Ajit Chauhan*

Lot #14
Haydn Symphony No. 94 "Surprise" Symphony No. 101 "Clock", Pierre Monteux, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, 2019
Erased record cover
16 x 16 x 1.5 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Anglim/Trimble, San Francisco

About the Artwork

Ajit Chauhan’s (Headlands Affiliate ‘15) work is economical in the sense of doing a lot with little. In this body of work, he is removing and erasing in order to reveal something. Reducing or paring down can be a form of highlighting and a tenet of clarity. In his words, “The idea of trying to see the extraordinary in the ordinary has always appealed to me. It’s something that can be actively cultivated.” Of his erased record covers in particular, their figures revealed through a delicate removal of layers, he says, “Much of the work resembles symmetrical inkblots, tests of perception,” to be “analyzed and interpreted for meaning.” What might one perceive at the heart of this meticulous excavation? 

Chauhan lives in the sanctuary city of San Francisco; he works at Creativity Explored and is part of a collective of poets and painters called Right Window Gallery. He has exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, London; CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; Berkeley Art Museum; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; White Columns, New York; Grimmuseum, Berlin; and Annarumma Gallery, Naples, among others. He will have a solo exhibition at Anglim/Trimble in July of 2021.

Retail Value: $2,500