Rajul Shah

Rajul Shah

Singapore-based artist Rajul Shah only began her career as an artist after leaving a career in the pharmaceutical industry. However, her work continues to be strongly concerned with health, healing and hope.

“The colour red represents our identity, where we come from and where we belong.”

As an artist, I want to encourage people to see healing as a positive process, and I communicate this idea visually. I worked in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry for 20 years before becoming an artist. During this time, I gained insight into human suffering and the importance of hope for healing–hope as a positive driving force leading to physical and psychological healing is the guiding principle of my work.

My working methods grew very organically from studying different techniques in East Asian and European art. This background allows me to choose different methods and techniques. Perhaps this is why I like to work with many different mediums–whether photography or painting, colour or black and white, figurative or abstract, I let the idea guide the work. The artwork demands the materials and techniques that manifest its message. I, therefore, do not define myself as a landscape artist, figurative artist or abstract artist–I define myself as an artist who visualises the process of healing. The colours that stand out in my works are very consciously chosen. They represent the energies of the chakras. For example, the first chakra, Muladhara–our root chakra, has an aura colour of red. It symbolises our tribe, our identity, where we come from and where we belong.

One of my works, “The Kintsugi Body”, is inspired by Japanese Kintsugi art; here, a broken clay vessel is repaired with tree resin and gold splicing. Now restored, the object is a work of art. Such themes and ideas consistently run through my work and are representative of what I hope to achieve.

I strongly believe in the connection between emotional and physical well-being, and my work reflects this belief.

Paintings

 

Biography

1992-2011 Marketing in healthcare in the USA
2012 Moved to Japan
2012-2019 Studies of Sumi-E/ Nihonga, at the Tokyo Campus of Temple’s Tyler School of Art
2019 Moved to Singapore

 

Exhibitions

08 / 2022 Longlisted Visual Art Open 2022
06 / 2022 Group exhibition True Colours – Farbe bekennen!, Galerie Musnadi-Weskamp, Cologne, Germany
03 / 2022 ALL WOMEN Artist Competition & Exhibition. Contemporary Art Gallery, Online
02 / 2022 Reception: Gallery at the Well, Emerald Hill, Singapore
02 / 2022 The Spirit of Resilience 2022, Manhattan Arts International Online Gallery, NYC USA
11 / 2021 International Society of Experimental Artists: “Utterly Unfathomable and Powerfully Profound” 3rd Annual Member Only Online Juried Exhibition.
11 / 2021 CANCER: Never Give Up- 2021 Gallerium Art
10-12 / 2021 Art in Lockdown, Miramar Cultural Center, Miramar, USA
10 / 2021 XIII Biennale di Firenze, Italien
09-10 / 2021 Interwoven: An Exhibit of Breast Cancer Art, Broward Art Guild, Miami, USA
06 / 2021 National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPs) International Spring Online Associate Member Exhibition
06-07 / 2021 Contemporary Art Gallery Online: All Abstract Art Exhibition – Winner
05-06 / 2021 Contemporary Art Gallery Online: All Landscape Art Exhibition
05 / 2021 Circle Foundation for the Arts 6th Quarterly Art Review: Artistic Excellence Award
2021 Visual Arts Association International Show
2021 Spring Online ISEA (International Society of Experimental Artists)
02 / 2021 Colors of Humanity Gallery – Red 2021 Show
01 / 2021 LightSpaceTime “All Women” Art Exhibition – Special Recognition
11 / 2020 HelvetArt November “2020” Red Show
11 / 2020 ArtisTTable 38th Exhibition: 2020 Women’s Show
11 / 2020 Fusion Arts 5th Anniversary Art Exhibition
10 / 2020 LightSpaceTime: 10th Exhibition “Landscapes” – Special Recognition
10 / 2020 Colors of Humanity Gallery “Landscapes”
09 / 2020 Contemporary Art Room Online Gallery – 2nd Annual Skies Art
09 / 2020 3rd Annual Women Artists – 15th Quarterly Art Competition Online Juried Art Exhibition – Fusion Art
09 / 2020 A Light in the Darkness, Las Laguna Gallery – Group Show
08 / 2020 4th Annual Skies Art Exhibition
08 / 2020 29th Annual International Society of Experimental Artists – originally Alberta, Canada now online due to COVID-19
07 / 2020 36ste SPACE Ausstellung ArtisTTable – Kintsugi Earth III
06 / 2020 LightSpaceTime: 10th Annual “Seascapes” Exhibition 2020 (International Juried) – Special Recognition
04-05 / 2020 “All Planet Earth” International Juried Online Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery
04 / 2020 3rd Annual Online “COLORS” Art Competition (international juried), Contemporary Art Room Gallery
04 / 2020 Artsy Shark Artist Showcase Spring 2020
03 / 2020 LightSpaceTime: 11th Annual Abstracts Group Exhibition (international juried) – Special Recognition
03 / 2020 All Women Artist Competition (international juried Group Show)
03 / 2020 “Skies” Group Exhibition (international juried)
03 / 2020 Spring All Members Online Exhibition International Society of Experimental Artists
02 / 2020 “If Walls Could Speak” IONArt Gallery w Mayinart/ARTPODium, Singapore
08 / 2019 32nd Annual National Japanese Exhibition of Nature (National – Juried) Ueno No Mori Art Museum
07 / 2019 Group Show – Art Nou Millenni Gallery, Barcelona
06 / 2019 Tokyo International Art Fair (Juried) Belle Salle, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan
05 / 2019 Hartexpo Barcelona – Art Nou Millenni Gallery
05 / 2019 40th Regional Shinseisaku Group Show – Yokohama Civic Center
02-04 / 2019 Abstract-Fully Yours. Art for Charity Group Show. ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kobe, Japan
01-03 / 2019 The Healing Power of Art. Online Juried Exhibition. Manhattan Arts International
11 / 2018 49ste Genyou-ten Ausstellung im Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Ueno – Japan: Earth & Sky

 

Publications

  • SPOTLIGHT Magazine: Issue 24: Rajul Shah – Healing Manipura I, p. 163
  • WHITE ENSO Issue 2 Summer 2021 “A Painter’s Visio of the Art of Kintsugi” – Author: Rajul Shah
  • Passage July/August 2020: Friends of the Museum, Singapore “The Japanese Art of Kintsugi” Author: Rajul Shah
  • Evolution of An Expat Artist – Artsy Shark Feb, 2021
    www.artsyshark.com/…
  • STUDIO VISIT MAGAZINE, 2019: Volume 45 & 46
  • ONBEAT Magazine Volume 8, 2017 Tokyo, Japan

 

Prizes / Scholarships

08 / 2021 Nominiert für Nachwuchspreis: Visual Arts Organziation (VAO) Emerging Artists, USA
06 / 2021 Contemporary Art Gallery, All Abstract Art Exhibition, Winner
05 / 2021 Circle Foundation for the Arts 6th Quarterly Art Review, USA: Artistic Excellence Award
2021 Mellow Awards, USA – Auszeichnung
2021 Mellow Art Award, Japan – Special Prize
11 / 2020 Circle Foundation for the Arts Magazine Art IDEAL, USA: Artistic Excellence Award
10 / 2020 2020 American Art Awards – 5th place Abstract Expressionism
09 / 2020 2020 American Art Awards – Kintsugi Earth II – Preis in der Kategorie Abstract Expressionism
07 / 2020 36th Annual SPACE Exhibition ArtisTTable – Honorable Mention – Kintsugi Earth III
06 / 2020 Finalist: June 2020 Grey Cube Gallery Skies Exhibition (online juried)
09 / 2018 49th Annual Genyou-ten Exhibition (National – Juried) Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Ueno – Japan: Kusukabe Paints Honorable Mention – Earth & Sky II