An Artist in Love. Lata Mani

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Gwen Cannon
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1 Recollections Reconnections SG Vasudev Gallery Sumukha Presents 10 December 2014 to 10 January 2015

2 An Artist in Love Vasudev's paintings and drawings offer a refreshing counterpoint to the current demand that artists, like manufacturers, rapidly and continually deliver something new and different in how their work engages the world. His experiments seem to be located in a space distant from the breathless pace of the imagined exigencies of commerce, to emerge from a process internal to himself. His approach is akin to that of the classical musician who allows the raga to unfold him as its medium of expression. A leisurely discipline is in evidence. Vasudev's orientation affords him a sheltering structure with plenty of room for play. Within and across his work in different media we see an oscillation between abstraction and guration with much of the work lying in between, as abstract shapes turn out to be teeming with forms, some merely hinted at, others fully realised. In his work for this exhibition Vasudev has developed texture as a kind of third dimension. Although he has for some years nowbeen building up his canvases with thick layers of white paint which he then gouges, scrapes, smoothes, furrows and overlays with colour and form, in the recent period he has taken this technique much further. The jagged and undulating canvas is no longer a mere surface but a topographical feature integral to the drama of the painting. Vasudev uses textures to convey not just solidity but also movement. The sculpted layers represent land, mound or mountain; they also signify the whirl in which all things coexist. And as air takes form as sound, the textures evoke its vibration. Vasudev's works have always conjured a joyful, sensuous world in which humans, animals, trees and the elements enthusiastically commingle. Heads, trees, mountains, monkeys have recurred as motifs. Vasudev handles them rather like a musician would a note to embellish, emphasise, suggest new af liations and invoke a variety of moods. The works in this exhibition achieve this in two contrasting ways: through an enhanced texturing of the canvas and by means of the deceptively simple beguiling line in his drawings. The range and energy of the work presented af rms that Vasudev's remains an artist in love with his world. Lata Mani

3 Landscape Oil on canvas 122 x 92 cms

4 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 46 x 31 cms

5 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 46 x 31 cms

6 Tree Oil on canvas 122 x 153 cms

7 Landscape Oil on canvas 71 x 92 cms

8 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 102 x 76 cms

9 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 102 x 76 cms

10 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 150 x 54 cms

11 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 148 x 61 cms

12 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 54 x 54 cms

13 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 54 x 54 cms

14 Landscape Oil on canvas 130x 210 cms

15 Earthscape Oil on canvas 150 x 150 cms

16 Landscape Oil on canvas 130x 210 cms

17 Tree Oil on canvas 101 x 101 cms

18 Tree Oil on canvas 92 x 92 cms

19 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 150 x 54 cms

20 Landscape Oil on canvas 123 x 123 cms

21 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 150 x 54 cms

22 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 41 x 26 cms (each)

23 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 92 x 59 cms

24 Rhapsody Silver ink on black paper 69 x 49 cms

25 Landscape Silver ink on black paper 69 x 49 cms

26 Rhapsody Ink on paper 57 x 77 cms (each)

27 Rhapsody Ink on paper 57 x 77 cms (each)

28 Rhapsody Ink on paper 26 x 39 cms

29 Landscape Ink on paper 26 x 39 cms

30 Rhapsody Silver ink on black paper 69 x 49 cms

31 Rhapsody Silver ink on black paper 69 x 49 cms

32 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 46 x 46 cms

33 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 46 x 46 cms

34 Tree Oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms

35 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 53 x 53 cms

36 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms

37 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms

38 Landscape Oil on canvas 84 x 84 cms

39 Rhapsody Oil on canvas 61 x 61 cms

40 S.G.Vasudev Born in Mysore (Karnataka) in 1941, S.G.Vasudev received recogni on as a painter early in his career. He was awarded a Na onal Scholarship by the Government of India in 1964, while he was a student of the Government College of Art, Madras, and a Na onal Award from the All India Lalit Kala Akademi in Vasudev is a founder-member of the Cholamandal Ar sts' Village on the outskirts of Madras (now Chennai) where he lived and worked ll He now lives and works in Bangalore. Vasudev works in various mediums (drawings,pain ngs, reliefs in copper and tapestries in silk). He became well-known for his Vriksha (Tree of Life) series, which evolved over nearly a decade, turning into the Tree of Life and Death in the la er half of the 1980s. He also explored the theme of Maithuna (Act of Love) through a series of drawings, pain ngs and copper reliefs. Eventually his tree grew into faces tled Humanscapes and Earthscapes. The tree is s ll some me visible in theseries tled Theatre of Life and Rhapsody. Vasudev has par cipated in several important group exhibi ons in India and abroad (including the Triennale India, the Paris Biennale, the Havana Biennale, India's Na onal Gallery of Modern Art show in Washington, the Fes val of India in Tokyo and The New South- Contemporary Pain ngs & Sculpture from South India in London. In addi on, he has held solo exhibi ons in different parts of India and the world(including USA, England and Germany). Exhibi ons of his drawings based on the late A.K. Ramanujan's poetry and transla ons, tled Tribute to Ramanujan have been held in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, London and Chicago. His works are represented in many individual, ins tu onal and corporate collec ons in India and overseas. Apart from this he has executed a number of murals in different media. He has won recogni on for his work in the form of several pres gious awards, including those ins tuted by India's Na onal Academy of Art, the State Academies of Art in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Kerala. The Government of Karnataka presented with the Rajyotsava Award in 1994 and a pres gious Venkatappa Award in In 2010 the Government of Kerala honoured him with the K.C.S. Paniker Puraskar. Vasudev has also been on the Execu ve Board of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and worked as a selec on commi ee member twice for Na onal Exhibi on of Art. He served as Director for the Interna onal Art Camp organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, during the 1997 Triennale India. He is currently a memb er of the advisory commi ee of the Na onal Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore. Vasudev's contribu on to cultural life has not been restricted to the visual arts. Deeply interested in music, literature and theatre, he has derived inspira on for his own work from the works of important literateurs and musicians. In addi on he has designed and/or contributed pain ngs for the cover of several books by leading Kannada writers. He has also been art director for two award-winning Kannada films Samskara and Vamsha Vriksha. Vasudev is the founder and managing trustee of Arnawaz Vasudev Chari es, which has been providing financial assistance to young ar sts since He is instrumental in the se ng up of the non-profit organisa on, Ananya Drishya, in Bangalore, aiming to help promote art apprecia on among children and adults and create a database and library about art and ar sts of Karnataka. He is also closed associated with the Department of Visual Arts, Bangalore University.

41 Gallery Sumukha, 24/10 BTS Depot Road, Wilson Garden, Bangalore T: / w.

Visual Arts Curriculum Standards Early Elementary: Grades K-2. State Goal 25 Know the language of the arts.

Visual Arts Curriculum Standards Early Elementary: Grades K-2. State Goal 25 Know the language of the arts. Early Elementary: Grades K-2 25.A.1d Visual Arts: Identify the elements of line, shape, space, color and texture; the principles of repetition and pattern; and the expressive qualities of mood, emotion