September 6 - October 4, 2003

Pink Is The Navy Blue of India / Digital Print Series #1
(15/20) 2003, digital print, 12 x 16 in

M.Y. ART PROSPECTS presents a solo exhibition by Shelly Bahl, an Indian-born artist based in Toronto and New York City. This exhibition features the international premiere of the title work, "Pink Is the Navy Blue of India," a mixed-media video installation. In this significant new work, the artist explores a woman's desire and frenzy for orientalist fashions. In the narrative, a young Indian woman enters a fashion boutique, browses, and tries on different items---a riot of sheer, spicy-colored garments and accessories. The artist carefully juxtaposes lively ‘ethnic' elements with a bland contemporary setting. The camera follows the woman while she frenetically touches, smells and tastes the merchandise, the intimate interaction culminating in an emotional clash. Bahl's work creates environments for interactive acts of consumption and storytelling while provocatively examining transcultural convergences.

Born in Benares, India, Shelly Bahl earned an MA in Studio Art from New York University in 1995 and a BFA from York University, Toronto in 1993. Her interdisciplinary work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions internationally. Her projects in 2003/2004 include a number of group exhibitions, as well as solo shows at the Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver; Gallery 44, Toronto; Khyber Centre For the Arts, Halifax; Gallery 198, London; and Centre A, Vancouver. In the past year, she has also participated in group exhibitions at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi; Matucana 100, Santiago; BosePaciaModern Gallery, New York; M.Y. ART PROSPECTS, New York; Centre M.A.I., Montreal; Open Studio, Toronto; and the Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn. Recently Shelly Bahl has also taught studio art courses at Alfred University, The Pratt Institute, Vermont College and the Ontario College of Art and Design.

For more information or request for visual materials, please contact Miyako Yoshinaga or at (212) 268 7132 or e-mail: MYartpro@aol.com