The LINE Austin invites you to a meet & greet and reception for the artist, Manik Raj Nakra, and his “Biology Drawings” now on view in the hotel lobby. These artworks draw upon India’s rich biodiversity and feature flora and fauna from India’s 11 biomes. The watercolors pay homage to a 17th-century movement in Indian art known as “Company School” combined with the artist’s own contemporary sensibilities. “Company School” is a term for a hybrid Indo-European style of paintings made in British India by Indian artists in 1700-1800s. Undertaken in a European style, these images of unusual wildlife, ancient monuments, and exotic new people, were more palatable to Western audiences. Nakra combines the rich and complicated history of “Company School” with contemporary styles to reflect his own background as a first-generation Indian American.
