Dries Van Noten and Jeffrey Deitch, in collaboration with White Cube, welcome Raqib Shaw to the Little House for the artist’s first exhibition in Los Angeles. Tales from an Urban Garden will be open through Saturday, March 26. Inspired by his mother’s garden in Kashmir, the works reflect a deep connection to place, whether it be the garden itself or the myriad of influences from Indian, English, Persian, and Japanese art.

We caught up with the artist to discuss his first LA exhibition, his influences, and more.

Given your extensive knowledge of the art in India, England, continental Europe, Persia, and Japan, how do you incorporate elements from each of these places in your paintings?

I was born in Calcutta and spent the first sixteen years of my life in Kashmir. As a child, I suffered from exercise induced asthma and consequently found solace in books that opened a door to the vast kingdom of imagination. I was home tutored by Kashmiri Pundit scholars who introduced me to the Vedic history and mythology of Kashmir dating back to 11200 BCE, the birth of Kashmiri Shavism, and the unique branch of Kashmiri Sufism that was introduced in the 13th century by traveling Persian scholars. I became very interested in English literature in my early teens and started studying art and architecture of the Western world. My knowledge was limited to books as I did not see a proper painting in the flesh until I was 16 on my first visit to the National Gallery in London.

Over the years, my influences have ranged from Renaissance masters, Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, to visual traditions of Asia and German Romantic art, to name a few. As an artist of Asian origin living and working in London, with some of the best and diverse art in the world traveling through its museums, it is only natural that I borrow the ingredients that I am drawn towards to create a visual cocktail that I can call my own.

My paintings are mostly autobiographical—even though they consider the classical rules of composition, perspective, and general problem solving inherent to the practice of painting. I do not consciously choose to reference any particular place or influence unless the narrative demands so. They are hybrids—artistic amalgamations will become more commonplace as the world becomes smaller and artists live in mega cities overflowing with diversity when the singular exotic is replaced by the all-encompassing hybrid.

Despite the variety in detail and composition in each of your paintings, what is one artistic or literary tradition that you consistently follow? And why?

As I enter the 22nd year of my life as a practicing artist, it would be fair to say that the literary tradition that continues to inform my life and art is the Vedantic philosophy and Sufism of Kashmir with emphasis on detachment, the relationship between desire and suffering, the perspective that life is fleeting and placing premium on individual gain only results in the destruction of the true self, which in turn points towards the annihilation of the human species. It is important that we know our place within the ecosystem, consider all other forms of life equally important and respect the balance in the natural world.

How did growing up in India influence your desire to paint, if at all? Do you believe you would've found this passion had you grown up somewhere else?

I had no idea that I would be a painter while I was growing up in India, as fine art remained the domain of the shockingly few. Back then, painting was considered to be the hobby of the affluent few and profession of the fewer social misfits, most of whom lived in abject poverty.

How do you situate these works in Los Angeles, being as this is your first show here, and further in a space such as Dries Van Noten's Little House?

I was extremely thrilled to be given an opportunity to show my work in Los Angeles—that has certainly become one of the great centers of contemporary art in recent years. I consider Dries Van Noten to be a visionary artist and we both share a passion for gardening and love for color and forms in nature, so it seemed the right fit. Furthermore, it was great fun to curate a show that integrates a mélange of early works, my favorite sculptures, and new paintings, three of which are going to be shown in my upcoming exhibition in Venice at the Ca Pesaro museum.