Episode 274

Photo Credit Manoj Kesharwani 2024

Ep.274 Siri Devi Khandavilli is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice fluidly bridges tradition and innovation, drawing deeply from Indian artistic legacies while engaging in a broader contemporary dialogue. Working across sculpture, painting, and printmaking, she dissolves boundaries between disciplines to explore themes of cultural migration, feminism, ecology, mythology, and the nature of reality. Khandavilli’s artistic foundation was shaped from an early age at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, where she began her artistic journey, learning Mysore Traditional Painting under the tutelage of her aunt, Susheela Devi. She also holds a BFA and an MFA in Intermedia from Arizona State University, as well as another MFA in sculpture from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.

This diverse education informs a practice that is both meticulous and experimental, embracing elements of chance while also reflecting history, tradition, and transformation. A recurring motif in her work is the act of mirroring, both literally and conceptually. Her pursuit of the “perfect image” led her to invent a mirror finish on her canvases, blurring the distinction between painting and reflection. The image on the canvas is constantly being created in the present yet carries memories and imprints of the past. She also engages in an ongoing exploration of the tension between control and unpredictability, a theme that permeates her sculptural practice.

Her methods, mediums, contexts, and surfaces destabilize singular readings, inviting layered interpretations that oscillate between the apparent and the subversive. She believes that an artwork is never about just one thing but rather about everything happening in the world at the time of its creation, as the artist is thinking and experiencing it all.
Her works have been shown and are also held in major institutional collections, including the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Private Collection, the Albertina Museum, Durham University Museum, the Fidelity Art Collection, ASU Art Museum, and the Queens Museum, among others. Splitting her time between New Delhi and New York, Khandavilli navigates a transnational space where many experiences overlap, creating a body of work that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

Lisa Sette Gallery https://www.lisasettegallery.com/artists/41-siri-devi-khandavilli/works/

Gallery Ragini https://galleryragini.com/siri-devi-khandavilli/

BOMB Magazine https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2026/03/11/siri-devi-khandavilli-by-melissa-joseph/

Art Centrix Space https://www.artcentrix.com/

Meer https://www.meer.com/en/88201-40-year-anniversary-exhibition-shaping-a-life-of-curiosity

India Art Fair https://indiaartfair.in/exhibitors

Scale Magazine https://scalemag.online/design/highlights-from-the-india-art-fair-2025/

Artwork Archive https://www.artworkarchive.com

Siri_Khandavilli Studio
Photo Credit Manoj Kesharwani 2024