Manjunath Kamath: Slide & Video Presentation - Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi

Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi organised an event by the acclaimed artist Manjunath Kamath, with video installations and a power point presentation of his lifetime work on 24th August 2012 at 5.30 pm, at the Government Museum & Art Gallery, Sector 10 C, Chandigarh. Manjunath Kamath was Born in Mangalore, India in 1972. He did his BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) from Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore; He was the Artist in Residence, School of Art & Design, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK. Followed by a Charles Wallace Scholarship, UK. He has exhibited his work extensively, in solo and group shows in India and abroad. Manjunath Kamath compels the viewer to think and participate in his thought-provoking works. His imaginations bring forth different experiments, which he shares with the viewer. His need to draw and hold his viewers' attention is palpable in his varied use of painting, drawing, sculpture, video and found objects. With the help of these disparate genres he creates narratives that are gripping in content, even though they are composed of simple, commonplace elements. Thus Kamath's forte ultimately lies in creating fantasies out of the ordinary. In an age when video art and installations have given a new language to Indian contemporary art, an innovative approach has pervaded the art scene, and artists such as Manjunath Kamath, use art as a vehicle to address identity issues like gender, sexuality and feminism. Through his penchant for fantasy and the absurd he is able to convey his thoughts and ideas in a manner not seen in Indian art before. The narrative is packed with details which provide important clues to the social satire, the wit and the clever ridicule infused in the infinite oddities of human situations. Manjunath Kamath tells stories with his images. His narratives, however, are altered and adjusted constantly, adapting fluidly according to the environment they are narrated in, and resulting in a different meaning each time a story is told. As a visual artist, Kamath feels impelled to regularly reinvent his method of storytelling. By relentlessly working on his articulation and modernizing his techniques, he continuously updates his visual vocabulary. Manjunath himself explains about his thought process and technique - "My works are inspired by the day to day life spend by any individual who is observant of things going around. I am a capturer of the immediate in painterly images. Taking cues from the conversations with friends, relatives, street smart guys, fashion aficionados, art lovers, story tellers, children, myth makers, journalists, art critics and so on, I try to go beyond the face value of the words uttered and the mental images created. I look at the possibilities of the unsaid and chances of the unrevealed in my works. So they are always mysterious and playful..... My world view is quite humorous. I would like to laugh at things and through this laughter I could get into the unrevealed sides of events. This is the same attitude that I take in my video works. I create imaginary situations as in the fables and parables, through claymation models. They create one kind of narrative and leave it open for the viewers interventions. This is the same method that I use in my small scale works and drawings." Uma Prakash writes about his work --" Kamath's unique visual vocabulary reflects his mastery of colour, his techniques and his usage of various mediums. He connects the past with the present in his thought provoking work, showing the deep link between tradition and modernism. With his artistic expertise Kamath addresses issues of identity, race and social structure allowing the viewer to participate in his work." www.lalitkalachandigarh.com