iMuseum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)Junction Triangle
Bharti Kher: Bones
Fifteen years of Bharti Kher's assemblages: sari-clad hybrid figures, stone and concrete forms and bindi-covered paintings, with a monumental new tondo.
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Thousands of bindis, each one applied by hand, swirl across Virus XXVI, a huge new round painting, in what MOCA calls an orbit-like composition. Kher's mirrored Matter paintings use the same dots, sweeping them into shapes that could be microscopic life or a galaxy.
Bones pairs 15 years of her work with new sculptures across Floor 1 and Floor 3. You move through it along platforms she built as both plinths and paths. On them, female figures in resin-dipped saris stand or float among stone, wood and concrete shapes tied with ropes and chains, which she calls "shapes with no inside or outside". The title, she says, means bodily remains and also a foundation to build on. Those resin saris are the only ones in Toronto that will never need ironing.
Adult entry is $14, under-18s are free, and Fridays run until 8pm. On Saturday 31 October at 11am, artistic director Rui Mateus Amaral tours this show and Delcy Morelos's Ombligo; it's included with admission, but register first.
Editor's pick
Thousands of hand-applied bindis swirl across Virus XXVI, a giant round painting. Elsewhere, resin-dipped saris drape female figures among stone and concrete forms tied with rope, all set on platforms Kher built as both plinth and path.
Look for
Virus XXVI
Look for the new monumental tondo on the wall, a circle of thousands of hand-applied bindis arranged like bodies in orbit.
The mirrored Matter paintings
Bindis sweep across mirror surfaces in dense swarms that look like microscopic life and celestial maps at once.
The sari figures
Surreal female figures draped in resin-dipped saris, some standing and some floating among the abstract forms.
The rope-and-chain sculptures
Geometric forms in wood, stone and concrete, held together with ropes and chains, which Kher calls shapes with no inside or outside.
The platforms
Kher built platforms for this show that hold the sculptures up and also set the route you walk through the rooms.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Going Solo
With kids
Under-18s get in free, and under-15s must be with an adult. Nothing can be touched, and selfie sticks and flash aren't allowed.
Also at Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
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Image credits
6
- Bharti Kher: BonesCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)
- Rouzbeh Akhbari: Of Wool and DieselCourtesy of Mercer Union, a Centre for Contemporary Art
- body — mind — distanceCourtesy of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
- From the Laurentian Highlands to a Higher PlaceCourtesy of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
- Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA)Leventio / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Mercer Union, a Centre for Contemporary ArtWilliam Mewes (Flickr), CC BY 2.0