calendario eventi  :: 

X

10/11/2004

A.Balasubramaniam

Talwar Gallery, New York

Into thin air

Talwar Gallery is very pleased to announce an exhibition of new sculptures, installations and works on paper by A.Balasubramaniam. This is his second solo exhibition in the Unites States and his second at Talwar Gallery.

Beyond capturing his vision with beauty of an experience, in his new works Bala has evolved his search for the ineffable. Strongly influenced by the spiritual nature of expression and propelled by existential quest, the artist continues to excavate our perception from inertia of habit. On exhibit are artist’s most recent explorations with the boundaries between the seen and the unseen while situating the hidden in our vision and in consciousness. As a momentary viewing masks the underlying transformations, the artist employs the process to reveal the hidden.

In an Untitled work, a life sized bust cast from his body in a material that very slowly evaporates when exposed to air is tantalizing to watch on a return visit. The distinct portraiture of the artist slowly dissolves from the edges creating an organically evolving abstract form. This dissolution of the self to a seemingly invisible form of matter brings forth some of the tenets of Hinduism and Buddhism. In another sculpture the shadows cast by one section of the sculpture connects to the other part and in process completes the work, transforming the nature of the dark space or shadow to that of the light.

Fire, an elemental component of destruction and creation has been used by Bala to accomplish these dual yet opposition functions in a series of monoprints. Within a controlled setting the artist allows for a fire to burn through paper, creating a series of abstract forms. The artist then imbues the burnt but open spaces with silkscreen of red resembling blood cells or the glowing embers of the said flame which has since dissipated but appears alive in the work. In Dawn to dawn, a 24 hour burnt shape in paper is filled appearing as a river of cool blue water, another nourishing element for life. In another work, against a screen print of the sky the artist employs sun’s own energy to burn through it, then he fills the burnt space with fiery red which appears to create a sun, filling up the space it consumed. Here the course of action and reaction, cause and effect, and finally destruction followed by construction exemplify the Artist’s belief in the cyclical nature of things, in that in life there is death and likewise in death, life.

Despite the strong visual affirmation in witnessing Bala’s works we are challenged to believe what we see. Our sense of perception, of reality is questioned and at times evoking a contradictory realization. This comes to the fore in the work, Golden Thorn, in which a stem of thorns cast in pure gold is floating in a calm white background. The desire for wealth (Maya) is juxtaposed with the pain associated with the pursuit of illusions.

A.Balasubramaniam was born in 1971 in Tamil Nadu, India and was educated at the Government College of Arts in Madras, India (1992-95). He then went on to study at Edinburgh Printmakers, Scotland in 1997 for which he was awarded the Charles Wallace Trust Arts Fellowship. In 2001, the artist was awarded the Kunstlerdorf Fellowship in Germany and Fundacio pilar I Joan Miro Award in Spain. He was artist in residence at Mac Dowell Colony in the United States in 1998. The artist has participated in various solo and group exhibitions in India, Spain, Poland, Korea, Japan, Finland and Germany.

A.Balasubramaniam lives and works in Bangalore, India.


Catalogue Available

November 11 through December 30, 2004
Opening Reception with the Artist, Thursday, November 11, 6 pm

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CALL THE GALLERY AT 212 673 3096 OR VISIT THE WEBSITE

Image:
Golden Thorn (Detail), 16" x 26"
20 karat gold cast in an artist constructed frame, 2004

@ TALWAR GALLERY
108 East 16 Street
New York, NY 10003

stampa

permanent link