The Shorthand for Luxury by Vandana Jain
January 9th- February 10, 2013
Opening Reception: January 9th, 6-9pm
Vandana Jain works with an alphabet of logos to examine the pervasive influence of
corporate culture, consumerism and capitalism in modern life. By using pattern and design
she redirects the barrage of brands that surround us, creating objects that allow greater
contemplation of these symbols, and the larger structures they are part of.
Recently, Jain has started to work with finite groupings of brands, based on various
factors such as profit rankings, industrial partnerships, and aesthetic and symbolic affinities.
Configuring them into models for temple-like pavilions, totemic drawings, and haphazard
figures, she gives visual form to the nature of multi-national conglomerates, the growth of
mammoth industrial complexes and the spirit of corporate personhood.
The works in the exhibition encompass a diversity of media and a range of treatments of
the subject matter. The animation, The Top 100 GlobalCorporations, is a graphic visualization
of the Fortune 500. The logos appear in order of rank from the center out, creating a mandala-like
composition. Jain utilizes the mandala to contrast the fast-paced consumer lifestyle with the spiritual
and reflective state encouraged by Eastern religions.
In The Shorthand for Luxury, Jain presents us with a nuanced look at the visual language
of symbols and brands that proliferate all around us. Jain's diverse works become a lens
through which we see hidden connections, whether through monopolization of the market
or through the power of certain symbols used throughout the centuries that Jain then
repurposes. In doing so, Jain elucidates the abundant visual culture all around us and
uncovers layers of meaning in logos to make us see them in a different manner.
Artists Bio:
Vandana Jain’s work has been shown widely at such venues as: Momenta Art, NY;
The Queens Museum, Flushing, NY; The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN; Grey Noise
Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan; and With Space, Beijing, China. Her awards include the Emerging
Artist’s Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace
Residency, and the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant.
Station Independent Projects
164 Suffolk Street, NYC 10002
917.698.2012
Leah Oates: Gallery Director
Melissa Netecke, Assistant Gallery Director
F Delancey Street stop
JMZ Essex Street stop
Between Stanton and East Houston