Anikesa Dhing

Anikesa Dhing completed both her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Fine Art from MS University, Baroda. Anikesa’s works are a vibrant panorama of objects, painted and woven into a variety of mediums and scales stripping them off of their specificity. 

Anikesa’s paintings are portraits of intimate settings where the absence of a presence is felt. Bodies have seemingly disappeared in the network culture and objects remain. The visual bombardment of the images mimics the anxiety of transitoriness and desire, in such a manner that it narrates the story of an object as a prime protagonist. 

The artist’s work comments on the agency of objects we claim to possess and how these inanimate objects begin to hold within them memories and emotions. Anikesa investigates the sentimental tendencies materialism holds and the transactional values of an object-oriented universe. Wondering whether these sentiments are built collectively or individually, the artist unpacks the notion of things becoming a great part of the personal, cultural, and social histories leading to a consequent development of a sense of mundaneness. 

Her work further examines the behavioral effect of everyday visuals where the loss of objects and images act as markers of time. The artist says, “Hoarding objects under the veil of memorabilia and holding onto memories provides us an unseen comfort, but in actuality, these images and items tether us to our past so tightly that it becomes torturous.” 

The bold pastel colors in the works help the artist instigate the viewer to be overwhelmed by the image and create a subconscious reality where the object-oriented universe is warped. Even the three-dimensional works Anikesa creates, often resembling moving articles that can be used for seating, are sculpted to be devoid of the function they appear to offer. 

Anikesa’s works were most recently exhibited at “Embark VI/VII” at The Ark Foundations of Arts, "The Desired Scaffold” at Gallery XXL, “Mute/Unmute” at Method India, “Lost Fragrance of Infinity” held at Space 118, Mumbai and at a solo exhibition titled “Ice-Cream Melting at the Bouncy Castle” at Anant Art Gallery. In August 2024, Anikesa was chosen for the Khoj International Residency in collaboration with Misk Art Institute. The artist currently lives and works in Baroda, Gujarat.