Francisco International Airport, among others.
Mukherjee co-created Orphan Drift, a London-based cyber-feminist collective and avatar making combined media works since 1994. They have participated in numerous exhibitions and screenings internationally including in London, Oslo, Berlin, Oberhausen, Glasgow, Istanbul, Vancouver, Santiago, Capetown, and the Bay Area.
Mukherjee received her B.F.A. in Painting, from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA in 1988, and her MFA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London, UK in 1993. She lives and works in San Francisco, and is the Dean of the School of Film/Video at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
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Installation view, "P L A C E: Reckonings by Asian American Artist," Institute of Contemporary Art San José, San José, CA , 2024
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where she can enter into history on her own terms, 2024
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a place to find the light, 2023
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bitter skin, 2023
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dance and sob, 2023
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Installation view, "Alice Rahon And Ranu Mukherjee: Time Warriors," Gallery Wendi Norris OFFSITE, New York, NY, 2023
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lithium grove, 2023
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night thicket, 2023
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restless moon, 2023
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time warriors, 2023
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American black cherry, 2022
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Installation view, "A Point Stretched: Views on Time," San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, 2022
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Installation view, "Ensemble for Non-Linear Time," Singapore Biennale: Natasha, Distripark, Singapore, 2022
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lair (for Martha and friends), 2022
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these birds knew no rest, 2022
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unlanding, 2022
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Installation view, "When the Path Through the Atmosphere is Longer," San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA, 2021
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unsettling the gravity of assumptions, 2021
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what we lose is all around us, 2021
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where we live, 2021
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cut on the bias, 2020
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dear future, 2020
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Facebook Artist in Residency, 2020
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passage, 2020
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two centuries emerging from the hollows of a strangled host, 2020
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Installation view, "Ranu Mukherjee: A Bright Stage," de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, 2018
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The Dead and the Wild, 2018
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Today is a surprise, 2018
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body language, 2017
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Installation view, "Ranu Mukherjee: Shadowtime," Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco, CA, 2017
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something about moving Palms across oceans, 2017
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Corridor, 2015
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Installation view, "Ranu Mukherjee: Extracted," Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, 2015
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Installation view, "Ranu Mukherjee: Telling fortunes," San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, 2012
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Multiple Voices
Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Julio César Morales, Ranu Mukherjee, and Eva Schlegel May 16 - July 13, 2024Gallery Wendi Norris presents Multiple Voices, a group exhibition exploring the idea of multiplicity, material and metaphorical. Bringing together gallery artists Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Julio César...Read more -
Alice Rahon and Ranu Mukherjee | Time Warriors
September 6 - October 7, 2023Alice Rahon and Ranu Mukherjee: Time Warriors GALLERY WENDI NORRIS OFFSITE 529 West 20th Street, Ground Floor New York, NY: The themes and concerns alive in the work of Ranu...Read more -
Ranu Mukherjee Has Been Very Busy
October 20, 2020 - February 27, 2021“I am trying to do this really basic job of a painter, which is to make images that express something about the present.” — Ranu Mukherjee While many of us...Read more -
Ranu Mukherjee | Beam
October 1, 2018 - November 1, 2019Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present its first IN THE WINDOW commission by gallery artist, Ranu Mukherjee . 'Beam' is Mukherjee's first neon work, and takes her delicate and...Read more -
Threads of Memory
One Thousand Way of Saying Goodbye October 21 - November 15, 2017Gallery Wendi Norris’ final exhibition at 161 Jessie Street, Threads of Memory: One Thousand Ways of Saying Goodbye, presents a celebratory survey of the gallery’s program, including emblematic works by...Read more -
Ranu Mukherjee | Shadowtime
May 18 - July 8, 2017San Francisco - Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present Shadowtime, the third solo exhibition with San Francisco-based multi-media artist Ranu Mukherjee . Shadowtime unveils a series of new yellow,...Read more -
Group Hang
August 6 - September 3, 2015July 15, 2015--San Francisco, CA--This summer, Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present Group Hang, an exhibition featuring new works by five California-based female artists from the gallery's roster: Val...Read more -
Ranu Mukherjee | Apparitions
November 15 - December 21, 2013San Francisco - Gallery Wendi Norris presents Apparitions, an exhibition of recent work by Ranu Mukherjee including an installation of textile prints, ink paintings and collage on paper and a...Read more -
Ranu Mukherjee | Absorption into the Nomadic and Luminous
June 4 - July 30, 2011San Francisco - Absorption into the Nomadic and Luminous, Ranu Mukherjee 's debut exhibition at Gallery Wendi Norris, unites two investigative bodies of work; an exploration of the figure of...Read more -
PANGEA | Art at the Forefront of Cultural Convergence
February 26 - March 26, 2011San Fracancisco - PANGEA: Art at the Forefront of Cultural Convergence marks the inaugural Contemporary exhibition in Frey Norris' new Jessie Street galleries. Eight artists have made paintings, works on...Read more
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The Armory Show 2021
María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Ranu Mukherjee September 9 - 12, 2021Gallery Wendi Norris is pleased to present works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Ranu Mukherjee at The Armory Show 2021. To María Magdalena Campos-Pons and...Read more -
EXPO Chicago 2019
Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Ranu Mukherjee, Yamini Nayar, and Eva Schlegel September 19 - 22, 2019Gallery Wendi Norris will present works by six artists spanning various media: Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Ranu Mukherjee, Yamini Nayar, and Eva...Read more -
EXPO Chicago 2017
Firelei Báez, Julio César Morales, and Ranu Mukherjee September 13 - 17, 2017For EXPO Chicago 2017, Gallery Wendi Norris will present new works by three internationally renowned artists— Firelei Báez, Julio César Morales, and Ranu Mukherjee—who explore...Read more -
Art Dubai 2013
Kelly Barrie, Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Tomokazu Matsuyama, and Ranu Mukherjee March 20 - 23, 2013Unforgotten Threads: Searching by sea and air Gallery Wendi Norris will present four artists whose work revisits and interprets place—both those that have been forgotten...Read more
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Poetry Reading x Artist Talk
Saturday, September 9, 2023 4 — 6 pm 529 West 20th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY September 9, 2023On Saturday, September 9, from 4 pm to 6 pm, Gallery Wendi Norris and NYRB Poets will celebrate the opening of Alice Rahon and Ranu...Read more -
Seven Museums Acquire Work by Gallery Wendi Norris Artists
August 24, 2023Please join Gallery Wendi Norris in congratulating Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Arizona State University Art Museum, Chapman University, Los Angeles County Museum of...Read more -
Aaron Wilder | From the Vault: Ranu Mukherjee, "Future Shock," and Approaching Equilibrium through Layers
August 4, 2022Aaron Wilder Jul 31, 2022 In last month's column , I focused on artist Wayne Hodge. This month, I would like to continue celebrating Future...Read more -
Eight Museums Acquire Works by Gallery Wendi Norris Artists
March 31, 2022Please join Gallery Wendi Norris in congratulating eight North American institutions on their recent acquisitions of our artists’ work. The Toledo Museum of Art has...Read more