Mequitta Ahuja
Painter / Pittrice

..."Mequitta Ahuja, whose parents hail from Cincinnati and New Delhi, deploys her own image as ‘surface’ for ideas about painting, while extending her personal identity into wider cultural landscapes." -John Ewing

Mequitta received her MFA from UIC in 2003, mentored by Kerry James Marshall. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S as well as in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, India and Dubai.  Mequitta has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s 12X12, BravinLee Programs in New York, Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris, France and a two person show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art in California. Group exhibitions include: Global Feminisms at the Brooklyn Museum, Houston Collects African American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Poets and Painters at the Ulrich Museum in Wichita, KS, Undercover at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Usable Pasts at the Studio Museum in Harlem and Portraiture Now at the National Portrait Gallery among others.  Mequitta’s work has appeared in Modern Painters, March 2007 and Art News, February 2007.  In February, 2010, Mequitta was profiled as an “Artist to Watch” in ArtNews.  Holland Cotter, art critic of the New York Times, in his "last chance" article on June 1, 2007, sighting Mequitta’s NY debut exhibition Encounters, stated "Referring to the artist’s African-American and East Indian background, the pictures turn marginality into a regal condition."  Mequitta received a 2011 Tiffany Foundation Award, a 2009 Joan Mitchell Award and a 2008 Houston Artadia Prize.  Mequitta is represented in Europe by Galerie Nathalie Obadia.  She lives in Baltimore, MD. 

Her website : http://www.automythography.com/


Link to website of exhibit "War Baby / Love Child" at De Paul Art Museum in Chicago, April 25 – June 30 2013:

 http://museums.depaul.edu/exhibitions/war-babylove-child-mixed-race-asian-american-art/

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2011-2012 MICA, Stewart McMillan Artist in Residence, Baltimore, MD 
2009-2010 Studio Museum in Harlem, Artist-in-Residence, New York, NY  
2006-2008 Core Program, Artist-in-Residence, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013   Mequitta Ahuja, General Audience Presents, Miami FL  
2012   Mequitta Ahuja and Robert Pruitt, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA (two-person show)
2010    <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Trois Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France.  
            Automythography II Arthouse, Austin, TX
2009    Automythography I BravinLee Programs, NY, NY 
2008    <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Flowback Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX 
2007    Encouners BravinLee Programs, NY, NY   
2005 Dancing on the Hide of Shere Khan 12X12, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013 Portraiture Now: Drawing on the Edge, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
2012 The Bearden Project The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 
          Portraiture Now: Drawing on the Edge Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.
          In Between Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Brussels, Belgium.   
         Red Maison Particuliere, Brussels, Belgium
2011 Collected: Ritual Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 
         Drawings for the New Century Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN 
2010   Usable Pasts (Artists in Residence Exhibition) Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  
          Body of Work (Women to Watch) National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC  
          Art on Paper Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina 
           New Works for the Collection Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX  
2009   Undercover Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta, GA 
            Wonder What The Others Are Up To Gallery OED, Cochin, India   
           The Talented Ten Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, TX 
2008    Houston Collects Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX 
2007   Global Feminisms Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
           Painters and Poets Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS

AWARDS
2011            Louis Comfort Tiffany Award 
2009             Joan Mitchell Award
2008              Artadia Award, Houston 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX 
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN                                                                                                
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Wealth Management
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 
Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS
U.S. State Department, Mumbai, India  

MEDIA
2012    The Washington Post “In Fact There is Fiction on Display” Michael O’Sulivan, Editor’s Picks Dec 7 
2010    The New Yorker, Vince Aletti, “Usable Pasts” August 18            
            <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">ARTnews, Rachel Wolff “Artists to Watch” February              
2009    <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Houston Public Radio, KUHF, Meghan Handley, “The Front Row” Jan 6 
            <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Houston Chronicle, Douglas Britt, “Artwork is a Reflection of its Audience” p.E2 Jan 8
           <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Callaloo: Arts and Letters of the African Diaspora, Johns Hopkins University Press, 32.1 Winter 
           Artforum.com, Rebecca Dimling Cochran, Review     
2007     The New York Times, Holland Cotter “Last Chance” June 1
            <em "mso-bidi-font-style:="" normal"="">Art News, Phoebe Hoban “We’re Finally Infiltrating” February 
            Modern Painters, Carrie Moyer “VIVA” March           

Sart life