Studies In Form - Seher Shah & Randihir Singh - Hewn Blueprints. Portfolio of 20 cyanotype prints on Archers Aquarelle Paper. Edition of 5 + 1 artist's proof. Courtesy of the artists and Green Art Gallery, Dubai

Text and Images by Ruben Natal San Miguel

“Studies in Form,” curated by Chief Curator Daniel Palmer, is a collaborative body of work by Seher Shah and Randhir Singh. Consisting of six portfolios with 121 prints in total, the series examines modernist architecture through the medium of the cyanotype, an early photographic process and precursor to the blueprint. Shah and Singh’s interdisciplinary approach to architectural history combines photography, printmaking, and drawing to isolate specific elements of buildings and analyze architectural principles of scale, materiality and mass. By abstracting form, Shah and Singh scrutinize the built environment and offer a compelling expansion of the canon of modernism.

The photographic series '' Studies in Form'' from Seher Shah and Randihir Singh are extremely elegant, sleek, and precise. They deny the concept that photography doesn’t always have to be in black and white; their work is bold, high contrast, strong, and modern. The architecture of 1960 and ‘70s featured in their work have enhanced details which play with the abstraction of light and shadow. The highly decorative pieces transform into something timeless and elegant, especially when some pieces celebrate buildings that are no longer standing.

Seher Shah explores ideas of tradition in architectural and perspective drawing; contested relationships among history, objects, and time and the relationship between poetry and abstraction. Using drawing, etching, photogravure, woodcuts, and sculptural studies in cast iron, Shah speaks to the poetic and fractured way in which people view landscapes through history. Her artwork is a vibrant expression of curiosity, research, and experimentation.

Randhir Singh has collaborated with Shah on numerous projects combining photography, architecture, and drawing. Singh’s own work has been exhibited most recently at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in “The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985”. For the exhibition, he was commissioned to produce a substantial portfolio of photographs of modern architecture in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, providing a contemporary perspective on a culture of modern architecture at a time of significant progressive societal transformation. Singh has also exhibited at PHOTOINK in the two-person show IIT Delhi: A Modernist Case Study with the late Madan Mahatta, exploring the role of the photographer in relationship to architecture, history, and time; in the exhibition When Is Space? at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, investigating socialist housing typologies, modernism, and national identity; at Pondy PHOTO and in the exhibition Body Building at the Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, probing the relationship between industrial architecture and the urban landscape; and in the traveling exhibition Yamuna River Project, examining waterways and hydraulic architecture. Singh has collaborated with artist Seher Shah on numerous projects combining photography, architecture, and drawing.

" Studies in Form'' Seher Shah & Randihir Singh- Dentsu Head Office Portfolio of 10 cyanotype prints on Arches Aquarelle Paper 2018. Edition of 5 and 1 artist's proof . Courtesy of the artists and Green Art Gallery, Dubai .

Randhir Singh has collaborated with Shah on numerous projects combining photography, architecture, and drawing. Singh’s own work has been exhibited most recently at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in “The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985”. For the exhibition, he was commissioned to produce a substantial portfolio of photographs of modern architecture in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, providing a contemporary perspective on a culture of modern architecture at a time of significant progressive societal transformation. Singh has also exhibited at PHOTOINK in the two-person show IIT Delhi: A Modernist Case Study with the late Madan Mahatta, exploring the role of the photographer in relationship to architecture, history, and time; in the exhibition When Is Space? at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, investigating socialist housing typologies, modernism, and national identity; at Pondy PHOTO and in the exhibition Body Building at the Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, probing the relationship between industrial architecture and the urban landscape; and in the traveling exhibition Yamuna River Project, examining waterways and hydraulic architecture. Singh has collaborated with artist Seher Shah on numerous projects combining photography, architecture, and drawing.