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Ranjani Shettar, “In Bloom (detail),” 2004; private collection, New York. Courtesy of the artist and Talwar Gallery, New York /New Delhi.

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RANJANI SHETTAR SOLO US DEBUT OPENS MARCH 19 AT ICA BOSTON, w/1 cut

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BOSTON, MASS. — Opening March 19, the tenth exhibition in the Institute of Contemporary Arts “Momentum” series will feature Ranjani Shettar, an artist born and based in Bangalore, India. “Momentum” examines new developments in contemporary art, inviting emerging artists from the United States and around the world to create new work for the ICA. Shettar creates delicate sculptural installations that deftly blend the natural with the manufactured, the landscape and the urban environment. “Momentum 10: Ranjani Shettar,” the artist’s first solo presentation in a United States museum, will be on view through July 13.

For the ICA, Shettar will present a new work titled “Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles.” The suspended sculpture are made with tamarind kernel powder and muslin. Fashioned into organic shapes reminiscent of mushroom caps, soap bubbles or multiplying cells, these forms will be hung through the gallery, creating an immersive, dreamlike environment. The title — a reference to the phenomenon whereby some people sneeze when exposed to bright light or the sun — reveals Shettar’s interest in science as well as a playfulness, both of which are seen throughout her oeuvre.

“The ‘Momentum’ series takes a global look at the artists gaining pace in the field,” says Jill Medvedow, director of the Institute of Contemporary Art. “Ranjani Shettar’s use of materials both organic and manmade suggests the complex cultural associations of India and the collision of tradition and modernity.”

Shettar’s use of tamarind kernel powder stems from her interest in traditional craft communities and their techniques. She visited the village of Kinnala, India, to learn about the material, which is used by toy and idol makers. In Shettar’s hands, however, the material is transformed into a diffuse atmosphere, one that transcends any particular time or place.

In her previous work, Shettar has mixed natural materials with both industrial and handmade processes. “Heliotropes,” 2006, includes a series of long-stemmed vulcanized latex pieces that extend and reach from the wall as if following the sun, and “Vasanta,” 2004, is a vast net, in which thousands of intersections are plugged with bright balls of beeswax suggesting stellar constellations as well as global connectivity. In “In Bloom,” 2004, hanging clusters of fuchsia lacquered wooden beads reference the bougainvillea flowers that color India’s increasingly urbanized cities.

Shettar’s works are often site-responsive. While an artist-in-residence at Artpace in Texas, she incorporated local mesquite wood into smoothly sculpted forms that mushroomed from the wall. For the 2007 Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates, she created “Me, no, not me, buy me, eat me, wear me, have me, me, no, not me,” a grouping of large woven metal vessels made from recycled cars that had been shipped to India to be dismantled and reused.

The institute is at 100 Northern Avenue. For information, www.icaboston.org or 617-478-3100.