Bose Krishnamachari

Bose Krishnamachari was born in Kerala and studied at Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. Krishnamachari's oeuvre includes a manipulation of photographic elements as well as vibrant, colorful abstract spaces. While his canvases operate on a formal capacity, with their spectacular combination of color, texture and contrasting designs, they also have a strong intellectual basis. Influenced by the conceptual slant of much modern British art, a result of his tenure at Goldsmith College, London, Krishnamachari makes us rethink the connection between signifier and signified. He questions the validity of the image as a purveyor of fixed meaning. His abstract patterns embody a shifting network of signs, mischievously evading definition and counteracting the assumption of a singular truth. Bose lives and works in Mumbai.

link: http://www.saffronart.com/Artistdetails.asp?mon=11&year=2001&back=-1&strmon=November&sourceid1=238

1. Anupa Mehta responds to Bose Krishnamachari's new works

The French artist Christian Boltanski once remarked: "The task is to create a formal work that is at the same time recognized by the spectator as a sentimentally charged object. Everyone brings his own history to it." Possibly Bose Krishnamachari's current project as an artist too is to present the viewer with a trigger point of images/icons that can, (along with the formal construction of painting/installation), function as symbolic devices with which to speak of an entire culture, its shifting mindsets and, its eclectic borrowings. Born in Kerala in 1963, Bose recently completed his MFA from Goldsmiths College, University of London. His work, thus reinforced by a `here and now' understanding and awareness of contemporary culture, borrows effortlessly from various disciplines, including literature and design, and time periods. This current body of work spotlights figures (and by dint of association, cultures) as varied as those of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera, the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, and Rabindranath Tagore. Spirituality, epic style and (in Kahlo's case) a focus on the self as means to explore larger concerns, are some features that engage the viewer. However, it would be a mistake to read these works as "tributes" to the icons, as Bose uses the device (in this case, figures from art/history) more to draw attention to his own project. Interestingly, Bose pays as much attention to form as he does to conceptual and/or contextual concerns. Startling planes of flat color juxtaposed against skilful, almost photographic, representations of identifiable persona, imbue the work with an 'international' sensibility. Bose admits to combining western image-making techniques (such as the installation) with the vernacular, in a bid to arrive at an idiom that is entirely contemporary and brisk. In an earlier interview, he has said: "I refine my color to brightness. I have learnt this usage from the alternately subdued and lavish color codes of Indian ceremonies and ritual performances; the costumes, the gestures of enactment..." The current body however, brings with it a whiff of minimalism. There is little room for excess. But the minimalism is effective.



2.De Curating : Indian Contemporary Artists/Bose Krishnamachari. Mumbai, Spenta Multimedia, 2003, viii, 144 p., $66. photographs. "A good portrait tells us something about the person portrayed. Or, to rephrase the claim for people sceptical about this kind of knowledge, it makes us believe we know something about the person portrayed. By such a criterion, Bose Krishnamachari’s portraits of contemporary Indian artists are undoubtedly successful. But his project, titled ‘De-Curating’, is more than a collection of interesting likenesses of fellow-artists. It is the latest chapter in a persistent exploration of a number of themes: the idea of archiving or museumisation; the interconnection between design and art; the affirmation of the creative impulse in different fields; and the abiding appeal of virtuosity at a time when its value has come under serious question. "Before tracing the personal and art historical path which has led to ‘De-Curating’, it is worthwhile describing how these works have come to be. The story begins three years ago, when the first inklings of the project take shape in Bose’s mind. Later, he selects the artists to whom he will pay homage: the peers and seniors whose output he considers crucial to the current status of contemporary Indian art and to his personal art practice. He travels across India to meet these artists, and photographs them in the course of the meetings. Back in his studio, he picks out one image of each artist, an image which will form the basis of the portrait. He photocopies the image, and draws a grid upon this copy. A similar grid, drawn on a larger sheet of paper, assists him in getting the proportions right when pencilling in the features of the subject. The original colour photograph is always close at hand, the basis for delineating details of the subject’s appearance. The artist also ‘draws’ with the sharp edge of an eraser, to create the appearance of white hair where needed. The finished drawing is mounted on boxboard, which is embellished with silver and gold leaf. A patch of red has been silk-screened on the centre of the boxboard, and the legend, ‘Indian Contemporary Artist’, is printed near the top. Shards of red, left visible behind each portrait, set off the black-and-white drawing. More silver and gold leaf is stuck on after the drawing has been pasted onto the boxboard, which is then mounted on plywood. The name of the subject, in carved graphite lettering, is stuck on the image, and a rough-hewn graphite frame completes the process. "It is evident from this narrative that ‘De-Curating’ combines the conceptual, the manual, the mechanical and the artisanal. While these methods are sometimes seen as opposed in the factional world of art, Bose is ideally suited to bring about a reconciliation between opposites, having worked comfortably in a variety of media like painting, photography and sculptural assemblage, and having painted in an abstract as well as figurative mode. He is keen to stress the importance of the artist’s hand, but has had no compunctions about using assistants in the past. This lack of dogmatism or prejudice, which seems to be entirely a virtue on the face of it, is one reason why he appears to stand by himself, never a part of any definable group or camp."



3.

LaVA - [Laboratory of Visual Arts]
Bose Krishnamachari
Kashi Art Gallery - December 17 – January 15






LaVA, an installation by Bose Krishnamachari, is a contemporary-temporary laboratory for the people. This archival project, comprises a collection of records of contemporary visual art practices that have been culled from museums, institutions, galleries, shops and streets from major art capitals.

“I am trying to make available, within my limitations, what I really missed during my student years.”

“The Laboratory manifests my ambition to extend this project, as an ideal place for visual art practitioners and theorists, as a museum of total knowledge: a room within an institution, an art project within a museum.”

LaVA is an intervention that poses a challenge to existing institutions and their outmoded pedagogy. It reflects Bose’s interest in architecture, design, furniture, and provides more than just a functional space for the visual-reader, it also represents the dynamics of information-gathering.

The Library contains books, DVDs and CDs that cover a range of visual art practices like cinema, architecture, design, fashion, cultural studies and philosophy. This growing work-in-progress could occur at the three-point interfaces posed by the installation itself, the audience’s behavioural reactions to it at various levels, and the presence of the artist’s intent.

http://moaseptember.nucleation.net/lead20.html 2007-01-1