Avantika Bawa’s (b. 1973) practice emphasizes the intersections where drawing and sculpture, stasis and motion, and the functional and non-functional intermingle. Geographic and architectural differences in landscape strongly inform her work. Bearing in mind a location’s prior use, she creates wall drawings and/or paintings, and repurpose and rearrange functional objects to create temporary installations on-site. Her approach is influenced by Minimalism and its emphasis on reductive form, modularity, and experimentation with scale. These installations invite the viewer to experience the crossroads between the utilitarian, historical, and aesthetic qualities of each space.

Bawa attended the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME, in 2008, earned a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998, and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, in 1995. Currently, Bawa serves as a Professor of Fine Arts at Washington State University Vancouver, where she started as an assistant professor in 2010, was promoted to associate professor in 2016, and achieved the rank of full professor in 2023.

Bawa's solo exhibitions are numerous and span across various notable galleries and museums. In 2023, her work was featured in "simplenothingsimplesomething" at the University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Other recent exhibitions include "Charged Voids" at Portland Community College in 2022 and "Constructing Darkness" at Agenda, Portland, OR, in 2021. Bawa has showcased her work internationally, with exhibitions like "Mapping (Kochi)" at Pepper House in Kochi, India, in 2013, and "Another Documentation" at Gallery Maskara in Mumbai, India, in 2012. Her solo projects are significant installations and screenings. In 2024, "Scaffolds at the Mart" is set to be presented at Mini Mart City Park in Seattle, WA. Her site-specific installations include "A Yellow Scaffold on the Ranch" for Art Beyond in 2021 and "The Collapse" in the Rann of Kutch, India, in 2020, collaborating with Agrocel Industries Private Limited. Bawa has also participated in many group exhibitions. In 2024, she will be part of "Cold Nostalgia" at Tarq Gallery, Mumbai, India.

Recent group exhibitions include "Pattern, the Grid, and Other Systems" at the Art & Design Gallery, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, in 2023, and "E/Merge" at the National Indo American Museum of Art, Lombard, IL, from 2021-22. Her residencies are equally impressive, such as the forthcoming 2023 residency at Normal Editions, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Illinois State University, Normal, IL. In 2022, she was a resident at the Watershed Center for Fine Art Publishing and Research in Portland, OR, and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, OR.

Her curatorial work includes exhibitions like "Higher Than Wide" featuring Susan Giles at Portland Pataphysical Society in 2017 and "Small Pleasures" at the Ulrich Museum of Art in Wichita, KS, in 2014. She has also edited and co-edited several issues of publications on various themes, including "Play" (2006), "Cold" (2009), and "Power" (2011). Bawa is an active visiting artist and speaker, having given numerous talks and lectures. In 2023, she engaged in a conversation with Curator Troy Sherman at the University Galleries of Illinois State University. Other notable appearances include her 2022 presentation at Portland Community College and a 2021 remote artist talk for the MFA program at Portland State University. Avantika Bawa's career reflects her dedication to the arts through her multifaceted roles as an artist, educator, curator, and speaker. Her contributions continue to influence and inspire within the art community.