ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
AKHILESH
Born 1956, Indore
National Diploma in Fine Arts, Indore (1977-78)
Akhilesh's paintings appear to be a collection of beginnings. But there are no ends. His work gives a feeling of being left unfinished and yet it does not seem incomplete. It is not possible to look at it in terms of a beginning leading to an end. The way he uses lines may lend a certain linearity to his work but these lines seem to melt into the canvas, refusing to lend typical linear characteristics to his work. His paintings appear to be full of freshness and the colours resonate with emotions. He does not delve into virginal territory. Rather he sticks to familiar ground. It is his method of translating familiar territory on to canvas that imparts an individual characteristic to his work. His paintings do not scream for attention and have little to offer to the casual, hurried viewer. But for the patient observer, they are an enriching experience.
The artist lives and works in Bhopal.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2007 Algebra of Eros, Bodhi Art, Singapore
2006 Gorbio, France
2005 8301 River Road MD, Washington
Roop Ekadash, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
2004 Turbulent, Time and Space Gallery, Bangalore
2003 Warm Bodies, Apparao Galleries, Chennai
2002 Colour Signs on Void, Alliance Françoise de Bhopal
2000 Kagaj, GIFAEX, Indore
Alliance Françoise de Hyderabad, Hyderabad
1999 Not only Papers, Art Indus, New Delhi
1998 Pastels, Art Indus Gallery, New Delhi
1997 Easel Art Gallery, Chennai
Arts Studio, Indore
Benarasm, ABC Art Gallery, Benaras
1996 By Art incorporated, New Delhi
1994 Deolalikar Art Gallery, Indore
1992 Visual Script, Etcetra, Mumbai
1990 Chitrakoot Gallery, Kolkata
Sakshi Gallery, Chennai
Chemould Gallery, Mumbai
1989 Deolalikar Art Gallery, Indore
1988 Deolalikar Art Gallery, Indore
Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1986 M.P. Kala Parishad, Bhopal
Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Select Group Exhibitions
2005 Duet with Manish Pushkale, Plate Muller Gallerie Munich, Germany
2004 Samyatra, Chennai
Samyatra, Bhopal
Samyatra, Amsterdam, Holland
Gesehen, Erlebt, Interpretiert with Inge V. Reusner and
Riener Schiestl Gallerie Nothburga Innsbruck, Austria
2003 Samyatra an Exhibition with Olga Okuneva, Russia
And Frits Kraay, Holland, Kochin
1991 Amne Samne with Ambadas, Ujjain
Awards & Fellowships
2006 Kala Kaustubh Samman, Ujjain
2002 Raza Foundation Award, New Delhi
1994-95 Govt. of India Senior Artist Fellowship, New Delhi
1990 Bharat Bhawan Biennial, Bhopal
1984 State Award, Gwalior
1977 Camlin Award, Mumbai
1976 Yuva Kalyan Kendra, Bhopal
1976 Kalidas Academy certificate Award, Ujjain
SHOBHA BROOTA
Born 1943, New Delhi
Diploma in Fine Arts, College of Art, New Delhi (1964)
Sangeet Visharad, Masters in vocal Indian classical Music (1962)
The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2008 Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto
2007 Edge of Infinity, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
2006 Song of the Devine, Rellete Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Music of the Spheres, Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi & Birla Academy of Arts & Craft, Kolkata
1997 International Studio A.F.W.A., Fermantle, Australia
Retrospective of Prints, Art Konsult, New Delhi
Edith Cowen University, Perth
1994 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
ABC Gallery, Varanasi
1992 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
Schoo's Gallery, Amsterdam
Select Group Exhibitions
2007 Indian Color, curated by Peter Nagy, showing in Seoul, South Korea
25 Contemporary Indian Artists, organized by Nicolas Vourriaud and Ravi Kumar, Moscow and
Paris
2006 Eleventh Harmony Art Show, Mumbai
2005 Roop Vidhan' Expression of Abstract, Art Alive, New Delhi
Negotiating Matters, curated by Roobina Karode, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004-05 Spirit of the Century', Kumar Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004 Devotional Breach, curated by Peter Nagy, Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore
2003 Kerela Lalit Kala Akademy Collection Show, Kolkata
Solitude, The White Show, curated by Dr. Alka Pande at Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi
Onwards: Annual Shows of Palette Gallery, New Delhi
2001 Kaleidoscope, Singapore
1999 Abstract Schematic, Nature Morte, New Delhi
Awards and Scholarships
1996-98 Fellowship-Ministry of Culture, Government of India
1989-92 Fellowship-Ministry of Culture, Government of India
1986 Sahitya Kala Parishad
1982-84 Scholarship, Ministry of Culture, Government of India
1982 AIFACS
LAXMA GOUD
Born 1940, Andhra Pradesh, India
Diploma, Government College of Art and Architecture, Hyderabad (1963)
Studied Mural Painting and Printmaking at M.S. University, Baroda (1963-65)
Lives and works in Hyderabad
Laxma Goud is recognized for his graceful, yet powerful line drawings, etchings and watercolors. The artist was born in Nizampur, Andhra Pradesh in 1940 and earned a diploma in drawing and painting from the Government College of Art and Architecture, Hyderabad, in 1963. He then studied mural painting and printmaking at M.S. University, Baroda. By the late 1960s, Goud had developed a distinct style with finely chiseled, yet pliant lines and delicate washes of color that he used to depict man's interaction with nature.
According to Goud, 'there is eroticism in nature itself." Humor, earthiness and vitality emerge as Goud transforms the characters of his works - man into goat, goat into woman, and man and woman peer lustfully at each other. Goud also explores man's connection to his environment. From men, women, goats, huts to vegetation, Laxma's simple images reflect an idyllic reality that is slowly being threatened by urbanisation. The works recreate the rural landscape as if it is frozen in time. The color, innocence, simplicity, flora and fauna are indicative of the bucolic naivety.
Apart from Goud's great narrative ability, the artist's remarkable skill and sophistication in handling his medium (pencil or brush) are evident. A master draughtsman, Goud is a versatile printmaker and painter and has worked in a variety of mediums: etching, gouache, pastel and grass paintings. Incisiveness, hatched lines and a keen eye for detail have been his trademark forte. He was a favored artist by the Herwitzes and was the most represented artist in their collection.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2009 Laxma Goud: Solo Exhibition, Aicon Gallery, London
2007 Laxma Goud 40 years: A Retrospective, Aicon Gallery, New York
2006 Sculptures, Bronze and Terra-cottas, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2003 Aicon Gallery, New York
2001-02 Grey Art Gallery, New York
Select Group Exhibitions
2008 Summer collection, works by modern and contemporary south Asian artists,
Aicon Gallery, London
2007 From the Vault, Aicon Gallery, London and New York
2006 Back to the Future, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1986 Indian Art Tomorrow, Philips Collection, Washington D.C.
1977 São Paulo Biennale, Brazil
G R IRANNA
Born 1970, Sindgi, Bijapur, Karnataka, India
Artist-in-Residence, Wimbledon School of Art, London (1999-2000)
Master of Fine Art (Painting), College of Art, New Delhi (1994)
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), College of Visual Art, Gulbarga, Karnataka (1992)
The artist lives and works in New Dehli, India.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2008 Birth of Blindness, Aicon Gallery, London and New York.
2007 The Dancer on the Horse, Berkeley Square Gallery, London
Recent Works by GR Iranna, Berkley Square Gallery, London
2006 King of Clay, Aicon Gallery, New York and California
Disorder and Early Sufferings, Gallery Muller & Plate, Munich
2005 Early Works, Gallery Muller and Plate, Munich
Threads of Humanism, Bodhi Art, New Delhi, Singapore
2003 The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
Dream and Perplexity, Chitrakala Parisath, Bangalore
2001 The Enigma of Departure, British Council and The Guild Art Gallery,Mumbai
2000 Foyer Gallery, Wimbledon School of Art, London
Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Maulana Azad Center for Indian Culture, Cairo, Eqypt
1999 In the Shadow of Buddha, Gallery Martini, Hong Kong
1998 Shadow of the Real, Shridharani Art Gallery and Gallery Espace, New Delhi
1995 Edge Dynamics, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1992 College of Visual Art, Gulbarga
Select Group Exhibitions
2009 Threshold: Forging Narratives in South Asian Contemporary Art, Aicon Gallery, New York
2008 Keep Drawing, Gallery Espace, New York
MiArt 2008, Fiera Milano International Spa, Milan represented by The Guild, Mumbai
2007 Asian Contemporary Art Fair, represented by Aicon Gallery, New York
Keep Drawing, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
India 20, Rabindra Bhavan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
High on Art, Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Telling It Like It Is: The Indian Story, The Gallery in Cork Street, London
2006 Confluence, Aicon Gallery, New York
The Human Figure, Gallery Threshold, New Dehli
Contemporary Istanbul Fair, Istanbul
2005 We Are Like This Only, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Paths of Progression, Bodhi Art/Saffronart, New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, New York
Arad Biennale, Romania
2004 Untitled, Gallery Espace, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Peter Muller Gallery, Munich, Germany
Gallery 27, Oslo, Norway
2002 Words and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai
Jehangir Art Gallery Golden Jubilee Show, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001-02 Palette, Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2001 Apparao Galleries, Chennai
The Human Factor, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
Kaleidoscope, ISU International Art Gallery, Singapore
Engendering – Images of Women, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2000 Black & White, Art Today, New Delhi
1999 Icons of the Millennium, Gallery Lakeeren, Mumbai
The Creative Process, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
Edge of the Century, New Delhi
1998 Vedanta Art Gallery, Chicago, U.S.A
Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
1997 Four Artists, Diverse Talents, Guild Art Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1995 Schoo's Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
1994 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1993 Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi
1992 Award Winners Exhibition SCZCC, Nagpur-Bangalore-Indore-Hyderabad-Pune
1990 Venkatappa Art Gallery, Bangalore
Chitrakala Parishat, Bangalore
Awards and Scholarships
2008 APB Signature Jury Award, Singapore
2004 Harmony Show Artist of the Year, Harmony foundation, Mumbai
2002 K K Hebbar Foundation Award
2001 State Award, Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy, Bangalore
1999-2000 International Scholarship from Charles Wallace India Trust, British Council
1997 40th National Academy Award, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi
AIFACS Award, New Delhi, 50 years of Art in Independent India
1996-1997 National Scholarship from Ministry of H.R.D., Government of India
1995-1996 Garhi Research Grant from Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi
1993 In Search of Talent, M.F. Hussain & Ram Kumar Selection Award, Vadhera Art Gallery, New
Delhi
Bansi Parmimu Memorial Committee, Dhomi Mall Art Gallery, New Delhi
Delhi College of Art, New Delhi
1991-92 College of Visual Art, Gulbarga
All India Exhibition Mysore Dasara, Mysore
1990 4th All India Exhibition SCZCC, Nagpore
Collections
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal
Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi
Singapore Art Museum
Private collections in Mumbai, Delhi, Hong Kong, Germany, Holland, Austria, Croatia and Herwitz Collection, U.S.A.; United Kingdom; Singapore.
RAM KUMAR
Born 1924, in Simla
Atelier Fernand Leger and Andre Lhote, Paris (1949-52)
M.A. in Economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi (1946)
Evening Classes at the Sharada Ukil School, New Delhi (1945)
Ram Kumar, like many of his confreres among the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists - including such figures as F N Souza, M F Husain, Paritosh Sen, Jehangir Sabavala, Krishen Khanna, S H Raza and Akbar Padamsee - combined an internationalist desire with the need to belong emphatically to their homeland. In its internationalist mood, this generation looked to the early 20th-century modernisms of Paris, London and Vienna for inspiration; its need to belong prompted an interest in the construction of a viable "Indian" aesthetic that bore a dynamic relationship to an Indian identity. With Ram Kumar, this quest for an indigenist tenor has not meant a superficial inventory of "native" motifs offered as evidence of a static and essentialist Indian identity. Instead, he demonstrates that a painter can enact the innermost dramas of his culture while maintaining the individuality, even idiosyncrasy of his performance. - Excerpts from "Parts of a World: Reflections on the Art of Ram Kumar" by Ranjit Hoskote, 2002. Ram Kumar lives and works in New Delhi.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2008 Homage to Kekoo Gandhy, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2007 Reflective Landscapes, Aicon Gallery, New York
You shall remain hidden, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Materia Prima, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2005 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
2002 Recent Works, IndoCenter, Chelsea, presented by Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery;
Mumbai; New Delhi; San Fransico; New York
2000 Landscapes from New Zealand, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1999 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1997 Arks Gallery, London
1996 Pages From a Sketch Book, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1994 Jehangir Art Gallery, organized by Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1993 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1992 Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1991 Chitrakoot Gallery, Kolkata
1990 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
Center for Contemporary Art, New Delhi
Select Group Exhibitions
1995 Gallery Raku, Japan
1988 Three Indian Artists, Karachi, Pakistan
1987, 88 Festival of India shows in the then USSR and Japan
1987 Coups de Coeur, Geneva, Switzerland
1985 Artistes Indiens en France, Foundation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris
1973 Indian Contemporary Painting, a traveling exhibition in the U.S. and Canada
1967 Joint exhibition with M.F. Husain in Delhi and Prague, Czechoslovakia
1957 Graham Gallery, New York
Gallery One, London
Awards and Fellowships
2003 Officers Arts et Letters, French Government
1985 Kalidas Samman by the Madya Pradesh State Govt
1975 Uttar Pradesh State Government for short stories in Hindi
1972 Padmashree from Indian Government for short stories
1970 JD Rockefeller fund fellowship
1959 Honorable Mention, Sao Paolo Biennale
1958 National Award, New Delhi
1956 National Award, New Delhi
JAMINI ROY
Born 1887, West Bengal
Died 1972
Diploma in Fine Arts, Government School of Arts and Craft (1903-08)
Born in 1887 in a small village in Bankura district, West Bengal, Jamini Roy joined the Government School of Art, Kolkata in 1903. He began his career by painting in the Post-Impressionist genre of landscapes and portraits, very much in keeping with his training in a British academic system. Yet, by 1925, Roy had begun experimenting along the lines of popular bazaar paintings sold outside the Kalighat temple in Kolkata. By the early 1930s, Roy made a complete switch to indigenous materials to paint on woven mats, cloth and wood coated with lime. The inspiration for painting on woven mats was the textures he found in Byzantine art, which he had seen in color photographs. It occurred to him that painting on a woven mat might make for an interesting mosaic-like surface.
The Santhals, a tribal people who live in the rural districts of Bengal, were an important subject for Roy. A series of works done a decade before World War II is a very good example of how he captured the qualities that are a part of native folk painting and recombined them with those of his own. He fused the minimal brush strokes of the Kalighat style with elements of tribal art from Bengal (like that of the terracotta work found in the Bishnupur temple in Bengal, where terracotta was often composed into decorative units - some elaborate in design - over portals and across exterior walls of the temples).
Roy's rejection of the then modern style of painting and his foray into the realm of Bengali folk paintings marked a new beginning in the history of Indian modern art. The mother and child, Radha, and animals were painted in simple two-dimensional forms, with flat color application and an emphasis on the lines. The main subjects were often enclosed within decorative borders with motifs in the background. The figure of the Christ was also a subject that Roy often painted.
Roy held several one-man exhibitions and numerous group shows. His works can be found in several private and public collections, institutions and museums all over the world, including the Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi and museums in Germany and the United States of America. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1955. Jamini Roy died in 1972 in Kolkata, where he had lived all his life.
Selected Posthumous Exhibitions
2005 Manifestations III – 100 Artists of Contemporary Art, organized by Delhi Art Gallery at Nehru
Centre, Mumbai, Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi and Delhi Art Gallery, New
Delhi
2004 Manifestations II – 100 Artists of Contemporary Art, organized by Delhi Art Gallery at Jehangir
Art Gallery, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Manifestations I – Indian Art in the 20th Century, organized by Delhi Art Gallery at World Trade
Centre, Mumbai and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Exhibition of Works of Jamini Roy, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
2003 Poetry and Patriotic Fervor, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Indian Art Pre-Independence, Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2000 Face Off 1900-1980s. An Exhibition of Indian Old Masters and Moderns, Delhi Art Gallery, New
Delhi
2000 Art of Bengal : Past and Present 1850-2000, Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA),
Kolkata
1997 Art of Bengal 1850-1950 : Calcutta Metropolitan Festival of Art, Birla Academy of Art and
Culture, Kolkata
1998 Temperas and Sketches, Art Bazar, Kolkata
1998 The Simplicity of a Pionee', The Window, Mumbai
1995 From Seeds to Flowers – Jamini Roy and His Roots, Romain Rolland Galerie, Alliance
Francaise, New Delhi
1990 Centenary Exhibition, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
1987 Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi
1987 Centenary Exhibition, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
Select Group Exhibitions
1998 The Window, Mumbai
1987 Centenary Exhibtion, NGMA
1938 British Indian Street, Calcutta
1937 Samavaya Mansions, Calcutta
Awards & Honors
1967 Awarded honorary D. Litt., Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
1956 Elected Fellow, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1955 Awarded Padma Bhushan, Government of India
1935 Awarded Viceroys Gold Medal for 'Mother Helping the Child to Cross the Pool'.b
JOHN TUN SEIN
Born 1957
G.D.Art (Painting) Sir J.J.School of Art, Bombay
Lalit Kala Akademi Research Grant Scholarship
The artist lives and works in Germany
Select Solo Exhibitions
2008 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
2005 Anant Art Gallery, Kolkata
SWR3, Heinrich-Stroebel-Haus, Baden-Baden, Germany
2003 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
2001 Kunst im Alten Spritzenhaus, Bahlingen, Germany
2000 Galerie Mueller and Plate, Munich
1999 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1998 Galerie Holmenshoeve, Slijpe, Belgium
Select Group Exhibitions
2007 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
Art Contemporain Indien, Galerie Hélène Lamarque, Paris
2006 Art Mill Gallery, Mumbai
Art Mill Gallery and Berkeley Square Gallery, London
The Apparao Galleries, Madras
Galerie Mueller and Plate, Munich
Georg-Scholz-Haus, Waldkirch, Germany
2005 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
'Towards Abstraction'-, Threshold Art Gallery, New Delhi
Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004 Young Contemporary Artists, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2003 Galerie Mueller and Plate, Munich
2002 Galerie Holmenshoeve, Slijpe, Belgium
2001 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
1998 2nd Polish Pastel Biennale, Nowy Sacz, Poland
1997 Galerie Bassler, Freiburg, Germany
1996 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1988-92 The National Art Exhibitions, India
Awards
The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
The Lalit Kala
HARSHA VARDHANA
Born 1958, India
Post Graduate in Bio-Sciences, Birla Institute of Science & Technology, Pilani
Diploma in Business Management
S. Harsha Vardhana is a self taught artist who abandoned his highly successful career as a Bio-Scientist in 1993, to pursue his latent passion for painting and artistic practice. His father, the late master abstractionist Jagdish Swaminathan, established the artists 'Group 1890' in 1963 and came to inspire an entire future generation of artists. It seems it was only a matter of time before Vardhana would develop a gravitational pull toward the artistic environment to which he was born.
Vardhana works primarily on paper and canvas, creating textured geometrical forms pared down with rudimentary colours. His abstract symbols of inverted triangular structures are constructed with responsive fields of colour which lacerate into each other. A formal balance is articulated with an almost delicate, personally impulsive effect. Vardhana has once described the process as immersing himself in the sensory experience of painting, which begins with the 'ritual cleansing of the mind'.
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
Select Solo Exhibitions
2007 Lines Maketh the Web, Aicon Gallery, New York
1999 Sangati, Art Inc., New Delhi
1997 Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
Select Group Exhibitions
2006 Confluence, Aicon Gallery, New York
2005 First Biennale of Contemporary Art, Romania
2004 Indian artists for France, New Delhi
Young Contemporary Artists, New Delhi
2003 2D / 3D, Hong Kong, Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2000 The Millennium Masks, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Dehli
1999 Art with a Heart, the Oberoi, New Dehli
1998 Veiled Spaces, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Multi-Media, organised by CIMA, Calcutta
Group show organized by Arushi Arts, New Delhi
1997 Post Modern Indian Art, California, USA
International Artists Camp on the occassion of Trienanale at Garhi, New Delhi
1996 Bharat Bhavan Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, Bhopal
Gallery Lakeeren, Mumbai
The Pastel, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
Workshops
1999 Artist workshops organised by Seher, Mauritius, Goa and Khajuraho
Artist Workshop at ITC Classic Golf Resort organised by Puri.
1998 Artist Camp at Snow View Resorts, Almora
Artist Camp at Ram Ganga resort, Corbett National Park