.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
"Truth is something one will rarely ever discover in its entirety. And that's exactly what draws artist Alwar Balasubramaniam to its pursuit. His is a continuous search for what exists but which we fail to see, think or feel. Such is the purpose of his work -- a dedicated inquiry into the essence of our being, where his curiosity about man and his surroundings informs and feeds our own inquiries. This pursuit and its expression have helped make a niche for Balasubramaniam in the world of art." (N. Fatima and S. Altaf, 'The Alchemist', Robb Report India, August 2011, p. 50)
The work being offered here was exhibited in New York in 2002 and Holland Cotter wrote the review for the New York Times and noted: The India-based artist A. Balasubramaniam, 32, already has an impressive rsum of international appearances, primarily as a printmaker. Several relief monoprints -- including one made from alphabet soup -- are in his first New York solo show, but the main work is figurative sculpture, all of it cast in fiberglass from the artist's body and painted plaster white. Two hands fold around a protruding corner near the front of the gallery; nearby, arms reach out from the wall with a beseeching gesture; a pair of seated legs wearing rumpled trousers emerge through the wall into the room. On the other side of the same wall, in a smaller gallery, the rest of the figure appears. Just as the artist molds paper around three-dimensional forms to create impressions in his prints, so he treats the gallery architecture as a ductile medium, creating the illusion that its surfaces are as loose and pliable as skin or cloth. It is possible to cite American influences on the sculpture, including the work of George Segal and Robert Gober, though overall the work owes more to the abstract forms and metaphysical spirit of Anish Kapoor. In any case, Mr. Balasubramaniam, self-taught as a sculptor, is young, savvy and in the middle of a spurt of growth. It could take him anywhere, but there's already a lot here. (Holland Cotter, The New York Times, 31 May 2002)
This work has its origins in a site specific installation, Again(st) Gravity, created during the Künstlerdorf Fellowship, Schoppingen, Germany in 2001. This body of work culminated in Rest in Resistance, 2009 (also illustrated below) which was exhibited alongside works by Alexander Calder, Lucio Fontana, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and Nasreen Mohamedi, among others, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York for the show onLine: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, November 2010 - February 2011.
Balasubramaniam's work has attracted a wide, international audience. He is currently the only Indian artist invited to participate in the 18th Sydney Biennale (27 June - 16 September, 2012). Nothing from my Hands, illustrated below is currently on view at the Sydney Biennale and installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney. He has also exhibited with The Phillips Collection, Washington DC (2011), National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2011), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2011), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010), Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi (2009), Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2008), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (2008), Essl Museum, Klosterneuberg (2008) and the first Singapore Biennale (2006).
The work being offered here was exhibited in New York in 2002 and Holland Cotter wrote the review for the New York Times and noted: The India-based artist A. Balasubramaniam, 32, already has an impressive rsum of international appearances, primarily as a printmaker. Several relief monoprints -- including one made from alphabet soup -- are in his first New York solo show, but the main work is figurative sculpture, all of it cast in fiberglass from the artist's body and painted plaster white. Two hands fold around a protruding corner near the front of the gallery; nearby, arms reach out from the wall with a beseeching gesture; a pair of seated legs wearing rumpled trousers emerge through the wall into the room. On the other side of the same wall, in a smaller gallery, the rest of the figure appears. Just as the artist molds paper around three-dimensional forms to create impressions in his prints, so he treats the gallery architecture as a ductile medium, creating the illusion that its surfaces are as loose and pliable as skin or cloth. It is possible to cite American influences on the sculpture, including the work of George Segal and Robert Gober, though overall the work owes more to the abstract forms and metaphysical spirit of Anish Kapoor. In any case, Mr. Balasubramaniam, self-taught as a sculptor, is young, savvy and in the middle of a spurt of growth. It could take him anywhere, but there's already a lot here. (Holland Cotter, The New York Times, 31 May 2002)
This work has its origins in a site specific installation, Again(st) Gravity, created during the Künstlerdorf Fellowship, Schoppingen, Germany in 2001. This body of work culminated in Rest in Resistance, 2009 (also illustrated below) which was exhibited alongside works by Alexander Calder, Lucio Fontana, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and Nasreen Mohamedi, among others, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York for the show onLine: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, November 2010 - February 2011.
Balasubramaniam's work has attracted a wide, international audience. He is currently the only Indian artist invited to participate in the 18th Sydney Biennale (27 June - 16 September, 2012). Nothing from my Hands, illustrated below is currently on view at the Sydney Biennale and installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney. He has also exhibited with The Phillips Collection, Washington DC (2011), National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2011), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2011), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010), Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi (2009), Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2008), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (2008), Essl Museum, Klosterneuberg (2008) and the first Singapore Biennale (2006).