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'''Avinash Veeraraghavan''' is a contemporary [[Indians (artist)|Indian artist]] who draws on his interest in the [[visual language]] of popular culture and [[digital imaging]] to create [[Graphics|graphic books]], layered prints, and multichannel [[video installation]]s. His interest in visuals extends to images of all kinds, from [[photograph]]s, patterns in [[Printing|print]] and [[textile]]s, [[wallpaper pattern]]s, [[wrapping paper]] to motifs taken from different cultures. Veeraraghavan has been involved with the practice of image construction through digital images that are layered and juxtaposed to open up new meaning.
'''Avinash Veeraraghavan''' is an [[Indian painting|Indian artist]] who creates [[Graphics|graphic books]], layered prints, and multichannel [[video installation]]s based on popular culture.


In 2011, his work was part of a two-person show titled Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman at Galerie Krinzinger in [[Vienna]]. His work has been selected to be shown at the [[Prague Biennale]] in 2011 in a section titled, Crossroads: India Escalate.
Veeraraghavan uses images from [[photograph]]s, patterns in [[Printing|print]] and [[textile]]s, [[wallpaper pattern]]s, [[wrapping paper]]. He has created images artwork using [[Digital image|digital images]] that are layered and juxtaposed.


Previously, Veeraraghavan has participated in many Indian and international shows including Indian Highway, [[Herning Museum of Contemporary Art]], [[Denmark]] (2010) and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2009); Still Moving Image, curated by Deeksha Nath, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyasri Gallery, Mumbai, both in 2008. I Fear, I Believe, I Desire, curated by [[Gayatri Sinha]] at Gallery Espace, New Delhi (2007); Urban Manners, curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, Art for the World at Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2007); Watching Me, Watching India, curated by Gayatri Sinha and Celina Lunsford, Fotografie Forum international & Kommunale Galerie, Frankfurt (2006); Around Architecture, curated by Marta Jakimowicz, Colab, Bangalore (2006); Indian Summer, curated by Henri Claude Cousseau, Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris (2005); Dispelling Asian Stereotypes, Public Art Project, Denmark (2004); City Park, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2003).
In 2011, Veeraraghavan's work was part of a two-person show titled ''Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman'' at Galerie Krinzinger in [[Vienna]]. His work was shown at the [[Prague Biennale]] in 2011 in a section titled, Crossroads: India Escalate.


In 2009, Veeraraghavan received the Illy Sustain Art prize at Arco, Madrid.<ref name="mybangalore">Mathews, Adithi, Toy Story: Avinash Veeraraghavan http://www.mybangalore.com/article/toy-story-avinash-veeraraghavan.html/</ref>
In 2009, Veeraraghavan received the Illy Sustain Art prize at Arco, [[Madrid]].<ref name="mybangalore">Mathews, Adithi, Toy Story: Avinash Veeraraghavan http://www.mybangalore.com/article/toy-story-avinash-veeraraghavan.html/</ref>


==Early life==
==Early life==
Born in 1975 in [[Chennai]],<ref name="artfortheworld">http://www.artfortheworld.net/wwd/2007/urban_manners/Artists_biographies.pdf</ref> Tamil Nadu, Avinash Veeraraghavan did a post-school programme at the Centre for Learning<ref name="mybangalore" /> in [[Bangalore]] under the guidance of Andrea Anastasio in 1995 and worked for short periods at Studio Sowden and Studio Fronzoni in [[Milan]].<ref name="artfortheworld" /> He also studied book design at Tara Publishing under the guidance of Rathna Ramanathan in 2000.
Born in 1975 in [[Chennai]],<ref name="artfortheworld">http://www.artfortheworld.net/wwd/2007/urban_manners/Artists_biographies.pdf</ref> Tamil Nadu, Veeraraghavan did a post-school programme at the Centre for Learning<ref name="mybangalore" /> in [[Bangalore]] under the guidance of Andrea Anastasio in 1995. 
 
Veeraraghavan worked for Studio Sowden and Studio Fronzoni in [[Milan]].<ref name="artfortheworld" /> He also studied book design at Tara Publishing under the guidance of Rathna Ramanathan in 2000.


== Work ==
== Work ==
In 2002, Veeraraghavan authored "I Love My India. Stories for a City" which was published by Tara Publishing, Chennai and Dewi Lewi Publishing, London in 2004.


'''I Love My India''' is a visual journey through Indian cities from a rare non-western point of view.<ref>Dewi Lewis Publishing http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILMI.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928220752/http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILMI.html |date=28 September 2011 }}</ref> (It) celebrates billboards, street-life, kitsch and popular culture.<ref>Ravindran, Shruti, The Self, Out There http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235001</ref> Unusually printed on uncoated stock paper, it is a bright pastiche of images born of everyday urban aesthetics.<ref>De, Aditi, A City in the Mind, http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2005/04/08/stories/2005040800130300.htm</ref> The material comes from various city streets with their mundane architecture, construction sites, traffic and images from popular culture —from cinematic posters to sentimental literary images, to those relating to archaic myths and to utilitarian signboards.<ref>Jakimowicz, Marta, Collage Comes Alive http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/jan172005/ar1.asp {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004205430/http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/jan172005/ar1.asp |date=4 October 2012 }}</ref> The book moves through the spaces and signs of the city — both imaginative and physical — commenting on the complex and often surreal forms of human arrangements.<ref>Asian Photography Blog http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2011}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Using digital as well as manual cut-and-paste techniques, he 'collected pictures from all over and reconstructed an imaginary, generic city'.<ref>http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2011}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Divided into three sections – Billboard City, Weak Architecture and Remote City, the book juxtaposes images without any evident hierarchy. In 2007, the artist made a video using select spreads from the book for an exhibition, Urban Manners at Hangar Bicocca in Milan.
=== ''I Love My India'' ===
In 2002, Veeraraghavan authored ''I Love My India. Stories for a City,''  published by Tara Publishing, Chennai and ''Dewi Lewi Publishing'', London in 2004.


'''2003–2005'''
Using digital as well as manual cut-and-paste techniques, Veeraraghavan 'collected pictures from all over and reconstructed an imaginary, generic city'.<ref>http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2011}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The book is divided into three sections – Billboard City, Weak Architecture and Remote City, the book juxtaposes images without any evident hierarchy.  ''I Love My India'' was printed on uncoated stock paper, with one commentator describing it as a bright [[pastiche]] of images born of everyday urban [[aesthetics]].<ref>De, Aditi, A City in the Mind, http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2005/04/08/stories/2005040800130300.htm</ref>


The year 2003 saw Veeraraghavan use interesting photographic techniques to produce a large format print on semi-gloss coated paper, titled Osmosis.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta">Jakimowicz, Marta, The Chaos Chronicles, Art India Vol XII, Issue I</ref> Manipulating the tonalities of black-and-white inkjet printing and through the interplay of details, he produced a sensuous jigsaw puzzle – densely entangled figures of copulating nudes came together to conjure up a 'paradise' of winged butterflies.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" />
''I Love My India'' has been described as a visual journey through Indian cities from a rare non-western point of view.<ref>Dewi Lewis Publishing http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILMI.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928220752/http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILMI.html |date=28 September 2011 }}</ref> (It) celebrates [[Billboard|billboards]], street-life, [[kitsch]] and popular culture.<ref>Ravindran, Shruti, The Self, Out There http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235001</ref>  


Another solo in 2004 took Veeraraghvan's scrutiny of the strangeness of perception further.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> This untitled exhibition questioned the limits of sight playing optical tricks on the viewers.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> The show was made to resemble a fair or playground.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> White cotton curtains created a labyrinth, while wires studded with coloured light bulbs dangled from the ceilings.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> The last installation was called How Many Shadows Have You?, and comprised tremulous, multi-hued shadows of viewers on gallery walls.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> A series of seven photographic prints made from unexposed negatives also reflected passersby in their colourful depths.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" />
The material comes from city streets, construction sites, [[traffic]], and film posters.  It also references literary images,  [[Myth|myths]] and [[signboards]].<ref>Jakimowicz, Marta, Collage Comes Alive http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/jan172005/ar1.asp {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004205430/http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/jan172005/ar1.asp |date=4 October 2012 }}</ref> According to one commentator, the book moves through the spaces and signs of the city — both imaginative and physical — commenting on the complex and often surreal forms of human arrangements.<ref>Asian Photography Blog http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2011}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  


'''Homesick, 2006'''
In 2007, Veeraraghavan  made a video using select spreads from the book for an exhibition, Urban Manners at Hangar Bicocca in [[Milan]].


In 2006, Veeraraghavan's solo ''Homesick'' was exhibited at GALLERYSKE, Bangalore. Working with digital prints, designs and video installations in his show, Avinash Veeraraghavan relied on the camera image to draw into focus the connection between direct viewing and the construction of reality.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta_a">Jakimowicz, Marta, Between the Static and the Dynamic, Art India Vol XI, Issue III</ref>
=== 2003–2005 ===
In 2003, Veeraraghavan produced a large format print on [[Semi-Gloss|semi-gloss]] coated paper, titled "Osmosis".<ref name="JakimowiczMarta">Jakimowicz, Marta, The Chaos Chronicles, Art India Vol XII, Issue I</ref> Manipulating the tonalities of black-and-white [[inkjet printing]] and through the interplay of details, he produced a jigsaw puzzle.  One commentator described it as densely entangled figures of [[copulating]] nudes brought together to conjure up a 'paradise' of winged [[Butterfly|butterflies]].<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" />


Through his works, Veeraraghavan has relentlessly questioned objectivity in photography and has shown how the artist plays the role of a person who stimulates the subjective self-awareness of the spectator.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta_a" /> In a two-channel video with sound, titled Home Sweet Home, a close-up of a watchful eye looking through a peep-hole is projected across a video of a layered waterfall.
In 2004, Veeraraghvan created an untitled exhibition that played [[Optics|optical]] tricks on the viewers.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> The show was made to resemble a fair or [[playground]].<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> White cotton curtains created a [[labyrinth]], while wires studded with coloured light bulbs dangled from the ceilings.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> The last installation was called "How Many Shadows Have You?", described as tremulous, multi-hued shadows of viewers on gallery walls.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" /> A series of seven photographic prints made from unexposed negatives also reflected passersbys<ref name="JakimowiczMarta" />


Homesick was also part of a two-person show at Project 88 in Mumbai. In addition to his homesick work, there were also four prints on display, all titled ''Sorry, Wrong Number''. In the four images on view the artist's torso appears to twist, bend or expand in the frame even as it is hemmed in by a multiplicity of images of apparently inconsequential detail.<ref name="SinhaGayatri">Sinha Gayatri, curator's note for I Fear, I Believe, I Desire</ref> This is a close up of multiple perspectives of the everyday—the view of the unmade bed, table top, pile of clothes all accruing to a generic disorder.<ref name="SinhaGayatri" />
=== ''Homesick'' ===
In 2006, Veeraraghavan unveiled the solo exhibition ''Homesick'' at GallerySKE in [[Bangalore]]. Working with digital prints, designs and video installations in his show, Veeraraghavan, according to one [[Review|reviewer]], relied on the camera image to draw into focus the connection between direct viewing and the construction of reality.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta_a">Jakimowicz, Marta, Between the Static and the Dynamic, Art India Vol XI, Issue III</ref>


'''Gate Crash, 2008'''
According to one commentator, Veeraraghavan has relentlessly questioned [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objectivity]] in photography and has shown how the artist plays the role of a person who stimulates the subjective [[self-awareness]] of the spectator.<ref name="JakimowiczMarta_a" /> In a two-channel video with sound, titled Home Sweet Home, Veeraraghavan created close-up of a watchful eye looking through a [[Peephole|peep-hole]] projected across a video of a layered [[waterfall]].


In 2008, Veeraraghavan's work ''Gate Crash'' was first shown at Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna. In Gate Crash, Avinash Veeraraghavan has created heavily collaged images that conjure up different realities in their layers.<ref name="preview-art">Johnson, Mia http://www.preview-art.com/previews/04-2009/contemporaryindia.html {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20130131173536/http://www.preview-art.com/previews/04-2009/contemporaryindia.html |date=31 January 2013 }}</ref> The prints consist of two layers each, the first with images of the artist's old clothes and toys, and double exposed on top are appropriated images of dollhouses. The dollhouses and toys reference an aspect of childhood that is at times childlike and at others childish. They also highlight a desire to live and function in a make believe world, one that imitates and duplicates the world outside but is in reality a private one. An opaque layer of clothes and toys on the surface prevents any further insight, annulling the illusion of depth carried by the photographs of the dollhouses. They are described as “psychic shimmers devoid of narrative, but derived from the images of the flotsam and jetsam of everyday lives.”<ref name="preview-art" /> A video piece entitled Hurricane provides background laughter in combination with snippets of Bach.<ref name="preview-art" />
''Homesick'' was also part of a two-person show at Project 88 in [[Mumbai]]. In addition to his homesick work, Veeraraghavan exhibite four prints ''Sorry, Wrong Number''. In the four images on view the artist's [[torso]] appears to twist, bend or expand in the frame even as it is hemmed in by a multiplicity of images of apparently inconsequential detail.<ref name="SinhaGayatri">Sinha Gayatri, curator's note for I Fear, I Believe, I Desire</ref> It was described as a close up of multiple [[perspectivity|perspectives]] of the everyday—the view of the unmade bed, table top, pile of clothes all accruing to a generic disorder.<ref name="SinhaGayatri" />


'''Toy Story, 2009'''
=== ''Gate Crash'' ===
In 2008, Veeraraghavan exhibited his work ''Gate Crash'' at Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna.


Toy Story, Veeraraghavan's most recent solo at GALLERYSKE, comprised prints, a video, objects and a little book<ref>Interview with Jaideep Sen, Time Out Bengaluru</ref> and had critic and curator, Marta Jakimowicz write,
In Gate Crash, Veeraraghavan created heavily collaged images.<ref name="preview-art">Johnson, Mia http://www.preview-art.com/previews/04-2009/contemporaryindia.html {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20130131173536/http://www.preview-art.com/previews/04-2009/contemporaryindia.html |date=31 January 2013 }}</ref> The prints consist of two layers each:


“Avinash Veeraraghavan’s new exhibition at Galleryske again brings a fascinating layering of images and sensations that ambiguously oscillate between reality and fantasy, childhood atmosphere and adult perception, between literal roughness and poetry, innocent beauty and morbidity, its many elements permeating and reflecting one another with some clash or merely gap and some complementary qualities.”<ref>Jakimowicz, Marta, ''Deccan Herald'', http://www.deccanherald.com/content/18813/art-talk.html</ref>
The first layer is images of the artist's old clothes and toys, and [[Multiple exposure|double exposed]] on top are appropriated images of [[Dollhouse|dollhouses]].  According to one analysis, the dollhouses and toys reference an aspect of childhood that is at times [[childlike]] and at others childish. They also highlight a desire to live and function in a [[Make believe|make believe world]], one that imitates and duplicates the world outside but is in reality a private one.  


The show used cheap, plastic toys of the kind that are found on the pavements of India as a central reference. In addition to the ten photographic prints of staged sites of destruction using plastic toys that have been set up, there were also two object pieces – the first a set of five tiny plastic toy suitcases containing different traces of the artist's body – fingernails, hair, coffee, anti-depressants and cigarette butts. And the other an unmade bed, with a pile of tiny cheap toys spilled over. There was also a primarily graphic collection of collages in a book titled, amfastasleep.
A second opaque layer of clothes and toys on the surface, according to the analysis, prevents any further [[insight]], annulling the illusion of depth carried by the photographs of the dollhouses. They are described as “psychic shimmers devoid of narrative, but derived from the images of the [[Flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict|flotsam]] and jetsam of everyday lives.”<ref name="preview-art" />


'''2010–2011'''
A [[Video|video piece]] entitled ''Hurricane'' provides background laughter in combination with snippets of music by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].<ref name="preview-art" />


For his 2011 show titled ''Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman'' at Gallerie Krinzinger in Vienna, Avinash used media like wood inlay and embroidery with beads as well as digital prints and a video installation to continue his explorations of a journey of the mind where dreams and reality overlap and sometimes converge.
=== ''Toy Story'' ===
In 2009, Veeraraghavan presented his solo exhibition ''Toy Story'' at GALLERYSKE, comprising prints, a video, objects and a little book<ref>Interview with Jaideep Sen, Time Out Bengaluru</ref> cArt critic and curator, Marta Jakimowicz wrote,<blockquote>“Avinash Veeraraghavan's new exhibition at Galleryske again brings a fascinating layering of images and sensations that ambiguously oscillate between reality and fantasy, childhood atmosphere and adult perception, between literal roughness and poetry, innocent beauty and morbidity, its many elements permeating and reflecting one another with some clash or merely gap and some complementary qualities.”<ref>Jakimowicz, Marta, ''Deccan Herald'', http://www.deccanherald.com/content/18813/art-talk.html</ref></blockquote>Veeraraghavan used cheap, plastic toys that are commonly found on the streets of India as a central reference. In addition to the ten photographic prints of staged sites of destruction using plastic toys that have been set up, there were also two object pieces
 
* a set of five tiny plastic toy [[Suitcase|suitcases]] containing different traces of the artist's body – fingernails, hair, coffee, [[Antidepressant|anti-depressant pillls]] and cigarette butts
* an unmade bed, with a pile of tiny cheap toys spilled over
 
Veeraraghavan also created a primarily graphic collection of collages in a book titled, ''amfastasleep''.
 
=== ''Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman'' ===
In 2011 Veeraraghavan created the show ''Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman'' at Gallerie Krinzinger.  He used media like [[Wood Inlay|wood inlay]] and [[embroidery]] with beads as well as digital prints and a [[video installation]].


== Awards ==
== Awards ==
In 2009 Veeraraghavan was the recipient of the Illy Sustain Art prize presented by [[Illy]]caffe (in collaboration with ARCO Madrid) for his work The Deafening.
In 2009 Veeraraghavan received the Illy Sustain Art prize presented by [[Illy]]caffe (in collaboration with ARCO Madrid) for his work ''The Deafening.''


== Selected Exhibitions ==
== Selected Exhibitions ==
'''2011'''
'''2011'''


Crazy Jane and Jack the Journey Man, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
* Crazy Jane and Jack the Journey Man, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna


'''2010'''
'''2010'''


Indian Highway, Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark
* Indian Highway, [[Herning Museum of Contemporary Art]], Denmark
 
* Urban Manners 2, curated by [[Adelina von Fürstenberg|Adelina Von Furstenberg,]] Art for The World at [[SESC-Pompeia (São Paulo Metro)|SESC Pompeia]], São Paulo, Brazil
Urban Manners 2, curated by Adelina Von Furstenberg, Art for The World at SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil
* GALLERYSKE for Gallery BMB, BMB Gallery, Mumbai
 
GALLERYSKE for Gallery BMB, BMB Gallery, Mumbai


'''2009'''
'''2009'''


Toy Story, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
* Toy Story, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
 
* Group show, Lawrence Eng Gallery, [[Vancouver]]
Group show, Lawrence Eng Gallery, Vancouver
* Indian Highway, [[Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art]], Oslo
 
* For Life: The Language of Communication, Tilton Gallery, New York
Indian Highway, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
 
For Life: The Language of Communication, Tilton Gallery, New York


'''2008'''
'''2008'''


Gate-Crash, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna (solo)
* Gate-Crash, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna (solo)
 
* Still Moving Image, Curated by Deeksha Nath, Devi Art Foundation, [[New Delhi]] (<nowiki/>cat)
Still Moving Image, Curated by Deeksha Nath, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi(cat)
* CURRENT, curated by Nivedita Magar at GALLERYSKE, Bangalore
 
* Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyasri Gallery, Mumbai
CURRENT, curated by Nivedita Magar, featuring works by Avinash Veeraraghavan, Sakshi Gupta, Minam A, and [[Sreshta Premnath]] at GALLERYSKE, Bangalore
 
Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyasri Gallery, Bombay


'''2007'''
'''2007'''


I Fear I Believe I Desire, curated by Gayatri Sinha, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
* I Fear I Believe I Desire, curated by Gayatri Sinha, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
 
* Urban Manners, curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, Art for the World at Hangar Bicocca, Milan
Urban Manners, curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, Art for the World at Hangar Bicocca, Milan


'''2006'''
'''2006'''


Project 88, Mumbai
* Project 88, Mumbai
 
* Homesick, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
Homesick, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
* Around Architecture, Curated by Marta Jakimowich, Colab, Bangalore
 
* Watching me, Watching India, curated by Gayatri Sinha and Celina Lunsford, Fotografie Forum International and Kommunale Galerie, [[Frankfurt]]
Around Architecture, Curated by Marta Jakimowich, Colab, Bangalore
* with Love, curated by GALLERYSKE and Tilton Gallery, at [[Miami Design District]]
 
Watching me, Watching India, curated by Gayatri Sinha and Celina Lunsford, Fotografie Forum International and Kommunale Galerie, Frankfurt
 
with Love, curated by GALLERYSKE and Tilton Gallery, at Miami Design District


'''2005'''
'''2005'''


Indian Summer, Curated by Henri Claude Cousseau, Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga [Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris]
* Indian Summer, Curated by Henri Claude Cousseau, Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga [<nowiki/>[[École des Beaux-Arts|Ecole de Beaux Arts,]] Paris]


'''2004'''
'''2004'''


Recent Work, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
* Recent Work, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
 
* Dispelling Asian Stereotypes, Public art project, Denmark
Dispelling Asian Stereotypes, Public art project, Denmark


'''2003'''
'''2003'''


Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)
* Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)
 
* CITY PARK, Curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, [[Project Arts Centre]], Dublin
CITY PARK, Curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, Project Arts Centre, Dublin


'''2001'''
'''2001'''


Portraits, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)
* Portraits, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 05:00, 24 August 2021



Avinash Veeraraghavan is an Indian artist who creates graphic books, layered prints, and multichannel video installations based on popular culture.

Veeraraghavan uses images from photographs, patterns in print and textiles, wallpaper patterns, wrapping paper. He has created images artwork using digital images that are layered and juxtaposed.

In 2011, Veeraraghavan's work was part of a two-person show titled Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna. His work was shown at the Prague Biennale in 2011 in a section titled, Crossroads: India Escalate.

In 2009, Veeraraghavan received the Illy Sustain Art prize at Arco, Madrid.[1]

Early life

Born in 1975 in Chennai,[2] Tamil Nadu, Veeraraghavan did a post-school programme at the Centre for Learning[1] in Bangalore under the guidance of Andrea Anastasio in 1995.

Veeraraghavan worked for Studio Sowden and Studio Fronzoni in Milan.[2] He also studied book design at Tara Publishing under the guidance of Rathna Ramanathan in 2000.

Work

I Love My India

In 2002, Veeraraghavan authored I Love My India. Stories for a City, published by Tara Publishing, Chennai and Dewi Lewi Publishing, London in 2004.

Using digital as well as manual cut-and-paste techniques, Veeraraghavan 'collected pictures from all over and reconstructed an imaginary, generic city'.[3] The book is divided into three sections – Billboard City, Weak Architecture and Remote City, the book juxtaposes images without any evident hierarchy. I Love My India was printed on uncoated stock paper, with one commentator describing it as a bright pastiche of images born of everyday urban aesthetics.[4]

I Love My India has been described as a visual journey through Indian cities from a rare non-western point of view.[5] (It) celebrates billboards, street-life, kitsch and popular culture.[6]

The material comes from city streets, construction sites, traffic, and film posters. It also references literary images, myths and signboards.[7] According to one commentator, the book moves through the spaces and signs of the city — both imaginative and physical — commenting on the complex and often surreal forms of human arrangements.[8]

In 2007, Veeraraghavan made a video using select spreads from the book for an exhibition, Urban Manners at Hangar Bicocca in Milan.

2003–2005

In 2003, Veeraraghavan produced a large format print on semi-gloss coated paper, titled "Osmosis".[9] Manipulating the tonalities of black-and-white inkjet printing and through the interplay of details, he produced a jigsaw puzzle. One commentator described it as densely entangled figures of copulating nudes brought together to conjure up a 'paradise' of winged butterflies.[9]

In 2004, Veeraraghvan created an untitled exhibition that played optical tricks on the viewers.[9] The show was made to resemble a fair or playground.[9] White cotton curtains created a labyrinth, while wires studded with coloured light bulbs dangled from the ceilings.[9] The last installation was called "How Many Shadows Have You?", described as tremulous, multi-hued shadows of viewers on gallery walls.[9] A series of seven photographic prints made from unexposed negatives also reflected passersbys[9]

Homesick

In 2006, Veeraraghavan unveiled the solo exhibition Homesick at GallerySKE in Bangalore. Working with digital prints, designs and video installations in his show, Veeraraghavan, according to one reviewer, relied on the camera image to draw into focus the connection between direct viewing and the construction of reality.[10]

According to one commentator, Veeraraghavan has relentlessly questioned objectivity in photography and has shown how the artist plays the role of a person who stimulates the subjective self-awareness of the spectator.[10] In a two-channel video with sound, titled Home Sweet Home, Veeraraghavan created close-up of a watchful eye looking through a peep-hole projected across a video of a layered waterfall.

Homesick was also part of a two-person show at Project 88 in Mumbai. In addition to his homesick work, Veeraraghavan exhibite four prints Sorry, Wrong Number. In the four images on view the artist's torso appears to twist, bend or expand in the frame even as it is hemmed in by a multiplicity of images of apparently inconsequential detail.[11] It was described as a close up of multiple perspectives of the everyday—the view of the unmade bed, table top, pile of clothes all accruing to a generic disorder.[11]

Gate Crash

In 2008, Veeraraghavan exhibited his work Gate Crash at Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna.

In Gate Crash, Veeraraghavan created heavily collaged images.[12] The prints consist of two layers each:

The first layer is images of the artist's old clothes and toys, and double exposed on top are appropriated images of dollhouses. According to one analysis, the dollhouses and toys reference an aspect of childhood that is at times childlike and at others childish. They also highlight a desire to live and function in a make believe world, one that imitates and duplicates the world outside but is in reality a private one.

A second opaque layer of clothes and toys on the surface, according to the analysis, prevents any further insight, annulling the illusion of depth carried by the photographs of the dollhouses. They are described as “psychic shimmers devoid of narrative, but derived from the images of the flotsam and jetsam of everyday lives.”[12]

A video piece entitled Hurricane provides background laughter in combination with snippets of music by Johann Sebastian Bach.[12]

Toy Story

In 2009, Veeraraghavan presented his solo exhibition Toy Story at GALLERYSKE, comprising prints, a video, objects and a little book[13] cArt critic and curator, Marta Jakimowicz wrote,

“Avinash Veeraraghavan's new exhibition at Galleryske again brings a fascinating layering of images and sensations that ambiguously oscillate between reality and fantasy, childhood atmosphere and adult perception, between literal roughness and poetry, innocent beauty and morbidity, its many elements permeating and reflecting one another with some clash or merely gap and some complementary qualities.”[14]

Veeraraghavan used cheap, plastic toys that are commonly found on the streets of India as a central reference. In addition to the ten photographic prints of staged sites of destruction using plastic toys that have been set up, there were also two object pieces

  • a set of five tiny plastic toy suitcases containing different traces of the artist's body – fingernails, hair, coffee, anti-depressant pillls and cigarette butts
  • an unmade bed, with a pile of tiny cheap toys spilled over

Veeraraghavan also created a primarily graphic collection of collages in a book titled, amfastasleep.

Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman

In 2011 Veeraraghavan created the show Crazy Jane and Jack the Journeyman at Gallerie Krinzinger. He used media like wood inlay and embroidery with beads as well as digital prints and a video installation.

Awards

In 2009 Veeraraghavan received the Illy Sustain Art prize presented by Illycaffe (in collaboration with ARCO Madrid) for his work The Deafening.

Selected Exhibitions

2011

  • Crazy Jane and Jack the Journey Man, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna

2010

2009

2008

  • Gate-Crash, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna (solo)
  • Still Moving Image, Curated by Deeksha Nath, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi (cat)
  • CURRENT, curated by Nivedita Magar at GALLERYSKE, Bangalore
  • Post Visual World, curated by Gitanjali Dang, Priyasri Gallery, Mumbai

2007

  • I Fear I Believe I Desire, curated by Gayatri Sinha, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
  • Urban Manners, curated by Adelina von Furstenberg, Art for the World at Hangar Bicocca, Milan

2006

  • Project 88, Mumbai
  • Homesick, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
  • Around Architecture, Curated by Marta Jakimowich, Colab, Bangalore
  • Watching me, Watching India, curated by Gayatri Sinha and Celina Lunsford, Fotografie Forum International and Kommunale Galerie, Frankfurt
  • with Love, curated by GALLERYSKE and Tilton Gallery, at Miami Design District

2005

  • Indian Summer, Curated by Henri Claude Cousseau, Deepak Ananth and Jany Lauga [Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris]

2004

  • Recent Work, GALLERYSKE, Bangalore (solo)
  • Dispelling Asian Stereotypes, Public art project, Denmark

2003

  • Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)
  • CITY PARK, Curated by Suman Gopinath and Grant Watson, Project Arts Centre, Dublin

2001

  • Portraits, Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (solo)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mathews, Adithi, Toy Story: Avinash Veeraraghavan http://www.mybangalore.com/article/toy-story-avinash-veeraraghavan.html/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.artfortheworld.net/wwd/2007/urban_manners/Artists_biographies.pdf
  3. ↑ http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/[unreliable source?][permanent dead link]
  4. ↑ De, Aditi, A City in the Mind, http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/life/2005/04/08/stories/2005040800130300.htm
  5. ↑ Dewi Lewis Publishing http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/ILMI.html Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Ravindran, Shruti, The Self, Out There http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?235001
  7. ↑ Jakimowicz, Marta, Collage Comes Alive http://archive.deccanherald.com/Deccanherald/jan172005/ar1.asp Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Asian Photography Blog http://chngyaohong.com/blog/contemporary/avinash-veeraraghavan/[unreliable source?][permanent dead link]
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Jakimowicz, Marta, The Chaos Chronicles, Art India Vol XII, Issue I
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jakimowicz, Marta, Between the Static and the Dynamic, Art India Vol XI, Issue III
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sinha Gayatri, curator's note for I Fear, I Believe, I Desire
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Johnson, Mia http://www.preview-art.com/previews/04-2009/contemporaryindia.html Archived 31 January 2013 at Archive.today
  13. ↑ Interview with Jaideep Sen, Time Out Bengaluru
  14. ↑ Jakimowicz, Marta, Deccan Herald, http://www.deccanherald.com/content/18813/art-talk.html
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