Emami Art unveiled The Crowd and Its Avatars, a major exhibition of sculptures by celebrated Indian sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan, yesterday. Including about 75 artworks with many never-before-seen ones, the collection will be on view till February 12.
Radhakrishnan returns to Kolkata after 15 years with his most recent sculptures. Curated by R. Siva Kumar, the exhibition comprises the installation of 50 life-size bronze figures titled The Crowd and many free-standing bronze sculptures, including his famous The Ramp, which are deeply personal work.
The human figure is central to Radhakrishnan's sculptural imagination. Since 1996, there has been recurrent use of two male and female characters, Musui and Maiya, in his sculptures. The Crowd, with an equal number of male and female figures, repeats the faces of these two characters. Walking between the figures is an experience of meeting endless Musui and Maiya, which constitute the multitude, connecting the individual to the social, real to the imaginary. However, Musui and Maiya are not just two characters but two lenses through which the artist looks at the everyday, collective human world.
Born in the Kottayam district of Kerala in 1956, Radhakrishnan studied sculpture at Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, under the guidance of celebrated sculptor Ramkinkar Baij and Sarbari Roy Choudhury. Being a master modeller, he prefers to work with hand in clay, capturing the essential rhythm of the human forms.
A rhythmic vitality lies at the heart of Radhakrishnan's sculptural imagination. According to the curator, R. Siva Kumar, there are three broad categories in which we can divide his recent sculptures. First, the singular figures show the freedom of acrobatic movement of the body; second, the sculpture where singular and collective bodies meet; and the third is the interconnected web of small size human figures creating subtle rhythm. The exhibition showcases all three categories mentioned above.
“This exhibition revolves around the concept of the crowd, the polysemic idea of the multitude, which he captures in over 75 bronze sculptures. Inspired by everyday experiences, his sculptures oscillate between the real and imaginary worlds, gravity and the freedom of flight. Rhythmic vitality is at the centre of his sculptural imagination," says Ms Richa Agarwal, CEO, Emami Art.
On till February 12.