The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Artist’s works to be on show in Shanghai

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Friday, Sep 07, 2007
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Artist’s works to be on show in Shanghai

Staff Reporter

Recognition: One of the works of city-based artist Ravikumar Kashi

Bangalore: Ravikumar Kashi, a city-based artist, is literally going places.

His works are part of ShContemporary, a five-day international art fair that got under way in Shanghai, China, on September 5.

ShContemporary is a unique platform designed to network the best galleries, dealers, artists, collectors, professionals and art enthusiasts from all around the world.

Emerging markets

The fair aims to develop and stimulate existing and emerging markets, enabling new interaction and exchange between the Asian and the Western art scene. The fair essentially comprises three sections – “Best Galleries”, “Best Artists” and “Best of Discovery”.

Indian participants will put up their work in five galleries in the “Best Galleries” section and three artists each in the other two sections.

Mr. Kashi has been invited to participate in the prestigious “Best of Discovery” section, featuring artists who are doing new and exciting work.

The event is expected to be visited by prominent collectors and curators from across the world. Mr. Kashi will mount a show that will include his unconventional paper sculptures.

Experimentation

Counted among the most promising artists, Mr. Kashi has been an active participant of art shows since 1991. His has been a path of experimentation combined with a strong response to things around him as well as his own urban experience.

Mr. Kashi took over a year to conceptualise and complete the two sets.

“City without end” was first showcased in Bangalore and Chennai before opening to a well received audience at Palo Alto, California, USA in February 2007.

A continuation of the same process, “Any moment now” was unveiled in London, UK, in May 2007.

Path-breaking show

In April 2007, he was part of a path-breaking show of art, fashion and design called 9-7-9 in London, which brought together nine of India’s top artists, nine fashion designers and seven product designers, whose works were showcased as clusters, with the fashion and product designers exhibiting works inspired by the works of the artists.

The renowned Sotheby’s auctioned an abstract work of his in May 2007.

In September, another of his works, an installation of 30 t-shirts cast in paper, will go up for auction at the Sotheby’s Auction in New York.

In the same month, he will take part in an important show of Indian contemporary art in Munich, Germany.

‘Passive witness’

Here’s what Mr. Kashi has to say on “City without end”: “Having been born and brought up in Bangalore, the city has been my lifeline. The experience of change in the city is also engrained as I have seen Bangalore changing from a sleepy public sector town to a global landmark.”

“The glitter and glamour of the business district, steel and chrome surfaces, the rising of glitzy shopping malls and multiplexes are very recent to Bangalore. Naturally these experiences have surfaced in my work. As an artist, I see myself as a witness to my times. But I don’t remain a passive witness but move on to a level where what is being seen / experienced is critically evaluated and engaged,” he says.

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