The mudra known as the scorpion gesture is said to have unlimited power and potential for transformation. Your presence transforms the Rubin’s galleries in Chitra Ganesh’s series The Scorpion Gesture, causing her large-scale animations to appear as if by magic when you walk by select artworks. Ganesh has created five animated artistic “interventions” inspired by objects in Gateway to Himalayan Art and Masterworks, using the figures of Padmasambhava, known as the Second Buddha, and Maitreya, the Future Buddha, as points of departure. The animations build on Ganesh’s longstanding investigation of mythology, imagery, and narrative in her multidisciplinary practice, integrating her drawings with elements from the Rubin’s collection.
Developed with and animated by the STUDIO
Beth Citron was previously the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Rubin Museum of Art. Her exhibitions for the Rubin Museum included Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Try to Altar Everything (2016), Francesco Clemente: Inspired by India (2014), Witness at a Crossroads: Photographer Marc Riboud in Asia (2014), and the three-part exhibition series Modernist Art from India (2011-13). She completed a PhD in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught in the Art History Department at New York University, from which she also earned a BA in Fine Arts.
Chitra Ganesh is made possible by Rasika and Girish Reddy, Manoj and Rita Singh, Akhoury Foundation, and contributors to the 2018 Exhibitions Fund.
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