Aakash Nihalani, one of the world’s most engaging up and coming visual and installation artists, opens his first US west coast solo exhibition at Carmichael Gallery on Thursday, January 21, 2010. Entitled On & Off (Often On), this exciting exhibit, which includes a new series of sculptural works enhanced by one of Nihalani’s trademark site-specific tape installations, signals a significant step in the important young artist’s career. On & Off (Often On) runs through February 18, 2010.

The images above and throughout this article represent highlights from Nihalani’s public and gallery projects in 2009, including Paraphrase at Arario Gallery, New York, BLK River Festival in Vienna, SCOPE Miami and his recent New Delhi series. Additional images can be viewed here. Those used in this article are courtesy Aakash Nihalani, Carmichael Gallery, Jim Kiernan, Noah Kalina and David Ulrich.

Celebrated for his ephemeral modifications of the urban landscape, Nihalani wields an abstract narrative of isometric shapes and flamboyant hues grounded in quiet irony and idiosyncratic precision. The fluidity of the young Brooklyn-based tape specialist’s simple, colorful style, which employs familiar shapes to produce unexpected visuals, initiates an inviting, living dialogue that traverses the chaos of city streets, the white walls of the gallery and the constancy of home.

Nihalani has built a global fan base by selectively placing his artwork on sidewalks and public spaces around New York City, Brooklyn, Vienna, New Delhi and Los Angeles. His squares, rectangles and cubes, which are constructed from strips of instantly identifiable fluorescent tape, give three-dimensional qualities and a new, often humorous, perspective to the windows, doorways, cement pavement, floor tiles, chain-link fences, bricks, building contours and subway spaces within which they are embedded. Nihalani completes all public art pieces on site with little to no advanced planning.

Nihalani’s style readily adapts to the interior gallery space and into individual works of art, thereby escaping its customarily fleeting existence while continuing to fuse his aesthetic and conceptual objectives.

Nihalani has fashioned a visual language all his own. The neon in his work highlights details that might otherwise go unnoticed, while his minimalist patterns form self-contained pockets which encourage examination both within the isolated space and of the world at large. His work often engages the public by creating three-dimensional environments that can be physically entered, transforming passersby or gallery visitors into participants and offering them a momentary escape from daily life.

Nihalani had a prolific year in 2009 and participated in many high-profile exhibits and projects, including:

SCOPE Miami, Carmichael Gallery – Miami FL, USA

Street Installations – Mumbai and New Delhi, India

BLK River Festival, Apocalyptic Colors – Vienna, Austria

Art Inside The Park, Atelier CMS – Jefferson City MO, USA

Tape and Mirrors, Eastern District Gallery – Brooklyn NY, USA

Tales From The Seaside, Prescription Art – Brighton, England

Paraphrase, Arario Gallery – New York NY, USA

New York City Advertising Takeover – New York NY, USA

Joyride, Anonymous Gallery – New York NY, USA

Razors, Tape, Glass, Jajo Gallery – Newark NJ, USA

HOLLOWOOD, Carmichael Gallery – West Hollywood CA, USA

Neo Con New York, 17 Frost Gallery – Brooklyn NY, USA

A Better Place, Art Connects New York – New York NY, USA

Available Space, Art Assets LLC – Brooklyn NY, USA

For more information about Aakash Nihalani and On & Off (Often On), visit both his and Carmichael Gallery‘s websites.