Aswhini Bhat has a revelation. In the ‘17 Northern California Tubbs fire, where her habitat, if not sanctuary, was torched, through that natural procession of more than the mere change – but one of cosmic significance which coincided with her own movement; yet unguided they both are? There the artist is free to authenticate the circumstances of the burning and to more than inform but to participate in the play. The stage may be embering, but that inner light is granted an authority to form a more beautiful narrative.

It must be with this, calling, with the calla lilly providing that healthy perspective amidst ashes and sign of the halting of verdure, that the artist was compelled to present an orientation of illumination upon her typical sculptures with such a, more than metamorphosis, but I dare name cosmogenesis – in the waking activity of the new day and what new hope it brings.

For growth is an affirmation of desiring more life.

‘Self Portrait, Cotyledon’, (2025). Ashwini Bhat. Bronze with patina on charred redwood pillar. 60” x 14”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

The darkened beauty in the ceramic ensemble at Shoshana Wayne Gallery is nary a tincture of that bitter aftertaste of charring, and beginning of ceaseless mobility that is counter-opposite the knowing of living. It is, therefore, an appropriate challenge for the artist to construct such dark tones which do not present that necrotic element. Indeed, this is not macabre – in the otherwise erstwhile burnt kaleidoscope of the continuum of the Self Portrait titulars – with that subjective journey adding, not removing, as an aftermath of the corporeal experience of the Sonoma forestry tinder-ground. 

‘Self Portrait, Bud’, (2025). Ashwini Bhat.
Glazed ceramic and brass bells on a scorched wooden base. 81” x 30”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

‘Self Portrait, Bloom’, (2025). Ashwini Bhat.
Glazed ceramic on a cushion hand-crafted in Nepal, on a scorched wooden base. 60” x 30”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

‘Self Portrait, Burst’, (2025). Ashwini Bhat. Glazed ceramic and charcoal. 55” x 23” x 23”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

The elevation of the ceramics, with the abstractions that are centered with that weighted dark contrast, imposes a magnitude which is gracious. A delicate treatment to her abstractions, particularly with the elevation of certain works off the dust of the floor, signifies that sacred attitude to growth, especially with such inclusive descriptions of Bud, Burst, Bloom. It cannot be emphasized more: this is a rebirth festival.

The scale/dimensions of the sculptures, which also involve bronze pieces – that ancient testament to permanent goodness and worthy of collection when true beauty appears – recognizes not a shrinking away from the day, but, what is photosynthetic: becoming.

‘Self Portrait, Becoming’, (2025). Ashwini Bhat.
Bronze with patina. 11” x 3” x 3”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

I am particularly fond of this, however cryptic, portrayal with the hanging of a multiplicity of yet-to-be calla lilies; with that industrial heartiness of chain-link lowering these petals to plain-view. There is that one lonely bronze piece titled, What Will It Take / For Us To Awake?

‘What Will It Take / For Us To Awake?’, (2025). Bronze with patina. 4th edition (Ed 4 + 1 AP). 23” x 14” x 12”. Courtesy the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. All Rights Reserved.

Perhaps towards our own self-discovery? Do we need such an infernal confrontation as the artist did? Or, perhaps, does that slumber, that hibernation of self-growth, benefit with her cosmic timing in the mystery of being?

For more information please contact the gallery:

Shoshana Wayne Gallery

5247 W. Adams Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90016

P: 323-452-9067

mail@shoshanawayne.com