Shanthamani M

Artville Artist Of The Day 
Artist: Shanthamani M
Tittle:Kali 
Year:2012

Shantamani Master who was born in Bangalore in 1967 obtained her Bachelores degree in Art from CAVA, Mysore and Master of Arts (fine) in painting from Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda.

Here is an artist statement on her current exhibition, Fluid Fragmnets. "Fluid Fragments is an installation of paper works revolving around female body displayed in layers. Today's medico- technological innovations like Genetic engineering, M.R.I and Gamma imaging have introduced new techniques of non-invasive examination and stirred new interest amongst us to look inwards, into our own body. Body has been put back on the examination table - every inch has been dissected and measured. Hence, the body technologically, conceptually and aesthetically becomes very fragmented; our image of the body no longer remains as a whole.

These techniques of M.R.I and Gamma imaging virtually slice every inch of live human body without touching. This fragmented way of seeing the body layer after layer interested me. When I applied the same technique of layering the body conceptually and aesthetically in my work it opened up tremendous possibilities. Possibilities of dealing with many issues of life, especially of female body in one go. The possibility of parallel opening of many aspects of life - like women's body as a metaphor, female body and its gender politics, and the way body is seen in religion, law and technology. When I combined with this the process of bringing out my own experience it ended in a rich outcome. Being a woman by birth and an artist I have observed many woman's attitude of looking inwards; a woman's compulsions of being highly conscious of her own body and the way she introspects the changes that the age brings was the reason I chose a female form.

Separating the painting from the wall I have devised a display pattern where viewer walks in between these layers. This offers an experience of being part of the work for a viewer; it reduces the gap between an onlooker and the displayed object. It's an experience of traveling inwards and responding to the issues in and around the body."
courtesy:saffronart
#art #installation #kali #popularart #contemporaryartist #shanthamani#artville #artschool

Giji Scaria

Artville Artist Of The Day 
Artist: Giji Scaria 
Title: Chronicle of the Shores Foretold 
Gigi’s giant bell installation at Kochi biennale
Year: 2014 

Gigi the artist has always done things differently with a cynical twist to urbanism and chaos and added his satirical slant to his genius. Delhi-based Malayali Gigi Scaria’s work drills into history & myth into his goant bell at Kochi.
Viewed from a distance and without referencing local history or folklore, the giant metal bell on the placid seaside would appear like an installation that simply heralds the experimental spirit of the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).
That impression could deepen as the visitor at the 108-day extravaganza gets to know more about its themes and symbolisms that range from extolling the traditional dock-work techniques of Khalasis in Kerala to a colonial-era fable about a weighty bell that sank in a European ship while headed for the Malabar Coast.
‘Chronicle of the Shores Foretold’ is a performance-based work of sculpture which pools in hyperlink histories and myths which artist Gigi Scaria has sought to liberally interpret about labour, religion and maritime trade that have been woven into the socio-cultural fabric of his native state.
As a Malayali based in Delhi for two decades, 41-year-old Scaria has made the small dock in a water-front venue of KMB’14, lending a real-time value to his artwork that is among the 100 main exhibits at the second edition of the biennale which casts 94 artists from 30 countries. Fixed in the backyard of Pepper House, an 18th-century Dutch-style complex, that had been a point of trade between India and foreign lands, the 2.5-tonne bell hoisted by bamboo poles finds its place today just furlongs opposite an International Container Trans-shipment Terminal which is hardly four years old.
Moulded and welded in Coimbatore of east-central Tamil Nadu, the bell, which is 13 feet tall and measures a diameter of 16 feet at the base, has the Arabian Sea water jutting out through a string of holes drilled into it. This, Scaria notes, is a symbol of the times that Kochi has passed through, narrative of the changes in its character owing to medieval invasions and new-age development among others.
The bell was installed on the eve of KMB’14, which began on December 12, by Mappila Khalasis from upstate Malabar. “They are one traditional community who have been largely unaffected by change of labour equations in the era we life in,” notes Scaria, who has done his Masters in Fine Arts from Jamia Milia University in the national capital. “I sought their help in installing my work to also highlight the value of labour in the present times defined by easy pleasure.”
Thus, last Thursday, Khalasis from Beypore Coast off Kozhikode erected the bell with a crane—making it a performance by septuagenarian dockworker Hameed A N A and his team.
“We are a community of contemporary relevance,” points out Hameej, 77, noting that Khalasis were employed in the rescue operations of Kerala’s 1988 Peruman railway tragedy, where they brought up compartments that had sunk into the Ashtamudi Lake near Kollam after the train plunged off a bridge, killing 105 passengers on July 8.
Today, ‘Chronicles of the Shore Foretold’ stands against the backdrop of vibrant movements of the cranes at the container terminal in tiny Vallarpadam Island. The backdrop also looks busy with different kinds of ships and boats—both passenger and fishing—plying up and down the sea.
Scaria, a native of Kothanellore off Christian-dominated Kottayam, notes that the “bell-sinking myth” associated with churches in his central Travancore belt has also contributed to his installation. “Even today, there is this belief that the bell emerges annually from the deep sea on the festival day, and tolls on its own,” he adds with a smile.
Much like that ring, his biennale installation (whose titled was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Chronicles of a Death Foretold’) awakens dormant memories of a community—in fact, for people across the world.
courtesy:timesofindia

#art #installation #giantbell #seashore #popularart #contemporaryartist#gijiscaria #artville #artschool

Azis TM

Artville Artist Of The Day 
Azis TM
Untitled (landscape)
Medium: Oil on canvas 
Size: 60 x 68 in (2part)
Year: 2005

I grew up in Trichur, Kerala, famous for its many temple festivals. For a child, Kerala is one of the best places to develop as an artist. Stunning landscapes that blossom quite naturally on your canvas the moment you dip your brush in paint surround one !so it was, I guess, natural to move to Thiruvananthapuram to my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, and equally logical to move from the extreme south to Delhi for my Master’s! As an artist, exhibitions are an essential part of life. Solo and group shows have been regular since those college “chai-samosa” days. Shows that brought friends and critics to my studio, with appreciation and suggestions, alike they continued to inspire my experiments with figures. Some of my creative out pourings have adorned their homes and offices. Quite a few have become friends. But most others have a part of me – for a true painter is as attached to his works as he is to his children. Even though I don’t know them as intimately as I would have liked. Living and working in Bangalore, I suppose just doesn’t permit me the time to get to know all my aficionados. Perhaps in another time, another place I wistfully think, perhaps I will know them eventually, perhaps not yet I am content a part of me lives with them.
courtesy:artmajeur

#art #oilpainting #popularart #contemporaryartist #azistm #artville #artschool

K.G.Subramanyam

Artville Artist Of The Day 
K.G. Subramanyam
Title: Couple
Medium: Reverse painting on acrylic sheet 
Size: 24 x 36inch 
Year: 2014

K.G. Subramanyan
Painter, sculptor, muralist, K G Subramanyan was born in a village in north Kerala in 1924. While studying economics at Presidency College, Madras, Subramanyan became involved in the freedom struggle. He was imprisoned and debarred from government colleges. The turning point of his life came when he joined Kala Bhavan at Visva Bharati in Santiniketan in 1944. He studied at kala Bhavan till 1948.

Between 1951 and 1959, Subramanyan was a lecturer in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda. During 1955 and 1956, he wen to the Slade School of Art in London to study as a British Council research scholar. From 1959 to 1961, Subramanyan was deputy director (design) at All India Handloom Board. Bombay. He continued to be a design consultant till 1966. He went back to Baroda as reader in painting between 1961 and 1965.

From 1966 to 1980, Subramanyan was professor of painting at Baroda. He went to New York as J D Rockefeller 111 fellow during 1966 and 1967. From 1968 to 1974, he acted as the dean of the faculty of fine arts, Baroda. In 1975 and 1976, he attended World Craft council meets as a delegate. In 1976, he was a visiting lecturer at various Canadian universities. In 1980 Subramanyan moved back to Santiniketan and till 1989 was professor of painting at Kala Bhavan. During 1987 and 1988 ' he lived at Oxford as Christensen Fellow in St. Catherine's College. In 1989, he was appointed professor emeritus at Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati.

A theoretician and art historian, Subramanyan has written extensively on Indian art. His writings have formed a foundation for the study of contemporary Indian art. He has also written some delightful fables for children and illustrated them.

A mm of multifaceted talents, Subramanyan demolished banners between artist and artisan. He experimented with weaving and toy-making. He also reinvested several mediums earlier used in Indian art. For example, the terracotta mural and glass painting found a new lease of life with his experiments.

The artist gave the human figure a new dimension. Drawing upon the rich resources of myth, memory and tradition, Subramanyan tempers romanticism with wit and eroticism. He has received the Kalidas Samman in 198 1, the Padma Shree in 1975, a D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) from the Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta in 1992 and became a Fellow of Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi in 1993.
courtesy:contemporaryindianart

#art #reversepainting #popularart #contemporaryartist#kgsubramanian #artville #artschool

Jeff Koons

Artville Artist Of The Day
Jeff Koons,
Title: Tulips,
Year: 1995–98,
Medium: Oil on canvas,
Size: 282.7 x 331.9 cm,
European private collection © Jeff Koons Photo: Jeff Koons Studio /Tom Powel

Jeff Koons (b.1955) is one of the best known artists today, but he is often derided for the gaudiness of his art. To repair what it considers an injustice, the prestigious Beyeler Foundation in Riehen stages a show that is powerful, playful and surprisingly pleasing.

“Jeff Koons brings great art to the general public. He is highly inventive in terms of ideas and extremely relevant as an artist,” declared the usually reserved Sam Keller, director of the Beyeler Foundation.

“This is a dream come true, an amazing adventure, one of the most memorable in my life,” he said of the collaboration with the artist. Coming from the man who directed Art Basel for 15 years until 2007 and founded Art Basel Miami, his enthusiasm is not taken lightly.

The Beyeler Foundation, Switzerland’s most-visited art museum, has succeeded in bringing together 50 works by Koons, which is no small feat considering that most have been loaned from private collections and many weigh several tons. The result is an exhibition where the exuberant art of Koons unfolds surprisingly well into the cool elegance of the Renzo Piano building.

Three distinct periods of the artist’s work are on display, all variations on the theme of the “ready-made” inspired by Marcel Duchamp, the French artist of urinal fame. Duchamp’s idea that art is in the eye of the beholder is central to Koons’ strategy. He said that his objects require our presence “to exist as art”, and that they are there “to expand our possibilities”.
courtesy: art-folio.ch

#art #painting #tulips #popularart #contemporaryartist #jeffkoons #artville#artschool

Vivek Vilasini

Artville Artist Of The Day 
Artist: Vivek Vilasini 
Title: You cannot of course, believe all this......
Year: 2013
Medium: Digital print on paper
Image size: 57 x 90 in

Born in 1964, in Trishur, Kerala, Vivek Vilasini trained as a Marine Radio Officer at the All India Marine College in Kochi, and then obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Kerala University in 1987 before turning to art and studying sculpture from traditional Indian craftspeople.

In his work Vilasini examines our existing social structures, adapting various expressions of cultural identity prevalent in society today to raise questions about the continually changing global scenario that every individual struggles to keep pace with. Vilasini’s large-format photographs evoke delicate ironies that impact existing ideologies, and influence the cultural and social consciousness of the viewer.
courtesy:saffronart

#art #digitalprint #popularart #contemporaryartist #vivekvilasini #artvile#artschool

Binoy Varghese

Artville Artist Of The Day
Binoy Varghese
Untitled 2
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 60" x 60"
Year: 2007

Binoy is an artist of few words who is adept at expressing his thoughts and concerns through painting. His earlier work included images of saints, churches and other familiar objects as well as self-portraits depicting torment due to violence prevalent in the society. Making a clear departure in his current work which appears more matured and measured, he creates carefully planned compositions in fine imagery though rotating around the same themes. The continuity of thought and basic tenure of the current work is seen to turn more intense and complex in its detailing as his protagonist often a young girl or a child, with an innocent look, smiling and playful, despite having been uprooted from his/her base or home. The accompanying foliage often in the background and occasionally in the foreground helps to soften the blow and make the alien locale appear more acceptable and adaptable. Social issues close to the artist’s heart are some of the fundamental concerns that are recurrently featured in his colourful and picturesque canvases mostly in large format that impart a distinct humane and compassionate oeuvre.
courtesy:binoyvarghese