Sinta Tantra

Sinta Tantra (b. 1979) is interested in the interplay between colour, light, geometric and organic forms. Her paintings and installations are created in response to time and space, designed to subtly transform throughout the day, offering shifting moods and perspectives. Whether produced on a monumental scale or precisely rendered on canvas, her compositions employ a universal visual language that shifts the focus away from meaning to the emotional and physical experience.

Born in New York to Balinese parents, Tantra grew up in London where she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (2003) and the Royal Academy Schools (2006). Her Balinese heritage is central to her practice. Typically working in series, her compositions use repetitive forms reimagined as if visualising a thought process or searching for a sense of balance while her choice of materials reflects on personal, social and cultural histories.

In recent years, Tantra has embraced a darker palette, exploring shades of blue and gold leaf to evoke depth, light, and reflection in her work. Her exhibitions expand beyond painting, incorporating soundscapes, found objects, and ritual practices to deepen contemplation. At Art Jakarta, she created a steel sculpture with blue glass panels, Indonesian rock as a nod to her ancestors who came from a lineage of Balinese stone carvers, incense, and flowers, referencing her Balinese heritage. Her 2021 solo show, Birds of Paradise at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery in Berlin, combined painting, sculpture, sound, and archives to examine the bird’s transformation in the context of otherness and post-colonialism.

Tantra’s work has been exhibited at numerous international biennials, art fairs and in group exhibitions such as A New Paradise at the Saatchi Gallery in London (2022), Light in Retrospective at ISA Art and Design, Jakarta (2022), Small is Beautiful (2022) at the Flowers Gallery, London, Framer Framed (2020) in Amsterdam, the Karachi Biennale (2019), the Folkestone Triennial UK (2017) and the Liverpool Biennial UK (2012). Tantra’s work is part of the Government Art Collection, the Benetton Foundation collection, Museum MACAN, the Louis Vuitton collection and other private international collections.