The Approach is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by London based artist, Jai Chuhan.
Jai Chuhan's vibrant paintings depict the human body in abstracted room-like spaces. Using vivid cadmium pigments, Chuhan's visceral visual language incorporates contorted limbs, raw flesh and quivering muscle to suggest bodies in struggle or in intimate embrace. Her familiar motifs of the birthing body, brides in Indian wedding ceremonies and the dancer are captured through smudged caresses and violent gestures. These ambiguously gendered figures initially appear in a private world and yet their architectural surroundings act as if a stage for viewing. Working from life, photographs and personal memories, Chuhan’s paintings reconsider notions of voyeurism, eroticism, race and the gaze.
Jai Chuhan is an Indian-born British artist. Her paintings have been exhibited internationally in Italy, Belgium, Singapore and America, and in the UK at Tate Liverpool; the Barbican Art Gallery, London; Bluecoat, Liverpool; Ikon, Birmingham; Tramway, Glasgow; Arnolfini, Bristol; the Commonwealth Institute, London; Horizon Gallery, London; Waterman Arts Centre, London; and Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery London.
Forthcoming and previous solo exhibitions include; Dancer, Harbour House, Devon (2025); Small Paintings, Qrystal Partners, London (2023); Paris Internationale with Champ Lacombe, Paris (2023); Remodel: Painting Studio, Asia Triennial, Manchester (2018); Decanting Desire, Liverpool Biennial (2014) and Jai Chuhan: Recent Paintings, Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool (2013). Her work is currently on view at Dundee Contemporary Arts as part of the Hayward Touring exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, curated by Hettie Judah, and features in In our idleness, in our dreams, Niru Ratnam, London (2025). Her paintings and drawings are in the collections of the Tate, the Arts Council and Cartwright Hall in Bradford.
