Bose Krishnamachari

 Anupa Mehta responds to Bose Krishnamachari's new works

French artist Christian Boltanski once commented: The task is to create a formal work that at the same time is recognized by the viewer as an object charged with feeling. Each one brings their own story.

Possibly Bose Krishnamachari's current project as an artist is to present the viewer with an activation point of images and icons that can, along with the formal construction of a pictorial installation, function as symbolic devices with which to speak about an entire culture, its changing mentalities. and, its eclectic loans.

Born in Kerala in 1963, Bose recently completed his MFA at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His work, thus reinforced by an understanding and awareness of the "here and now" of contemporary culture, borrows effortlessly from various disciplines, including literature and design, and time periods.

This current body of work highlights figures and, through association, cultures as varied as those of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, and Rabindranath Tagore. Spirituality, epic style, and, in Kahlo's case, a focus on the self as a means to explore broader concerns, are some of the characteristics that attract the viewer. However, it would be a mistake to read these works as tributes to icons, since Bose uses the resource in this case, figures from art history, more to draw attention to his own project.

Interestingly, Bose pays as much attention to form as it does to conceptual and contextual concerns. Striking shots of flat color juxtaposed with skillful, almost photographic depictions of an identifiable person imbue the work with an "international" sensibility. Bose admits to having combined Western image-making techniques, such as installation, with the vernacular, in an attempt to arrive at a language that is completely contemporary and energetic.

In a previous interview, he said that he refines my color to shine. I have learned this use of the alternately subdued and luxurious color codes of Indian ceremonies and ritual performances, costumes, and representational gestures... The current body, however, carries with it a whiff of minimalism. There is little room for excess. But minimalism is effective.

BORN

1963 Angamaly, Kerala.

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

1999-00 Master in Visual Arts, Goldsmiths College, London

1986-91 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sir J.J School of Art, Mumbai

1984-1985 Diploma in Art, Kerala Kala Peetham, Kochi

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Maximo Bose, Gallery 7, Mumbai

2010 No, 1 x 1 Contemporary, Dubai

2009-10 LAVA, Laboratory of Visual Arts, a traveling installation project at BMB Gallery, Mumbai

2008-09 Leave - White Ghost, Kashi Art Cafe, Kochi

2008 Phantom, Aicon Gallery, London and Bodhi Art, Mumbai

2007 LaVA, Laboratory of Visual Arts, a traveling installation project in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi, Baroda, and New Delhi.

2006 Ghost Transmemoir, Gallery ArtsIndia, New York, Lille, France

2005 Exists, Jehangir Art Gallery, Museum Gallery, Mumbai

2003 Curated by contemporary Indian artists, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, Durbar Hall, Cochin, Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore

1999 Field Sakshi, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai

1999 Museum Memoirs, National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, Mumbai

1997 Museum documents. Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

1996 Dandy, Y. B Chavan Center Gallery and Lakeeren, Mumbai

1995 Academy of Fine Arts and Literature Objects of Attention, inaugural exhibition at Arpana Kaur Gallery, New Delhi.

1993 Museum organized by Prema Srinivasan and Suchi Ebrahim, Chennai

1992 Museum, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore

1991 Music of the Cubes British Council Gallery, Mumbai

1990 Sir. J.J, School of Art Gallery, Mumbai

1989 Kerala Kala Peetom, Cochin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 2 + 2 = 5, The Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi

2012 Mappers The Evolution of Contemporary Indian Art, Aicon Gallery, New York

2012 The Contemporary Sultanate, presented by Exhibit 320 at One Style Mile, Olive, New Delhi

2011-12 Reprise 2011, Aicon Gallery, New York

Meaning Census 2011, Schedule 320, New Delhi

2011 Love is a 4-letter word, Latitude 28, New Delhi

2011 Sumukha Gallery, Chennai

2011 Against All Odds A Contemporary Response to the Historiography of Collecting and Museums in India, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2010 Looking Glass The Existence of Difference, Twenty Indian Contemporary Artists presented by Religare Arts Initiative, New Delhi in collaboration with American Center, British Council, Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

2010 A. SYCO, The Observation Room, Mumbai

2010 Beyond Object Hood, presented by Gandhara Art Gallery at Nandalal Bose Hall, Indian Council for Cultural Relations ICCR, Kolkata

2010 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai

2009 Vistaar II, presented by Seven Arts Limited at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi

2009 In the mood for the role, F2 Gallery, Beijing

2009 Godown, The Guild, Mumbai

2009 Zip Files, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai

2009 Threshold Forging Narratives in Contemporary South Asian Art, Aicon Gallery, New York

2008-09 Hot Shots, The Viewing Room, Mumbai

2008-09 Signs Taken for Wonders Recent Art from India and Pakistan, Aicon Gallery, London

2008-09 Mutant Beauty, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008 November, 1x1 Contemporary, Al Quoz, Dubai

2008 Everywhere there is war and rumors of war, Bodhi Art, Mumbai

2008 Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi

2008 Pastiche Paintings Exhibition, Chaithanya Art Gallery, Kochi

2007-08 India Oggi - Milan, Spazio Oberdan, Italy

2007-08 Indian art at Swarovski Crystal World Show, first exhibition, Tyrol - Osterreich, Austria

2007 Bombay Gateway, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

2007 Young Guns, ICIA Institute of Contemporary Indian Art, Mumbai

2007 India! The best of contemporary Indian art, Galerie Helene Lamarque, Paris

2007 Strangeness, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkata

2007 India 20, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi

2006 Drawing Exhibition: An Act of Art II, Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai

2006 The Shape That Is, organized by Bodhi Art, Jendela and Concourse, Esplanade, Singapore

2005-06 Kaam, Gallery Arts India, New York, Palo Alto

2005 Double-Enders, Jehangir Art Gallery, Museum Gallery, Mumbai, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, Sumukha Gallery, Bangalore, Durbar Hall, Kochi

2005 Paths of Progression, organized by Bodhi Art and Saffronart, Mumbai in Mumbai, New York, Singapore, New Delhi

2005 We are only like this, organized by Vadehra Art Gallery, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi

2005 Confluence 2005, ArtsIndia Gallery, New York

2003-05 Ideas and Images, National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, Mumbai

2004 Anticipations, Jehangir Art Gallery, Museum Gallery, Mumbai

2004 Bombay x 17, Kashi Art Gallery, Kochi

2004 Bombay Boys, Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi

2004 Vanitas Vanitatum, Sakshi Gallery, Bombay

2002 Rumor City Mutations, TN probe, Tokyo

2002 Tribute to Picasso, Kala Ghoda Fair, organized by Fine Art Resource.

2002 Homage to Picasso, Gremio, Art Gallery, Mumbai

2002 CAN, Habitat Centre, New Delhi

2001 Human Factor, Guild Art Gallery 4th Anniversary Exhibition, Mumbai

2001 Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts IGNCA, organized by Sharon Apparao, New Delhi.

2001 Indian Contemporary Art, organized by Saffron Art and Apparao Galleries in Los Angeles

2001 Sudarshan Shetty, Sunil Gawde and Bose Krishnamachari, Apparao Gallery, New Delhi

2001 Memoranda for the New Millennium by Artists of Changing Worlds, Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Mumbai

2000 Kerala Artists, Lakeeren, Mumbai

2000 Brainstorming, Goldsmiths College, London

2000 Sakshi Gallery Crafts, 

1998 50 Years of Indian Art, National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, Mumbai

1998 Presence of the Past, Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, National Center for the Performing Arts NCPA Mumbai

1997 Persistence of Memory, Linda Benglis, Charles and Lindal Brown and Bose Krishnamachai, Nature Morte, New Delhi.

1996 West Wing Story, an open studio installation at Head Lands Center for Visual Art, Sausalito, California

1995 Contemporary miniature, Center for International Modern Art CIMA Gallery, Calcutta

1995 Recent Trends in Indian Art, Vandhera Art Gallery, New Delhi

1995 Bombay An Artists Impression, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

1994 Window, Leela Gallery, Mumbai

1993 An Exhibition for Sparrows, Artists Centre, Mumbai

1993 Circling the Square, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

1993 Footprints in Our Time, Jehangir Art Gallery. Bombay

1992 Artists Against Communalism, Sir J.J School of Art, and Shivaji Park, Mumbai traveled to 15 other cities in India.

1990 Drawings, Chemould Gallery, Mumbai.

SELECTED JOINT EXHIBITION

1995 With Andrea Anastasio, organized by the Italian Council, Mumbai at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

HE CONCEPTUALIZED & ORGANIZED FOUR MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

Kaam, Double Ending, Bombay Boys, Bombay x 17

CURATOR

2009 Guest Curator of Indian Highway, at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo

2009 Panorama India, ARCOmadrd, Spain

2009 Relative Space, Bodhi Art, Bodhi Space, Mumbai

2008 All 12 Artists from India, Willem Baars Project, Amsterdam

2008 Af-fair, 1X1 Contemporary and 1X1 Gallery, Dubai

2007 Everybody's a Camera, Talvin Singh, Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai

2007 Spy, organized by The Guild at Museum Art Gallery, Mumbai

2007 Soft Spoken, presented by Bombay Art Gallery at Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, NCPA National Center for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

2006 Maarkers, Bodhi Art, Bombay

PARTICIPATIONS

2012 Art for Humanity, Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai

2012 Art Stage Singapore 2012, Singapore presented by Exhibit 320, New Delhi

2011-12 Indian Highway, in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery, London, and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo at the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome

2011 Artzuid 2011, Berlages Avenues Plan-Zuid, Amsterdam

2011 Of Gods and Goddesses, Cinema, Cricket India's New Cultural Icons, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

2011 Art Stage Singapore, Singapore presents a door 1 x 1 Gallery, Dubai

2010 Masters Corner, organized by Indian Contemporary Art Journal at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India International Art Fair, New Delhi

2010 Roots, 25th Anniversary Exhibition of Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai at The Park, Chennai

2009 Expressions at Tihar, Indira Gandhi National Arts Centre, New Delhi

2009 ARCOmadrid, Spain as curator of Panorama India

2008-09,10,11 Indian Highway, a traveling exhibition presented in collaboration with the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo at the Serpentine Gallery, London, Herning Museum of Contemporary Art HEART, Herning, Denmark, Museum of Contemporary Art Lyon, Lyon

Annual Exhibition 2008, Triva Contemporary, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

2008 Presented by 1x1 Art Gallery, Dubai at Art Paris, Abu Dhabi

2008 Harvest 2008, organized by Arushi Arts at The Stainless Gallery, New Delhi

2007 Presented by Willem Baars Projects at Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam

2006 Harmony Show, Nehru Centre, Mumbai

2002 Harmony Show, Nehru Centre, Mumbai

2001 Harmony Show, Nehru Center. Bombay

1991 Monsoon Show Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

HONORS AND AWARDS

2000 Charles Wallace India Prize to pursue an MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London

1996 Mid America Arts Alliance Award MMA International Scholarship for extensive travel and residencies in the United States of America.

1993 Winner of the British Council UK Travel Award

1991 and 92 Bombay Art Society Award, Mumbai

1991 Bombay University Special Award for obtaining highest marks in BFA Examination, Mumbai

1991 Face. from the 90s. in Indian art published by Debonair magazine, selected by Shireen and Khorshid Gandhi of Gallery Chemould, Mumbai

1991 Gold Medal, Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay

1986-91 Mr. JJ. School of Art Merit Scholarship

1985 Kerala Lalit Kala Academy Award

bose krishnamachari paintings