Make me a summary of Rina Banerjee

January 9, 2019

By Lauren Hansen

Rina Banerjee works on her sculpture “Excessive Flower.”
Courtesy of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

This winter, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia is giving a mid-career survey to Rina Banerjee.

The show of Rina Banerjee’s work from the last 20 years is called “Make Me A Summary of the World.” It includes some drawings and paintings, but it’s mostly made up of wildly colorful and complicated multimedia sculptures and installations that hang from the ceiling, spill out of the wall or hover over the floor.

“Take me, take me, take me, take me … to the Palace of love,” 2003.Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/Barbara Katus

Banerjee was born in Calcutta but emigrated to London and then settled with her family in the U.S. when she was seven. “Feeling like the immigrant makes you always feel like you don’t belong,” Banerjee says, “and that you are an intruder and you are trespassing.”

“Make me a summary of the world …,” 2014.Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/Barbara Katus

Kurt Andersen talks with Banerjee about her art, her process and how, as an artist, she also trespasses into other cultures and countries, borrowing objects for her enchanting and otherworldly sculptures.

Rina Banerjee’s sculpture, “Her Captivity,” 2011, can be seen through the archway, bookended by two 17th century paintings.Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/Barbara Katus

“Her Captivity,” 2011.Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/Barbara Katus

Rina Banerjee’s exhibition “Make Me A Summary Of The World” is at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until March 31, 2019. The exhibition is co-organized by the San Jose Museum of Art in California.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article did not include mention of the San Jose Museum of Art and misstated the type of exhibition. It has been updated.