Self trained artist, Seema Kohli's exhaustive practice that spans over three decades embraces a variety of mediums including paintings, sculpture, installation and performance. The most significant one to emerge out of liner forms and paintings is 'Performance Art'. Decay, hybridization & transformation: Creating new identity; reshaping belongings; intimacy; a dialogue of matter and memory all constitute a visual language of her work. "Time" as a factor, is central to her practice, whether it's a wrapped object or a performance. She uses time as medium, which is extended, assembled and captured in all her media, be it painting, sculptures or installations. The aspects of continuity, repetition, vulnerability, duration, temporality, awareness, situation and public involvement are also inherent qualities that inform her art practice. The process before and after the performance is important and challenging
Her work is primarily a celebration of the female form and energy the source of the twin forces of creation and destruction. Shakti, the divine cosmic energy manifest through female embodiment has been extensively explored, engaged with, re-narratives and retold through Seema Kohli's works. A contemporary chronicler of the ancient myths and mythological figures of India, Kohli explores the themes of beauty, sensuality and spirituality through her work. Kohli's harmonious compositions and intricate detailing with an exceptional use of gold leaf and blue render a fantastical world of stories, myths and legends. Deeply meditative and calm, Kohli's semi-anthropomorphic divinities surround themselves with trees, birds and animals in the lap of nature. Engaging with a wide circuit of references like religious iconography, world mythology, philosophical and literature, Kohli weaves together a story to recover the lost feminine narrative in cultural history. Appropriating ancient Indian iconography and philosophy, it is Kohli's modernist chronicling of the ancient myths and mythological figures which makes Kohli's work prolific and contemporaneous. Inserting herself into the narrative of Shakti and Saptamatrikas, the artist becomes the carrier of the seed of procreation and creativity .Her works become above all an exploration into the journey of the self and the relationship of the self with the spiritual cosmos. Continually nudging at the boundaries of myth and reality, self and the other, Kohli has extended the boundary of her practice spilling it across the canvas of life. For Kohli, art and life truly intersect. She has had 20 solo shows and has been a part of numerous national and international shows. She has participated in prestigious art fairs and Biennales like collateral event at Kochi Muziris Biennale 2015, collateral event at Venice Biennale 2015,2014, Hong Kong, 2015, Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, Art Basel 2009, ARCO Spain 2010, Shanghai Art Fair 2011, Art Stage Singapore 2012, Beijing Biennale 2012, India Art Fair 2010,2013,2014,2015 She received further acclaim for her creativity at the Florence Biennale, 2009 where she received a Gold Award for her video Swayamsiddha-Myth, Mind and Movement .She has also received the Young FICCI Ladies Organization Women Achiever's Award in 2010 and the Lalit Kala National Award for Women in 2008.
Her works can be seen as public art at the Delhi International Airport, Mumbai International/Domestic Airport, the Defence Ministry, Tata Residency, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Manipal University and Hotel Leela Palace, New Delhi. Seema was also a part of the Art for Freedom at Bonhams Auction [2007], AkshayPratisthan at Christies, London [2009] and CRY Auction at Sotheby's N.Y [2012-13] and Florence Biennial [2008]. Her latest installation work has been acquired by ONGC, New Delhi for display in their public atrium. Her paintings are in collections with H.E. The President of Singapore Mr. S.R. Nathan; Chairman of the Arts Council of Singapore Mr. Liu Thai Ker; Norway High Commissioner Mr. Arney Walther; Camlin, UNDCP, Raj Niwas, Pondicherry: Northern Railways, Indian Railways, CCS India, Bharat Bhawan Bhopal, Lalit Kala and Sahitya Kala Akademi, Goa museum Of Art and more recently Rubin Museum, MOSA Brussels and many more collectors in India and abroad. Seema has also held interactive sessions and lectures about her works at Ted X Chennai [2012],NGMA Bangalore[2011],Modula Conceptions, Dubai[2011], IFRD, Mumbai[2012], Indo-Bangladesh Crossover, New Delhi[2012], The International Women Forum, Chennai [2012] and WIN Conference, Rome [2012]and Prague[2013], Film screening "Questioning life through films", Organized by Habiart foundation and Hungarian International cultural Centre, New Delhi (2015) "Remembering Sabeen in Delhi" organized by Sahar Zaman in New Delhi (2015) , YOGA CHAKRA Curated by Sushma Bahl, Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi (2015). She currently lives and works in New Delhi, India.