 Lost Link, 2007 Iron, 16" x 18" x 16" A. Balasubramaniam Talwar Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by A. Balasubramaniam. Imbuing everyday objects with a transcendental vision, Bala's new works resonate with meaning and appeal. In "The shadow of a shadow of a shadow...", an unremarkable cardboard box takes us on a transformative journey, twisting and contorting, flower-like, with the light that falls on it. Bala captures the stages of light's absence, giving form to it while allowing it to cast another shadow. This shadow of a shadow is then cast and the process continues until ultimately only unrecognizable vestiges of the object remain. While the box's "life" ends with the light and the perpetuating shadows that feed its journey, other works speak of latent, unrealized potential. The gallery walls become malleable for some works and as their rigidity rendered pliable by the artist they become infused with life. The seemingly solid structure gently yields to artwork, pushing our senses of perception and being. In another work, numerous large "seeds" nestle together, containing within them "Secrets" that can only be revealed through the violent act of breaking open the seed. A visual and philosophical riddle, "Secrets" becomes a mirror to the human conscience, its vulnerabilities and contradictions where destruction and creation/revelation are simultaneous acts. Balasubramaniam's latest installations elaborate on the themes explored in his work "Dark Light and Container as Content". His earlier work questioned what we see - the subjectivity of our perception. This was followed by works that challenged us to believe in the unseen by situating the hidden in our consciousness. In the most recent body of works Bala has given physical mass to the ephemeral in casting the shadows of shadows. While creating form for the dark and the unseen he is revealing the experience of light and allowing the viewer a glimpse of what is hidden-in-sight. A. Balasubramaniam was born in 1971 in Tamil Nadu, India. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions in India, Spain, Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Singapore and the United States. Last year Bala's works were exhibited in "Belief", the Singapore Biennale. In 2005 his works were exhibited in "Transition and Transformation" (Fine Arts Museum, University of Massachusetts, Amherst), "Indian Summer" (Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris, France) and "Unfixed Being" (Van Every/ Smith Museum, Davidson, NC). In 2002, his solo exhibition "Traces" was held at the Fundacio Pilar I Joan Miro in Spain following his 2001 Kunstlerdorf Fellowship Award in Germany. In 1999 he was an artist in residence at MacDowel Colony in New Hampshire, United States. Bala was the recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Arts Fellowship Award in 1997 and in 2006 he was awarded the Sanskriti Award for Excellence in Visual Arts. A. Balasubramaniam lives and works in Bangalore, India. Exhibition: September 21 - November 17, 2007 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 11am - 6pm Talwar Gallery 108 East 16 Street USA-New York, NY 10003 Telephone +1 212 673 3096 Fax + 1 212 673 3097 Email mail@talwargallery.com www.talwargallery.com |
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