Raqib Shaw’s transgressive vision is explored through highly personal imagery that is both opulent and fantastical. Combining iconography from both East and West, Shaw draws on a wide range of sources including art history, mythology, poetry, theatre, religion, science and natural history.

Highly detailed, his paintings are executed with pools of enamel and metallic industrial paints meticulously applied and manipulated to the desired effect with a porcupine quill. Every motif is outlined in embossed gold, a technique similar to ‘cloisonné’ found in early Asian pottery, which is one of many sources of inspiration to Shaw.

Raqib Shaw was born in 1974 in Calcutta, India. He lives and works in London.