Seher Shah (b. 1975)

Good overall condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Seher Shah received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to fusing influences from these two aesthetic realms, her work is flavored with myriad multicultural influences. In an online interview, she explains: “I do have a love of particular courtyard spaces based on my childhood growing up in Belgium and in London. In between that my parents used to take me back to Pakistan and I got familiar with particular types of courtyard spaces there as opposed to very urban European spaces within a city fabric.”

Shah is captivated by the fleeting nature of public and private expanses. Figures with indecipherable countenances move in clusters throughout these prints, manifesting a sense of detachment and anonymity. They occupy ephemeral spaces ranging from vast piazzas to abstract geometries. She manipulates spatial perspectives within the compositions: the picture plane is tense and dynamic as Shah uproots the viewers from the anticipated homogeniety of perspective, suggesting a parallel universe.

Shah continues, “The idea of impermanence and transformation does come about with the idea of what physics can do. Things deconstruct and then reconstruct themselves ... There is smoke, there are explosions, and it sort of goes in to the realm of science fiction. I like the idea of utopian drawings, courtyard spaces, and the intersection of science fiction with that.”