Contemporary Relics: Abstractions by Uma Rani Iyli

Four Barrel Coffee and The Mill are pleased to present “Contemporary Relics: Abstractions by Uma Rani Iyli.” Born in Bangalore, India in 1974, Uma Rani Iyli studied at the College of Fine Arts in Bangalore before moving to the United States, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts in 2003. She has since been very active in the arts community, showing her work often both locally and nationally. Her artwork serves to build bridges between her East Indian roots and contemporary American culture. Each series allows her to embrace her own pair of worlds, as well as to provide an avenue for others to merge cultures and time in their own way.

“Contemporary Relics” includes work from different series that are tied together by Uma’s practice of upcycling as a means of artistic continuity. For Uma, Q-tips are a painting tool that become the subject of photography after they are stained with vibrant paint colors, then finally the Q-tips are tied together by hand into garlands and displayed as elaborate installations. This garland making process recalls Uma’s childhood memories of making jasmine flower garlands with her mother. Woven together, the Q-tips are metaphorically transformed into DNA strands merging biological references with ideas of identity and feminism.

Examining ancient cultures through her personal background and a focus on traditional notions of women’s work, Uma’s scalable work investigates linking these practices with our contemporary landscape through an abstract approach. Each line that crosses another echoes traditions of weaving and story-telling from Uma’s heritage while simultaneously representing the networks of technology that we all depend on daily.

“Contemporary Relics” runs from April 19 through June 11 at The Mill in San Francisco. Join us on Friday April 20th from 6-8pm for the opening reception. Drinks will be served and the artist will be in attendance.