sources both classic and contemporary. Influences range from Indian literature, Hinduism and Greek tragedy to modern theater and poetry (Brecht, Beckett, Heiner Müller) and current events. She is well versed in feminist and postcolonial theory, but neither infiltrates her work in a didactic manner. Full of disparate floating images that resist coherent narrative, her surreal compositions suggest dreamscapes of the nightmarish tenor associated with Bosch. Disembodied organs (brains, kidneys, intestines), umbilical cords, mutating blobs, monsters, angels, turds, human figures and animals vie for attention. Faces abound.
The majority of her new paintings are tondi, from roughly 10 to 60 inches in diameter. With titles like Warriors and Green Worm, Angel, and Mutants and Animals, many feature a gigantic larva-like creature that suggests the snail-like shape of the inner ear. Their spotted grounds, some an aqueous red (blood?), others blue (water?), call to mind cellular universes. Female archetypes like Sita, Medea, Alice in Wonderland, Radha and Mother Courage regularly populate Malani’s paintings. In the monumental Cassandra (2009), the show’s 30-panel centerpiece, the cursed prophetess levitates against a yellow ground amid a plethora of the artist’s trademark symbols. Rendered in black and gray washes, the hairless, virtually lifeless woman appears to have been burned alive. In style and content, this meditation on feminine resistance and trauma is akin to those of Kiki Smith and Nancy Spero. Confounding linear interpretations, Malani’s paintings are trenchantly evocative.
Photos: Nalini Malani: Warriors and Green Worm, 2009, acrylic, ink and enamel reverse painting on acrylic sheet, 173⁄4 inches in diameter; at Lelong. Cassandra, 2009, acrylic, ink and enamel reverse painting on acrylic sheet, 30 panels, 881⁄2 by 1531⁄2 inches overall; at Lelong.
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