Blogs

Artist Residency in France, April 2010

Thu, 06 May 2010 13:06:00 -0400

On March 3rd, 2010, I received notification of invitation with an offer to complete a self-directed visual artist residency with a partial grant by Camac Centre D'Art at Marnay Art Centre, France ( http://www.camac.org ) and Ténot Fondation Bursary, France. I came to understand Camac was partnered with the UNESCO (http://portal.unesco.org)among others. I completed the month-long residency from March 31st - April 30, 2010, staying and working at Marnay sur Seine located 112 Km from Paris.

During my stay, I developed a new series of conceptual landscape paintings featuring the picturesque backdrop of the Seine River and the scenic surrounding landscape of wild flowers and trees and the flaura and fauna that forms the backyard of Camac Centre D'Art. This stay also allowed me to be involved in the contemporary art scene, which I completed with a visit to Claude Monet's garden at Giverny.

An extended visit to Giverny in the 1990s was a major inspiration that progressively led to my developing a body of work totaling over 90 paintings through which I have been portraying the ephemeral quality of gardens and seasonal cycles.

Works in the Bellagio

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:39:00 -0400

Images (Top): "Coruscation" (Bottom): " A Momentary Glance"

Permananent site-specific public art commission for MGM Mirage:

My paintings in the Bellagio are based on a couple of my early works " Coruscation" and "A Momentary Glance" that were spotted by MGM Mirage, who wanted me to create larger versions that borrow from some of the forms and intense colors used in the originals. I then based the Bellagio paintings with the surrounding colors and brilliance of the Bellagio Conservatory indoor botanical garden. I am glad the resulting works are not limited with titles as many responses have linked the flowers of the Bellagio with the intense colors and association to gardens associated with my pieces. My current work is inspired by garden blooms, and the dream-like quality of happiness that I consider ephemeral and fleeting, comparing the emotion to transitional flowers of spring and summer seasons, that are short-lived but cyclical. My prime inspirations have been landmarks such as the JClaude Monet's garden in Giverny and the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris. Flowers and gardens and the irresistible qualities of the seemingly random colors of nature and the outdoors are yet so divinely organized in that nothing is ever jarring to the eye. I have endeavoured to use this quality of nature to my evolving paintings of the last few years.

For the Bellagio paintings, I initially planned to use a lot of color but ended up limiting my color palette as work progressed from autumn 2003 to September 2004 while refurbishment of the indoor of the Cafe Bellagio progressed, with the need to be mindful of the background and surrounding color-schemes, periodic color swatches provided by MGM Mirage combined with my visiting the site to study the surrounding architecture prior to beginning work.

URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZpsVS6GQM&feature=related

All about finding a niche

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:30:00 -0400

"A Melodious Dream", 18" x 24". Mixed media on canvas, 2005

About finding a niche:

An Indian American contemporary visual artist who began creating representational art from early childhood, my foray into abstract art has been central to my pursuit and ongoing journey as a visual artist. From personal experience thus far, my efforts have succeeded in aiding my audiences in relating to my work and concept through the colorfulness, variety of textures, hints at figuration and presence of circles referring to the human life cycle which I portray in my paintings.

To achieve my visual outcome, I present my thoughts on a variety of surface materials that are an integral part of my body of work. Some examples are canvas, plexiglas, paper, anodized aluminum, wood panels or linen, on which primarily work with acrylics, often adding layers of oil paints, as well as different found materials that are not limited to oriental papers, gold leaf, sand or fibers that integrate together as mixed media. These materials are also my choice mediums with regard to courses and workshops that I have been teaching as Painting faculty at the Indianapolis Art Center, USA.

http://www.indplsartcenter.org/register/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=83