Biography

Gaya Chandrasekaran is an award winning contemporary artist based in London and originally from Chennai, India. Her textured abstract landscapes bring together the vivid cultural memory of her upbringing and the quieter, contemplative influence of her life in the United Kingdom.

For much of her life, Gaya carried a subtle sense of not quite belonging, of feeling like an outsider even within familiar surroundings. Painting became a way of turning towards those feelings and transforming experiences that were difficult to articulate into something visible, tangible and ultimately connecting.

Predominantly self taught, Gaya has complemented her independent practice with art training in India and London, including at the Slade School of Fine Art. She works principally with palette knives, heavy body acrylics, sculpting gels and, in selected works, gold leaf. Her physical and intuitive process involves repeated layering, scraping and mark making, gradually building sculptural surfaces with depth, movement and rhythm.

Her paintings sit between abstraction and landscape. Some are inspired by places encountered while running, hiking or spending time in nature, while others evolve entirely through intuition. In both, the external landscape becomes a reflection of an inner state.

Influenced by the saturated colours, textiles, patterns and visual traditions of Chennai, as well as the quieter light and changing landscapes of the United Kingdom, her work balances warmth with contemplation and movement with stillness.

Through her recurring themes of Soliloquy, Rebirth and Nirvana, Gaya explores memory, introspection, transformation, release and the human need for connection. She approaches her paintings as spaces that invite viewers to pause, reconnect and recognise something of their own experience.

Gaya’s work has been exhibited across the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States and is held in private collections internationally. She has received several international art prizes, including the VAA Art100 International Art Award 2025, and was longlisted for the Visual Art Open 2026 and the Artist of the Year Award 2026.

Artist Statement

I create textured abstract landscapes that explore belonging, memory, transformation and the emotional terrain we carry within us.

For much of my life, I have experienced a subtle sense of not quite belonging, of feeling slightly removed, even in familiar surroundings. Painting became a way of turning towards that feeling rather than moving past it: a space in which I could sit with experiences that were difficult to articulate and gradually transform them into something tangible.

Through this process, I came to understand that the emotions we experience most privately are often the ones that connect us most deeply. This recognition lies at the heart of my practice.

My landscapes sit between the physical and psychological. Some emerge from places encountered while running, hiking or spending time in nature; others develop entirely through intuition. In both, the external landscape becomes a reflection of an inner state.

Working with palette knives, heavy-body acrylics, sculpting gels and gold leaf, I build each painting through layers of texture, colour and movement. I begin with a feeling rather than a fixed composition, allowing gesture, rhythm and accumulation to guide the work towards stillness and balance. Gold recurs as a symbol of light, resilience, abundance and transcendence.

Influenced by the vivid cultural memory of Chennai and the quieter landscapes of my life in the UK, my work brings together warmth and contemplation, movement and stillness. Through Soliloquy, Rebirth and Nirvana, I create spaces that invite viewers to pause, reconnect and recognise something of their own inner world, a reminder that beneath the surface, our experiences are deeply shared.

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Gayathrisai Chandrasekaran

Paweł Pilch

Jeannette M Rein