COSMIC GARDEN II
Tanmaya Bingham’s multimedia, multisensory exhibition Cosmic Garden II (2026) expands on her 2018 series Cosmic Garden [Gold Stamped], which draws on the visual vocabulary of eighteenth-century painting to explore the dual, often conflicting, impulses behind contemporary and classical interpretations of love.
To enter the exhibition is to step into an otherworldly environment where the ‘Garden’ comes to life as an interactive sculptural installation, extending beyond the two-dimensional colored pencil and mixed-media works on panel. Rock-like forms, bored through with round viewing apertures, frame glimpses of the hanging artwork, while ambient electronic music and twinkling lights bring movement and rhythm to the space. Park benches offer respite beside a fictitious wishing pond, where black rubber duckies stand in for guests’ wishes, much like a penny tossed into a well.
The surrounding wall-mounted pieces are each a portal into another world, placing its subject within a symbolic, oblique landscape where the celestial meets the earthly. Bingham’s reinterpretation of Fragonard’s The Swing—its subject in lace-up sneakers rather than heeled period shoes—exemplifies her fusion of past and present. Reimagining classical poses is not a new strategy, but Bingham’s futuristic sensibility carries it forward while honoring its source.
The viewer navigates a visual lexicon of pale blue skies broken by dark voids, swirling ether with drifting bubbles, and floating planes of vegetation populated by theatrical inhabitants. Day and night coexist, echoing the dualities within intimate relationships, while gilded accents recur as a reminder—in Bingham’s words—that “the honey of love spills out when you realize that the key facet of love is not eliminating duality, but embracing it.”
Cosmic Garden II asks its audience to sit inside contradiction rather than resolve it, treating that tension as a mirror for the emotional complexity of human relationships—one that inevitably culminates in love.
-Tanmaya Bingham
TANMAYA BINGHAM
B. 1978
Tanmaya Bingham is a multidisciplinary figurative artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and institutions. She begins her process through close observation of the human figure, which she then contorts and distorts in response to psychological and emotional experiences that transcend geographic boundaries.
Bingham views the body as a barometer—one that registers both trauma and triumph, shaped by the stories we are told and those we tell ourselves. Each figure in her work embodies this concept and is rendered with precision and intentionality using primarily colored pencil and water-based paint.
She asserts that we are not defined by where we come from or where we reside; rather, our bodies and our relationships serve as our anchors. This perspective is reflected in her compositions, where figures inhabit otherworldly, oblique, and non-contextual environments.
Bingham’s practice is engaged in contemporary discourse and has been featured in publications including Vogue Living, Hi-Fructose, New American Paintings, and The Sydney Morning Herald. She has also contributed to broader conversations through guest appearances on arts-focused podcasts and media platforms.
Her work has received notable recognition, including being named a finalist for The Bennett Prize, a prestigious award honoring women figurative painters. Additional accolades include First Place in the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild Summer Exhibition and the Bessie Freeman LaBudde Purchase Award at the 61st Mid-States Art Exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections.
Bingham continues to produce thought-provoking work that invites a deeper attunement to the body as a truth-teller and reminds us to find respite and refuge in connection to self and others.
