ARTIST BIO
Sarika Goulatia is a visual artist best known for her large-scale sensory sculptures and installations. Goulatia’s work is diverse in theme, material, process and approach; it is united conceptually and tactically in its reflection of an unambiguous idea.
Goulatia transforms ordinary objects into compelling works of art that reflect her own determination and fortitude through explorations of various mediums, techniques, and genres. Her works range from sculpted ceramics to cast bronzes and aluminum, from extensively drilled/nailed wood to assemblages using found objects. Each piece is infused with vitality, enthusiasm and an investigational approach.
She is driven by an irresistible impulse to make labor-intensive work. Despite the incredible labor involved in her process, the completed work indicates that all questions and contradictions, especially those within the maximum and the minimal, disappear into a quiet place that invites contemplation. Noted for a dense accumulation of multiple materials, her sometimes ephemeral, often poignant, environments create immersive experiences. Goulatia does not shy away from the challenging, the difficult, or even the disturbing in her installation-based practice, but she masks her intent through her onerous, labor-intensive techniques.
In addition, as a diaspora artist her work stems from the intersection of her dual national identity; the synergy of this distinctiveness allows her to break through cultural barriers. She was born and raised in India and currently is based in Pittsburgh. Her extensive practice—predominantly in sculpture and installation—touches on the frailty of human experience, often drawing on personal challenges and socio-cultural issues.
Goulatia has had solo exhibitions at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and was named the Emerging Artist of 2016. She has exhibited work in group and solo shows through the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for the International Society of Sculptors Conference (2016) and as part of the India in Focus Festival (2015). Important group exhibitions include shows at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art (2016), The Mine Factory (2013 and 2015), the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh’s Annual at the Carnegie Museum of Art (2016), and Double Consciousness at the Mattress Factory Museum (2007).
Goulatia was the recipient of the prestigious 2017 Carol R. Brown Award Creative Achievement Award, provided through the Investing in Professional Artists grants program, a partnership of The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation. She is also the recipient of the Sally Gehl, Samuel Rosenberg and Elizabeth Jones Award in Humanities and Art at Carnegie Mellon University (2006). She has been awarded residency/exhibition opportunities at Neu Kirche and the Alloy at Carrie Furnace