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Alwar Balasubramaniam

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Alwar Balasubramaniam
Born1971 (age 52–53)
Tamil Nadu, India
NationalityIndian

Alwar Balasubramaniam (born 1971), known as Bala, is an Indian artist known for his sculptures, paintings and printmaking.

Early life and Education

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Bala was born in Tamil Nadu, India. He obtained a BFA from the Government College of Arts, Chennai in 1995, initially specializing in printmaking. Following his graduation, he furthered his studies at the Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop (EPW) and the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Vienna, focusing on prints and paintings. Subsequently, his artistic direction evolved during his residency at the MacDowell Colony in Massachusetts, where he transitioned towards sculpture and installation work in the early 2000s.[citation needed]

Career

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In 2002, Bala's inaugural solo exhibition in the United States was hosted at the Talwar Gallery in New York City. The exhibition showcased sculptures crafted from casts of his own body, monoprints, and a heat-sensitive artwork that unveiled itself only under specific temperatures. Bala's artistic exploration commences with an interrogation of perception, culminating in a redefined comprehension of preconceived notions. Infusing his works with a firm conceptual foundation, he exhibits a playful approach to execution. Over the course of his career, Bala has exhibited his creations at both the Talwar Gallery in New York and New Delhi.[citation needed]

Bala's noteworthy exhibitions include Sk(in)[1] at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.[2] For this showcase, Bala conceived a large-scale steel sculpture installed outdoors. Comprising intricately welded steel components, the sculpture evokes imagery reminiscent of a tree trunk or the human heart. Its interior elements, titled Wound, Hidden Sight, and Untitled, interact with the surrounding walls in three distinct sections. The artworks within the exhibition collectively explore the concept of skin's reversibility, its presence as an exterior covering juxtaposed with its allusion to internal depth. Additionally, Bala has participated in significant group exhibitions such as the 50th Anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Contemplating the Void in 2010,[3] and On Line at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 2010–2011.[4]

Bala’s works have been exhibited in museums, art festivals, and galleries worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), New York, NY;[5] The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY;[6] The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC;[7] Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY;[8] Mori Art Museum, Japan;[9] Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi, India;[10] Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington;[11] Essl Museum, Austria;[12] 1st Singapore Biennale;[13] École des Beaux Arts, Paris, France;[14] National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia;[15] and the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia.[16] Bala has been a guest lecturer at the Art Department of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and a featured speaker at TED.[17]

Work

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Hold Nothing (2012) at The Phillips Collection in 2022
Body as Shell (2011-2015) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022

Bala's art typically doesn't reference current social or geographic settings. Critics say this contributes to his slower global recognition, especially compared to artists who highlight their cultural identity more prominently.[18] Bala's artistic focus centers on the human body and it's interaction with the material environment, particularly emphasizing intangible elements such as light, air and shadow, which shape the perception of physical sensations.[19] Bala's artwork explores existential inquiries concerning self and the complexities of our reality. His pieces delve into questions about the subjective nature of perception, the ambiguity surrounding beliefs in the unseen, and the relationship between our bodies and our environment. Through his art, Bala offers insights into these inquiries, challenging viewers' perceptions and introducing alternative perspectives. Additionally, many of Bala's compositions engage with the concept of Energy, the vital yet imperceptible force underpinning life. While his earlier works symbolically depicted energy, his later pieces suggest its presence indirectly, leaving its effects as the sole indication. Installations like Energy Field (2009) or Link (2009) physically manifest various forms of energy while obscuring their origins, highlighting the complex interplay of unseen forces within the physical realm.[citation needed]

Often using his own body as a basis for his sculptures, Bala engages in a profound, but not humourless, investigation into the metaphysics of selfhood.[20]


References

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  1. ^ "Alwar Balasubramaniam – Exhibitions – Talwar Gallery". talwargallery. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  2. ^ "A. Balasubramaniam". phillipscollection. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum". Guggenheim. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  4. ^ "On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Body as Shell". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  6. ^ "ON LINE: DRAWING THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY". Talwar Gallery. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  7. ^ "INTERSECTIONS: A. BALASUBRAMANIAM". The Phillips Collection. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum". Guggenheim Museum. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  9. ^ "MORI ART MUSEUM [Chalo! India]". Mori Art Museum. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  10. ^ "narrating from the museum archives and collection: TEN YEARS OF KNMA". Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  11. ^ "CITY DWELLERS: CONTEMPORARY ART FROM INDIA". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Home". sammlung-essl. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Singapore Biennale (Singapore)". Biennial Foundation. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  14. ^ "École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts". beauxartsparis France. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Alwar Balasubramaniam: by Zehra Jumabhoy". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Biennale of Sydney". Biennale of Sydney. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  17. ^ "TED INDIA: Alwar Balasubramaniam: Art of Substance and Absence". Talwar Gallery. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  18. ^ Zehra Jumabhoy, "A. Balasubramaniam," Artforum, December 2009.
  19. ^ Brienne Walsh, "Alwar Balasubramaniam," Modern Painters, November 2012.
  20. ^ Ella Datta, "The Inner of the Outer," Art India, 2009.
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