Artists Directory >Rajasekharan Nair

Romancing the canvas Of Relations And Irrelations

Consistently, Rajasekharan Nair's exploration into the sculptural language had been formalistic; predominantly concerned with the willful handling of the materials, and in the way techniques and methods are employed. The ideological and the subjective elements were dormant; at times unsure and hence consciously  suppressed, or at other times underplayed. Slow and steady, work after work, what manifested each time was the result of an incessant dialogue that took place between the artist and the material. The recent works exemplify freedom and utmost facility in handling the materials; the skill in manipulating them in accordance with the poignant expressive content.

Closed-in, frontal and always exempted from dramatic movements, Rajesekharan continuously realized the full possibilities of relief bound three dimensionality in his earlier works. While carving wood or stone, the interactions that took place meant explorations into the maximum possibilities within the hard rigidity of the materials, while continuously attempting to pursue the pliability of these. A certain compromise each time was inevitable. A prior stylistic format could be transgressed only minimally each time, though each new work contained within it an experimental and tentative direction; willfully arrived at or incidentally chanced upon. These were preserved, so as to be continued elsewhere more self-consciously. Eclecticism granted in experimentation, the will in outgrowing the already accomplished, is noteworthy primarily with regard to the use of materials in the recent works. These could be aptly described as assemblages, as they incorporate wide variety of materials at many instances, including the drawn lines, while also preserving some of the positive elements of the earlier style. One significant aspect as far as the present body of works is concerned is the acquisition of freedom; the irrevocable legacy of modernity.

The images are wrapped in a shroud of silence; the dense muteness that is irrevocable and disquieting. When alignments occurred in certain instances, the void that came to exist was disjunctive. At times such spaces were intruded with parts of mechanical objects; contextualizing the irrelations. Most pertinently, such expressions received translations on the faces; flickering with an almost unstated pathos.

Within the context of the general fissiparous trends in contemporary sculpture, and particularly within the common ground that most of the young Malayali artists shared since more than a decade now, Rajesekharan's direction remains individualistically determined; open to wide ranging sources and inspirations, and yet organic in its core.

Details:

Education

1982 - B.A. (Fine Arts) in Sculpture from Kerala University
1984 - Post Graduate Diploma in Sculpture from M.S. University, Baroda
1987 - M.A. (Fine Arts) in Sculpture from M.S. University, Baroda

Workshop/Camps (by Invitation):

1990 - Malta - Ohshima, International Sculptors Symposium - Japan.
          - International Sculptors Camp Stone-Carving Cholamandal
1987 - Artist in Residence, Scottish Sculptors Trust's Studio in London.

Solo Exhibitions:

1993 - Sakshi Gallery Madras.
          - Sakshi Gallery Bangalore.
1991 - Art Heritage, New Delhi
1988 - Waspas Gallary, Glasgow.

Group Exhibition (By Invitation)

1997 - 9th Triennale
1990 - Shi-Bunka Sports Park Miyaubo-Cho Ochi-Gun Ehime Prefecture - Japan
1989 - Royal Scottish Annual Exhibition Edinburgh

Award:

1997 - 50 Years of Art Independent India Exhibition
1994 - National Award for Sculpture 37th National Exhibition
1987 - Henry Moore Award - Travelled and worked in UK sponsored by Hendry Moore Foundation, British Council.

Address:
Cholomandal Artists Village, Injambakkam, Madras - 600 041.