Art Musings will showcase the works of the legendary artist K G Subramanyan in an exhibition that opens at the gallery on 31 January 2018. The exhibition features over 30 works – including drawings, gouaches and reverse paintings on acrylic sheets – representing over five decades of his artistic production, from 1963 to 2014.
In the catalogue essay accompanying this exhibition, the poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote writes, “KG Subramanyan (1924-2016) was a seminal artist and pedagogue who left his formative imprint on postcolonial Indian art. His works transit seamlessly between object and illusion, people and their distorted mirror images, private occasions and public spaces. Vignettes from the boudoir are intercut with scenes from the marketplace. The lady at her toilette is never far away from the hawker peddling her wares. What we know of Subrahmanyan as a suave critic, a legendary teacher, and a man of sardonic, sometimes cutting humour, can sometimes divert us from the substance of his art – which delves playfully into the secret lives that we conceal behind the public masks we present to the world.”
As part of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, Art Musings will host a walk-through on Saturday, 3 February 2018, between the distinguished artist Sudhir Patwardhan and Ranjit Hoskote on the art and legacy of KG Subramanyan, his impact on several generations of Indian artists and his continuing relevance as a major thinker.