ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
RIYAS KOMU
Born 1971, Kerala, India
Bachelors in Fine Arts, Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai
Masters in Fine Arts, Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai (1999)
Lives and works in Mumbai and Kerala, India.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2009 Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
2008 Related List, Bodhi Art, Berlin
MARK HIM (Second half), Gallery 88, Kolkata
2007 MARK HIM (First half), The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 Systematic Citizen, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Faith Accompli, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2005 The Third Day, Lalit Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi presented by Sakshi
Gallery, Mumbai
GRASS, photography show, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2003 Sarasu, photography show on Raja Ravi Verma Press , The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2002 UNCONDITIONAL, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2002 – 2003 AMBULANCE, Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore
Select Group Exhibitions
2009 Bapu, presented by Saffronart in association with Berkeley Square Gallery, London
2008-09 Signs Taken for Wonders: Recent Art from India and Pakistan, Aicon Gallery, London
2008 The Ghost of Souza, inaugural show in Bowery space, Aicon Gallery, New York
Uncovered, Sans Tache Art Gallery, Mumbai
November, 1x1 Contemporary, Al Quoz, Dubai
Everything 2008: 12 Artists from India, Willem Baars Projects, Amsterdam
Six Degree of Separation Chaos, Congruence and Collaboration in South Asia, presented by
KHOJ International Artists' Association and the Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi at Anant Art
Gallery, New Delhi
Urgent Conversations, Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre and Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
Everywhere Is War (and Rumors of War), Bodhi Art, Mumbai
Link, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
Frontlines: Notations from the Contemporary Indian Urban, Bodhi Art, Berlin
Shifting Terrains: Altered Realities, The Shrine Gallery, New Delhi
India Crossing, Studio La Citta, Verona
Affair, 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai
2007 Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense, 52nd International
Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale
INDIA NOW:Contemporary Indian Art Between Continuity and Transformation,,
Provincia di Milano, Milan, Italy (through February 2008)
Kashi ten light years, Kashi Art Gallery, Mattancherry, Kochi
Frame/Grid/Room/Cell/, Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
INDIA TIME,Galleria Paolo Curti/Annamaria Gambuzzi, Milan, Italy
Swarovski Museum, Innsbruck, Austria
New Wave: Contemporary Indian Art, Aicon Gallery,London , UK
Grid, Bodhi Art Gallery, New Dehli
Photographs, Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
Other, inaugural show, Aicon Gallery, London, UK
Annual show, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
2006 Bronze, sculpture show, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi
Art on the Beach, Made by Indians, St Tropez, Gallery Enrico Navarra, Paris
On Difference #2 (represented Korea), Wurtt. Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
Maarkers, Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
Red Earth And The Pouring Rain, Lanxess ABS Gallery, Baroda
Strangeness, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkatta
2005 KAAM, Aicon Gallery, New York and Palo Alto
Span, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Endless Terrain, Lalit Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi
Double Enders, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Cochin
Present Future, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Configurations, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
Are we like this only? Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi
Whose space is it anyway? Gallery Espace, New Delhi
Mannat Jali, Marine Drive, Mumbai
Public Art Project, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai
World Social Forum, Brazil.
2004 Group show during VASL Residency, Karachi, Pakistan
Anticipations, Museum Gallery, Mumbai
Bombay Boys, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
A New Mediatic Realism, Bayer ABS Gallery, Baroda, India
Generation I, Saffron Art Gallery, Mumbai
RED, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Mumbai x 17, Kashi Art Gallery, Cochin, India
2003 Crossing Generations :Diverge, 40 years of Gallery Chemould, National Gallery of Modern
Art, Mumbai
Highlights, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
2D/3D, Visual Art Center, Hong Kong
Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Art for Art/ Switzerland Meets India, Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai
2002 Ways of Resisting 1992- 2002, Sahmat/ Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi
Words and Images, The Guild Art Gallery/ National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Creative Space, Sakshi Gallery/ India Habitat Center, New Delhi
Crosscurrents, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Asian Art Festival, Singapore
Harmony Shows (2004-1999), Nehru Centre, Mumbai
Debt, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
Tribute to Picasso, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001 The Human Factor, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Engendering Images of women, The Guild, Mumbai
Excerpts from my diary, Fine Art Company, Mumbai
2000 Mumbai Metaphor, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
Exile Longings, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai
Memos of the New Millennium- Artists from the Moulting World, Birla Academy of Art
& Culture, Mumbai
Ideas and Images (Video installation), National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
1999 Critic's Choice, Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
1998 'He used to believe that EMS planted coconut tree in Kerala', installation, Sir J.J. School of Art,
Mumbai
Essays in time- kinetic sculptures (Audio-Visual Installation), Nehru Centre, Mumbai
Hebbar foundation scholarship 1998-1999
Honors & Awards
1996 Hebbar Foundation Scholarship
Bombay Art Society Award, Mumbai
1995 Maharashtra State Award
K 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
Biography
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
FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924 – 2002)
Born 1924, Saligaon, Goa, India.
Died 2002, Bombay, India.
Diploma in Painting, Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai (1940-45)
Italian Government Scholarship, study tour of Italy (1960)
Francis Newton Souza was born in India in 1924 and is of Goan Christian origin. As one of the co-founders of the Progressive Artists' Group in 1947, along with M.F. Husain, Raza, Ara and others, Souza led the edge of the Indian modernist art movement. He is widely recognised as a leading modernist and was the only Indian artist to be included in Tate Modern's group exhibition on 20th Century Modernism in 2002.
An iconoclast known for his powerful imagery, F. N. Souza unrestrained and graphic style created much controversy in his life and work. His repertoire of subjects covers still life, landscape, nudes and icons of Christianity, rendered boldly in a frenzied distortion of form. Souza's paintings express defiance and impatience with convention and the banality of everyday life.
Souza's works have reflected the influence of various schools of art: the folk art of his native Goa, the full-blooded paintings of the Renaissance, the religious fervor of the Catholic Church, the landscapes of 18th and 19th century Europe and the path-breaking work of the cubists. A recurrent theme in his work is the sexual tensions and friction within the male and female relationship and their ensuing conflicts. In drawings, Souza uses line with economy but captures fine detail in his forms; or uses a profusion of crosshatched strokes that make up the overall structure of his subject.
In 1942, Souza was expelled from the J.J. School of Art for partaking in the 'Quit India' movement. He left for London in 1949, making his mark on the European art scene and rose to fame with his 1955 one-man show at Gallery One, London – the same year his autobiographical essay 'Nirvana of a Maggot' was published. Souza exhibited internationally during his lifetime, solo and group shows include the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1954); Venice Biennale (1954); Guggenheim Museum, USA (1958); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1958); Tate Gallery (1968); Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro (1961); Guggenheim Foundation, USA (1967); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK (1982); Royal Academy of Art, London (1982); Hirschhorn Museum, Washington D.C (1982); Retrospectives include India House, London (1951, organised by Mr. V.K. Krishna Menon, then High Commissioner), and two organised by Art Heritage Gallery, Delhi (1986, 1996).
Select Solo and Group Exhibitions – Posthumous
2008 Summer collection, works by modern and contemporary south Asian artists,
Aicon Gallery, London
2008 Winter Moderns, an exhibit of five senior modern Indian artists - M.F. Husain,
F.N. Souza, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Satish Gujral and B. Prabha, Aicon Gallery,
New York
2008 'The Ghost of Souza', an exhibit of works by acclaimed artist Francis Newton
Souza, together with Indian and Pakistani artists influenced by Souza's work at
Aicon Gallery, New York
2007 From the Vault, Aicon Gallery, London and New York
Bacon, Freud, Mehta, Souza, Grosvenor Vadehra, New Delhi
2005-6 F. N. Souza, Religion & Erotica: Tate Britain, London
Self-Portrait, Renaissance to contemporary: National Portrait Gallery, London
2005 Francis Newton Souza, Saffronart and Grosvenor Gallery, London/New York
Ashta Nayak: Eight Pioneers of Indian Art, Gallery ArtsIndia, New York
Modern Indian Paintings, Grosvenor Gallery, London
A Tribute to F. N. SOUZA, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi /Manifestations III, Nehru Centre,
Mumbai; Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004 Manifestations II, Jehangir Gallery and the Delhi Art Gallery
Ethos: Contemporary Indian Art, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
Souza in London, curated by Yashodhara Dalmia from the Bhayana family collection, British
Council, New Delhi
2003 Modern Indian Painting, Grosvenor Gallery London
Francis Newton Souza: Works on paper, Saffronart, Mumbai
F.N Souza: A Definitive Retrospective, Gallery Artsindia, New York
Manifestations, Delhi Art Gallery
2002 Souza and Friends, Grosvenor Gallery, London,.
Souza in Bombay and Goa, Art Musings Gallery, Mumbai
2001 Souza: A Modern Myth, Gallery 88, Calcutta
Select Solo Exhibitions
1999 Copeland Fine Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, USA
1998 Bose Pacia Modern, New York
1997 Souza: A Retrospective, Julian Hartnolls Gallery, London
1996 Art Heritage, NEw Delhi
'Souza from the Alkazi Collection', Academy of Fine Arts and Literature New Delhi
The Acrylics of Souza, L.T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1995 The Chemicals of Souza, L. T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1993 Souza, 1940s-1990s Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1983 Souza in the Forties, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1985 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1976 Dhoomimal Art Gallery,New Delhi
1975 76 Arts 38, London.
1968 London Arts Gallery Detroit, USA.
1966 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1966 Grosvenor Gallery, London
1963 Taj Gallery Mumbai.
1962 Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.
1961 Gallery One, London
62 North Audley Street London.
1960 Gallery One, London
1959 Gallery One, London
1957 Gallery One, London
1955 Gallery One, London.
1954 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Gallery Creuze,London
1951 Indian Embassy, London
Select Group Exhibitions
2001 Souza & Baiju, Saffronart and Apparao Galleries, Mumbai
1996 National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
1987 Coups de Coeur, Halles de L'Ile, Geneva
1986 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1985 East-West Visual Arts Encounter, Bombay
1982 Modern Indian Paintings, Hirschorn Museum & Sculpture Garden Washington D.C.
India: Myth and Reality, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy, London
1977 Commonwealth Artists of Fame, London
1972 Minneapolis International Art Festival, USA
1968 Tate Gallery, London
1967 Guggenheim Foundation USA
1965 Art Now in India, Arts Council of Great Britain, London
1964 Grosvenor Gallery, 1964
1962 Commonwealth Institute, London
1961 Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro
1958 Guggenheim Museum, USA
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1957 John Moore's Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
1956,57,59,60 Gallery One, London
1954 Venice Biennale Italy
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1949 Bombay Art Society Salon, Mumbai
1948 Progressive Artists' Group, inaugural exhibition
Awards
1960 Italian Government Scholarship (through the British Council)
1967 Guggenheim International Award, New York
1957 John Moores Prize, Liverpool
Public Collections
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Baroda Museum, Baroda
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
CIMA – Centre International Modern Art, Calcutta
Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
Tate, London, UK
Glenbarra Museum, Himeji, Japan
BOSE KRISHNAMACHARI
Born 1963, Kerala, India
Diploma in Art, Kerala Kala Peetom, Cochin (1985)
BFA, Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai (1991)
Masters in Visual Arts, Goldsmiths College, University of London (2000)
Bose was the Guest of Honor at ARCO'09, Madrid, and curated the India Pavilion.
The artist lives and works in Mumbai.
Select Solo Exhibitions
2009 To Let – White Ghost, Kashi Art Cafe, Kochi
2008 Ghost, Aicon Gallery, London
Bodhi Art, Mumbai
2007 LaVA [Laboratory of Visual Arts, a traveling installation project], Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata,
Kochi, Baroda and New Delhi
2006 GHOST/ TRANSMEMOIR (preview at Kitab Mahal, Mumbai), Aicon Gallery, New York
2005 EXIST, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2004 Vanitas Vanitatum, Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi, later joined a group show in Mumbai
2003 DE CURATING-India Contemporary Artists, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai, Sumukha, Bangalore
and Durbar Hall, Kochi
1999 AmUseuM Memoirs, NGMA, Mumbai
Field Sakshi, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
1996 DANDY, Lakeeren and YB Chavan Centre, Mumbai
1995 Objects of Attention, inaugural show, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi
1993 AmUseuM, Park Sheraton, Chennai
1992 AmUseuM, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore
1991 Music of the Cubes, British Council Gallery
1990 Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai
1989 Kerala Kalapeethom, Kochi
Curated Shows
2008 Af-fair, 1X1 Contemporary and 1X1 Gallery, Dubai
2007 Soft Spoken, NCPA, (organized by Bombay Art Gallery), Mumbai
Spy, Museum Art Gallery, (organized by The Guild Art Gallery), Mumbai
Everyone is a Camera, Talvin Singh, Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 MaaRKERS, Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
2005 DOUBLE-ENDERS, (curated) Jehangir Art Gallery and The Museum Gallery, Mumbai; Vadhera
Art Gallery, New Delhi; Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore; Durbar Hall, Kochi
2004 BOMBAY X 17, (curated) Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi
BOMBAY BOYS, (curated) Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Select Group Exhibitions
2009 In the mood for paper, F2 Gallery, Beijing
Threshold: Forging Narratives in South Asian Contemporary Art, Aicon Gallery, New York
Signs Taken for Wonders: Recent Art from India and Pakistan, Aicon Gallery, London
Mutant Beauty, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008 November, 1x1 Contemporary, Al Quoz, Dubai
Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
Everywhere is War, curated by Shaheen Merali at Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai
Pastiche – exhibition of paintings, Chaithanya Art Gallery, Kochi
2007 INDIA OGGI ARTE, Provincia Di Milano, Spazio Oberdan, Milano, Viale Vittorio Veneto
India! Gallerie Helene Lamarque, Paris
SUMMATION, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai
Strangeness, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkatta
India 20, Lalit Kala Akademy, New Delhi
Masters curated by Lathamy, Dubai
2006 THE SHAPE THAT IS, Jendela and Concourse, Esplanade, Singapore, organized with Bodhi Art
2006-08 HARMONY SHOW, Mumbai
2005-06 KAAM, Aicon Gallery, New York and Palo Alto
2005 WE ARE LIKE THIS ONE, Rabindra Bhavan, organized by Vadehra Art Gallery
PATHS OF PROGRESSION, Mumbai, New York, Singapore and New Delhi; organized by
Bodhi Art and Saffron Art
2004 VANITAS VANITATUM, curated by Peter Nagy, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
ANTICIPATIONS, Jehangir Art Gallery and The Museum Gallery, Mumbai
2003 IDEAS AND IMAGES, NGMA, Bombay
Highlights, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
Remembering Bhupen… Homage to late Bhupen Khakkar, Kashi ArtCafe, Fort - Kochi
2002 Tribute to Picasso, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai
2001 Mutations – Rumor City, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tokyo
2000 MA Show, Goldsmiths College, London
Exile & Longings, Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai
Memos of the New Millennium- from Artists of the Moulting World, curated by Abhay Sardesai,
Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Mumbai
Mumbai Metaphor, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
1999 Embarkations, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai
1998 The Presence of the Past – an exhibition of response by Indian artists to The Enduring Images,
curated by Girish Sahane, NCPA, Mumbai
1997 PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY, curated by Peter Nagy, with Linda Benglis, Lindel Brown and
Charles Green
50 Years of Art in Mumbai, NGMA, Mumbai
1996 West Wing Story, Headlands Centre for Visual Arts, Sausalito, San Francisco
1995 Recent Trends in Contemporary Indian Arts, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
Bombay – An Artist's Impression, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1993 Circling the Square, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1992 Artists against Communalism, JJ School of Art & Shivaji Park, Mumbai (traveled to 15 other
cities in India)
1991 Drawings, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai
Awards
2000 Charles Wallace India Trust
1996 Mid-America Arts Alliance Award for Travel and Residency in the U.S.
Collections
Jakarta Museum