Sanjay Vora

Overview
Sanjay Vora

Formed from Indian heritage, an American identity, and spiritualized visions of personal story

and memory, Vora's paintings become visual experiences as a result of a repetitive excavatory process, seeking meaning, truth and an eventual acceptance with our mortality.

 

Born in New Jersey into a musical Indian family, he began playing instruments around the house, learning by ear and watching his parents perform at concerts. His urge to compose music early in life paralleled his desire to create visual environments. Producing drawings and paintings was a way to manifest and inhabit his visions to which music had played as an ongoing soundtrack.Both Vora's music and art have been strongly influenced by his bicultural  upbringing as well as the surrounding rural American landscapes of his childhood. 

 

His paintings have been presented in numerous national and international exhibitions including. In Flux, at the Museum of Northern California Art as well as, Personal Structures, in Venice, Italy in conjunction with the 2019 Venice Biennale. He is a recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant, and was awarded the Herz Recreation Center Public Art Project through the San Francisco Arts Commission which will be completed in the Spring of 2025. He has been commissioned by Facebook’s Artist in Residence Program as well as Square, Inc. for large-scale public installations, and his paintings are in many collections including the public collections of Kaiser Permanente, the Rainin Foundation, and Alta Bates Hospital.

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Works
  • Sanjay Vora, Low Winter Sun, 2025
    Low Winter Sun, 2025
  • Sanjay Vora, Raj in the Tree, 2025
    Raj in the Tree, 2025
  • Sanjay Vora, Summer Sprinkler Dance #2 (Wet Socks), 2025
    Summer Sprinkler Dance #2 (Wet Socks), 2025
  • Sanjay Vora, Christmas at the Parthams
    Christmas at the Parthams
  • Sanjay Vora, The Garden Party
    The Garden Party
  • Sanjay Vora, Path to Paradise
    Path to Paradise
  • Sanjay Vora, Summer Sprinkler Dance
    Summer Sprinkler Dance
  • Sanjay Vora, Playing After the Wedding
    Playing After the Wedding
  • Sanjay Vora, Two of Us Once
    Two of Us Once
  • Sanjay Vora, A Spiritual Man
    A Spiritual Man
  • Sanjay Vora, The Visitor
    The Visitor
  • Sanjay Vora, Walking Through My Dreams
    Walking Through My Dreams
  • Sanjay Vora, Winter Jacket
    Winter Jacket
  • Sanjay Vora, 21
    21
  • Sanjay Vora, Dreaming in the Hills
    Dreaming in the Hills
Exhibitions
Biography
Sanjay Vora

Education

2005 MFA in Painting, San Francisco Art Institute

2002 BS in Architecture, University of Virginia

 

Solo Exhibitions

2024 The Visiting, Maybaum Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2023 Be/coming, Maybaum Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2022 Path to Paradise, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 

2018 Together and Apart, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA 

2015 Lost Love, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2014 Memories of Dreams, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur CA 

2013 Re/Surfaces, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2010 Rhythmic Sequences, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA 

2010 Recurring Vision, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2008 Imprint, Vessel, Berkeley, CA

2008 Reflection, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2006 House|Home, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2006 The Surrounding Landscape, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2005 Love, Memory and Nostalgia, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2004 Three Paintings, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004 Field, Memory, and In Between, Mudhouse, Charlottesville, VA

2003 Love and a Video Store, Sneak Reviews, Charlottesville, VA

2003 Mindscape Paintings and Drawings, Gallery Neo, Charlottesville, VA 

2001 The Ghost in the Garden, Newcomb Hall Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

Group Exhibitions

2020 Carried Places, Harrington Gallery, Pleasanton, CA

2019 Personal Structures, Palazzo Mora, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2019 Stillness Within, Arkitektura Assembly, San Francisco, CA

2019 Material Matters, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2018 Material Matters, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA

2017 Excuse Me, Can I See Your ID? Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2015 Notions of Romance, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2014 Material and Meditation, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2014 Shades of Summer, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2013 Vessel as the Human Form, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA 

2013 Landscapes: Near and Afar, Vessel Gallery, Oakland

2012 Horizons of Promise, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2012 Vessel 8: Charting the Waters, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2012 Faculty Show, Department of Art Practice, Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California at Berkeley, Berkely, CA

2011 Portraits, Vessel Gallery, Oakland, CA

2011 Fall Faculty Show, Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California at Berkeley, Berkely, CA

2011 Winter Group Show, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, CA

2010 San Francisco International Art Fair, Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco, CA 

2007 Square Foot Show, Art Gotham Gallery, New York, NY

2007 Home, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2006 Choice Art, The Garage, San Francisco, CA 

2006 Artwallah, Bamboo Lane Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

2006 Artwallah, South Asian Arts Festival, Los Angeles, CA 

2006 Arts On Fire X, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA

2005 2nd Biennial International Juried Exhibition, the Presidio, San Francisco, CA

2005 New California Masters, Works San Jose, CA

2005 Prevue, Starpin Gallery, Shelton, CT

2005 SFAI MFA Exhibition, Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

2005 Haunted, Crucible Steel Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

Awards and Residencies

2022 Selected Artist, Hertz Recreation Center Public Art project, San Francisco Arts Commission

2020 Facebook Artist in Residence, Fremont, CA

2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant

2005 Best In Show, 2nd Biennial International Juried Exhibition, Juror: Marian Parmenter

2004 – 2005 Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute

2004 – 2005 Graduate Teaching Assistantships, San Francisco Art Institute

2003 - 2005 San Francisco Art Institute Grant, San Francisco Art Institute

 

Bibliography

Morris, Barbara. “Critic’s picks: San Francisco”, Art Ltd. Magazine, Feb 2017.

Frank, Priscilla, “Dismantling Stereotypes About Asian-American Identity Through Art”, Huffington Post, Apr 2017.

Burke, Sarah. “An Expanded Approach to Asian Americaness at Vessel Gallery.” KQED.org. Apr 13th, 2017.

Nelson, Lauren. “What Lies Beneath: Uncovering Artwork, One Layer At A Time.” SF Chronicle, Sunday May 30th, 2014.” 

 

Public Collections:

Square Oakland, Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, Rainin Foundation

Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Events