Priyanka Rana Artist Talk

Priyanka Rana is a Bay Area-based artist from India whose work consists of sculptures with a variety of materials, though now primarily untreated wood. Rana’s artistic practices are rooted in ecology and sustainability, working with wood from naturally felled, local trees and transforming them into incredible works.
This exhibition consists of a selection of abstract sculptures. A central theme of Priyanka Rana’s work is the interplay between that which is dangerous and delicate. This balance is shown through Rana’s use of tools such as chainsaws, handsaws, and torches - tools requiring a high-level of meticulousness and care - with the incorporation of soft, intimate, and delicate materials such as fabric from saris and lungis, as well as children’s toys into the sculpted wood. The diversity of material incorporation plays a role in the stories that Rana is looking to tell, and the emotions she is hoping to convey. These abstract pieces invoke questions of nostalgia, community, and migration, reflective of Rana’s own personal journey that spans across three continents.

This event gives you the opportunity to meet the artist and learn more about her and her work, while viewing the artist's current exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art.

This event is free and open to the public (including free parking).

Born in India in 1980, Priyanka Rana’s early inquiries into aesthetics and philosophy and professional work in exhibitions led her to establish a full-time sculpture practice in 2018. Largely self-taught, Rana’s experiments with various sculptural materials have led to a nearly singular engagement with untreated wood. Her practice is rooted in ecology and sustainability; she works with local trees, transforming naturally felled trunks into abstract sculptures using a range of power tools. Rana chars many of her surfaces, which she likens to “painting with fire.” 

Central to Rana’s work is the interplay between that which is dangerous and delicate. While the main tools for sculpting with wood – chainsaws, handsaws, and a torch –  require extreme care, including protective clothing and safety protocols, many of the artist’s works are completed amidst the sociality of a home dinner table. The artist collects domestic and intimate materials, such as fabric from saris and children’s toys that are then treated with polyurethane and spray paint, using these to intervene in the wood. 

Through pairing with softer household materials, Rana’s largely abstract works invoke questions of migration and nostalgia, with individual toys speaking to specific moments and places that her multicultural community calls home, as well as her own personal history across three continents. 

As Rana continues to grow her practice, she has embarked on exploratory projects in other mediums including aluminum and processes such as 3D printing, and has engaged with figural and symbolic forms that extend her central concerns. 

Living and working in San Francisco, California’s Bay Area, Rana’s work has been shown widely in the region, including at a number of arts festivals and through prestigious and highly visible public art commissions.

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