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S Harshavardhana
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S Harshavardhana gave up a successful career as a bioscientist in 1993 to pursue his love for painting, a passion that remained merely a hobby for many years. Son of the late modern master Jagdish Swaminathan, Harshavardhana’s inclination towards art was almost a given.
Born in 1958 in New Delhi, Harshavardhana holds a postgraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and a...
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S Harshavardhana gave up a successful career as a bioscientist in 1993 to pursue his love for painting, a passion that remained merely a hobby for many years. Son of the late modern master Jagdish Swaminathan, Harshavardhana’s inclination towards art was almost a given.
Born in 1958 in New Delhi, Harshavardhana holds a postgraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and a diploma in Business Management. He worked in senior management positions in the biomedical industry for many years before wholly pursuing his artistic calling.
Harshavardhana is a self-taught artist who displays his vast creative vocabulary in his heavily textured but plainly coloured canvases. Deeply influenced by tribal art and symbols, he creates abstract geometric forms - mostly inverted triangular structures constructed within carefully demarcated areas of colour - that are violently cut into one another. While some of these forms blend in, others create obvious scars, bringing a distinctive character to his works.
The artist’s works have been exhibited in multiple solo and group exhibitions around the world. His solo shows include Enduring Intimations from Far and Near at Gallery Espace, New Delhi, in 2007-08; Seeking the Reality at Indigo Blue Art, Singapore, in 2007; Lines Maketh the Web at Aicon Gallery, New York, in 2007; and Acute, Obtuse and Sometimes Right at Aicon Gallery, California in 2006. He lives and works in New Delhi.
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Born
1958
New Delhi
Education
M.Sc. in Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan
Diploma in Business Management
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014 Galerie J Bastien Art, Brussels,...
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014 Galerie J Bastien Art, Brussels, Belgium
2012 Ideations: Colour, Form, Dimension and Space, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
2007-08 Enduring Intimations from Far and Near, Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2007 Seeking the Reality, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
2007 Lines Maketh the Web, Aicon Gallery, New York, USA
2007 Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
2006 Acute, Obtuse and Sometimes Right, Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto, California, USA
2000 Luminous Terrain, Lakeeran Art Gallery, Mumbai
1999 Sangati, Art Inc., New Delhi
1997 Wanderings, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012 Aviraam: Celebrating the Pioneer Spirit- S H Raza at 90, presented by The Raza Foundation at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2011 The Lost Sparrow, presented by Gallery Threshold at Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2011 Form and Formlessness, Art Alive Gallery, Gurgaon
2011 Cross Currents, Art Positive, New Delhi
2010 Black is Beautiful, India Fine Art, Mumbai
2010 Beyond Objecthood, presented by Gandhara Art Gallery at Nandalal Bose Hall, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Kolkata
2009-10 On Canvas -1, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
2009 Think Small, Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
2009 Moderns and More, Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto, California, USA
2009 Divagations: Spaces of Possibility, Raza Foundation Awardees Show, Art Alive, New Delhi
2008 Abstract Contemporary Art, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
2008 Tales, Reflection and Constructs, ITC Windsor, Bangalore
2007 High on Art, Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2007 Colors of Art, presented by Galerie Sara Arakkal and Gallery Art Resource Trust at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 Drawing Show an Act of Art II, Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai
2006 Confluence, Aicon Gallery, New York, USA
2004 Indian Artists for France, New Delhi
2004 Young Contemporary Artists, New Delhi
2003 Cultural Ties, Apparao Galleries, New Delhi and Mumbai
2003 2D / 3D, Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China
2002 Navarasa, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
2000 The Millennium Masks, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1999 Art with Heart, Hotel Oberoi, New Delhi
1998 Veiled Spaces, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1998 Multi Media, Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata
1997 Postmodern Indian Art, Turlock, California, USA
1996 Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai
1996 The Pastel, Gallery Art Motif, New Delhi
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Q.What are your predominant concerns as an artist?
I do not believe that an artist or for that matter any body else is above or isolated from society and the surroundings in which he or she lives. I also do not believe that art is an intellectual pursuit. Perhaps the one thing that an artist does is to free his or her mind from society and involve himself or herself only with the 'visual experience' of creation....
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Q.What are your predominant concerns as an artist?
I do not believe that an artist or for that matter any body else is above or isolated from society and the surroundings in which he or she lives. I also do not believe that art is an intellectual pursuit. Perhaps the one thing that an artist does is to free his or her mind from society and involve himself or herself only with the 'visual experience' of creation.
The major concern, I, therefore have is that somehow it has come to be that the artist seems to have become a representative of social Goods or Evils! I do not believe that the subject or any explanation thereof makes the Painting. Visual art is not a means of communication, advertisement, or a billboard with the motive of giving a 'message' to the beholder or society as such. There can only be a communion and that is dependent upon the created and the beholder.
There are other concerns like 'being professional', 'networking',' self recognition' etc. which also trouble me
Q.What has been the impact of your father - as an artist and a person been on you?
My father was always a kind and a loving person. At the same time he was very committed to what he wanted to do and always put others before himself or his family. He never tried to influence or interfere with us while always helped or supported whenever possible. He was very focused with his endeavor and fiercely guarded his individual space. If at all he compromised it was only to my mother.
Some personal aspects of his influence:
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Never think you are superior because of your social status, birth, etc.
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Do not be nepotistic! If you don't agree with something don't give in even to your father mother, brother, etc.
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Don't be parochial, small-minded, or self-indulgent (at the cost of others).
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Do not differentiate people just on the basis of their religion or beliefs.
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You get only one life and live it to your satisfaction, at your own terms.
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Help if you can or asked but do not try to reform.
As far as his painting is concerned certain aspects such as influence me:
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Painting is self-expression.
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Painting is not about making an image of what the artist thinks is reality but seeking the reality of the image.
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Qualitative cognition is important rather than analytical apprehension.
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A good painting is a good painting may it be figurative or abstract! (Visual experience)
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The experience of creation and the experience of the created are mutually exclusive thereby detachment is important.
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Form is important but not when it is used as a symbol to signify a particular subjective idea.
What are have been the influences on your art
I try to blank my mind when I paint. However I am sure there is a sub-conscious influence, which gets in.
Some of the paintings of the following artists have been a lasting experience:
Paul Klee
Edward Munch
Van Gogh
Henri Matisse
Mark Rothko
Jackson Pollock
Mark Toby
V.S.Gaitonde
Ambadas
Jairam Patel
Prabhaker Barwe
M.F. Husain
Rajesh Mehra
Prabhaker Kolte
Nilima Sheikh
Amitava Das
Manjit Bawa
Mona Rai
Rajendra Dhawan
J. Swaminathan
Q.You didn't undergo formal training for art - what were the reasons for this and what made you pick up the brush.
As perhaps mentioned earlier somewhere as children we were pretty much left to ourselves. I did science with Biology in my Higher Secondary. I was quite good at school and did very well in my finals.
As a future course of study I wanted to do something other than art. In fact one felt at that time that the house itself was an art institution. So off I went to the Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences at Pilani.I completed my Masters in Biosciences and almost finished my Masters in Mathematics also. I didn't finish the math's degree as the units I needed to complete the degree were being offered in a manner that would require me to stay on for at least three semesters i.e. one and a half years more. I was getting restless and wanted to get out find a job and start out on my own.
This I did for more than eleven year! Somewhere in between I also managed to do a diploma in Business Management. After a few years of jet setting and managing I started feeling a lack of fulfillment in what I was doing. My social life and friends circle was in the realm of art and artists. I had also kept up my dabbling in painting all this while. In 1992 when my firm (I was then the country manager for a big multi-national firm manufacturing diagnostics and equipment for biochemical and hematological analysis) decided to tone down its operations in India, instead of continuing in the rut elsewhere I decided to take a plunge and just paint. I must admit the years of this fancy job had enabled me to save enough to ensure financial security (at least for a few years). My parents were also morally supportive. Somewhat of a prodigal son I suppose! It is sad that my father expired in 1994 and was not around when I had my first one-man show in1997. I have never looked backed since and am very happy living and existing the same life.
Q.What attracts you to abstracts?
I try to blank my mind when I paint. I don't work with an idea or a theme. Even the recognizable geometric forms, which occur at times, are not there to symbolize or represent a thought or some profound meaning! I feel that if my work can lend itself to one interpretation than it should do so to a hundred others. I like the aspect of undertaking a journey with an unknown objective. In this I also feel that my works are never really finished. What is presented to the beholder is only a resting point and the journey continues. Also as mentioned earlier the attempt is not to execute a preconceived image or idea with skill and technique but arrive at it (whatever it may be) by sheer instinct and visual experience.
Q.You work predominantly on paper any particular reason for doing so?
It started because of convenience and ease of handling. The process of self-teaching led me to develop my own technique of handling the medium of oil pastels, dry pastels on paper. The innate texture of the paper also provides a dimension. Moreover since I work with the surface pinned to a board on the wall, paper is practical. I also work on canvas board at times, canvas too.
Q.Where do you think is the abstract artist/art in India headed?
Abstract artist/art is headed exactly where any artist/art is headed. As said a good painting is a good painting. Intellectual content or the lack of it is not in the painting but in the head of the beholder!
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PAST AUCTIONS
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Lot 87
Details
StoryLTD Absolute Auction
7-8 August 2013
Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
27 x 41.5 in
Winning bid
$2,880
Rs 1,67,041
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 15
Details
Absolute Art Auction
23-24 January 2013
Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
30 x 47.5 in
Winning bid
$1,500
Rs 79,500
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
USD payment only. Why?
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Lot 47
Details
Absolute Art Auction
23-24 January 2013
Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
34 x 47 in
Winning bid
$1,680
Rs 89,040
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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Lot 81
Details
Absolute Art Auction
23-24 January 2013
Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
50.5 x 29.5 in
Winning bid
$5,820
Rs 3,08,460
(Inclusive of buyer's premium)
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