A. Balasubramaniam

"I like to be called a person who creates art, and not merely a painter, printmaker or a sculptor."

Balasubramaniam’s latest works are a play of shadows through which he questions the viewer’s belief in the unseen and the unknown – encouraging them to query their own consciousness. After stripping down a form to its bare minimum, Balasubramaniam allows it to grow again through a series of shadows – although seen, intangible to the sense of touch. Each form and its multiple shadows share their own camaraderie with the element of light. With some appearing darker and deeper than others, the notion of transcendental infinity is also established.

“Despite the strong visual affirmation involved in witnessing Bala’s works, we are nevertheless challenged to believe what we see. Our sense of perception, of reality, is questioned and at times evokes a contradictory realization” says Deepak Talwar of Talwar Gallery, Delhi and New York.

Born in Tamil Nadu in 1971, Balasubramaniam received his Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Government College of Arts, Chennai, in 1995. In 1998, he studied printmaking at EPW Edinburgh, UK, after which he pursued his love for the genre at the Universitat fur Angewandte Kunste in Wien, Austria. He has travelled extensively and exhibited in France, Spain, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Finland, Norway and USA. Amongst his solo shows are ‘(In)Visible’ at Talwar Gallery, New Delhi, in 2007; Talwar Gallery, New York, in 2007; ‘(Desi)re’ at Talwar Gallery, New York, in 2005; ‘Transition and Transformation’ at the Fine Arts Museum, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, also in 2005; and Talwar Gallery, New York, in 2004. His most recent group endeavors include ‘Freedom 2008 – Sixty Years after Indian Independence’ at the Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata, in 2008; ‘The Inverted Tree’ at Gallery Threshold, New Delhi, in 2005; ‘Indian Summer’ at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, also in 2005; and ‘Solitude’ at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, in 2003.

The artist lives and works in Bangalore.