Indian Sculptors

Indian sculptors have absorbed the various types of metamorphosis of the art of carving out sculptures, presenting Indian sculptures which are wrapped in contemporary taste. The origin of Indian sculpture dates back to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation. In an attempt to trace the history of sculpture and sculptors one needs to go back to the Harappan civilisation. This was more an urban set up where the cities were well planned and simple. But it was the pottery, sculptural relief, seals and other handiworks. The bronze sculptures from Indus Valley Civilization were as impressive as their well laid out cities.

India boasts of innumerable dexterous sculptors who have produced exemplary work and are renowned for their brilliant contributions in the field of Indian sculpture art. Most of these sculpture artisans have migrated to Western nations to rediscover their upcoming ideas, as well as to communicate to the maximum quantity of target consumers. Indian sculptors are well known for their creations like sand sculpture, metal sculpture, bronze sculpture and wood sculpture, amongst innumerous other forms of sculpture crafting. Museums or galleries, as well as temporary structures are used to demonstrate the manifold aspects of this kind of art.

Many modern sculptors are experimenting with interactive installations and other contemporary techniques to attract the attention of people. Nalini Mallani, Sobodh Gupta and Subodh Kerkar are a few of the Indian sculptors who are exploring new horizons in this field.

Contemporary Indian Sculptors are choral about the Indian identity. Contemporary Indian Sculptors have added weights and volumes of work to the domain of Contemporary Indian Sculpture.

Sculpture essentially being a public art lays bare the cudgels of modernity, avant-garde expressionistic modes and futuristic ways. While the middle and pre-independent era manifested the lack of independence on the part of Indian Sculptors, as they were mostly commissioned for work and under quintessential patronage, post liberalization era witnessed the affluent emergence of new array of ideals which was a far cry from the stains of dogma or ideological shackles.

The famous contemporary Indian sculptors are as follows:

Somnath Hore: Somnath Hore in his youth he became affiliated with the Communist Party of India, his socialist ideologies influenced the early phases of his artistic career. It was through the active patronage of the Communist Party that he gained entrance to the Government Arts College in Kolkata. One of his largest sculptures, "Mother and Child" was dedicated to the sufferings of the people of Vietnam.

Dhruva Mistry: Dhruva Mistry had shaped himself as an artist while experiencing the West during a period in which British art was changing. Rich imagery and narrative content of Indian art and the highly developed skills of a dedicated sculptor characterize the sculptures of Dhruva. All his work is not narrative. They have influences from Hinduism, Buddhism and West - Egyptian and Cycladic art and European traditions of figurative sculpture. His works are conceptual.

Trupti Patel: Trupti Patel has been centred on the human figure and their conditions. Initially her works in India were cast in plaster and gradually she moved towards working in clay, which was then fired. She adds colour carefully usually working it into the body of the clay. Female form and issues surrounding the female role within the family and in society are the recurring themes in Trupti Patel`s sculptures.

Preeti Chandrakant: She is the first artist in worldwide to produce and show, Art Beings - humans who have been sculpted by her over various years and programmed with Time Pieces which can be acquired, packaged, insured, displayed, resold and auctioned. Chandrakant`s work discovers the interrelationship between knowledge and change.

Manav Gupta: He has won global applause for his first of its class six floor high 5000 square ft in disguise and 10,000 square ft of full painted exterior, charged mega wall painting at the headquarters of foremost telecom company colossal in Gurgaon where he painted Live for three months though involving thousands of employees" brush strokes in his establishment The Tree of Life.

Latika Katt: She is famous for winning the Beijing Art Bienalle Award. Latika Katt is an Indian sculptor who specializes in stone carving, metal casting and bronze sculpting. Her talent was spotted by Indira Gandhi in an art exhibition who later encouraged her to take sculpting as an occupation.

Renuka Kesaramadu: She is best recognized globally during her combined art exhibitions and participations in workshops in Europe. She served as a member of the Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy in Bengaluru from 1995 to 1998 under the directorship of C. Chandrashekhar.

Rooma Mehra: Rooma Mehra is an artist with a communal ethics, who had 11 solo shows of her paintings, reliefs and sculptures. Her artworks are found in concealed and enduring collections counting the National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi and Lalit Kala Akademi.

Mrinalini Mukherjee: Mrinalini Mukherjee was recognized for utilization of folk and tribal art techniques to immense creative improvement in her works. She has an exceptional influence in contemporary Indian art and is best identified for her knotted sculptures with hemp ropes.

The pioneer in the new school of Indian realism was Raja Ravi Verma. Raja Ravi Verma depicted scenes from Indian mythologies and presented them in a realist-romanticist format. A spirit of humanism is celebrated throughout which is infused with a sense of spiritual which is reminiscent of the classical sculptural styles. Search for pure form induced by European aesthetics added new and interesting dimensions. Experiments with unusual materials of classical traditions folk and tribal sources profound effect on the artistic imagination is widely observed.

Indian art has reached a terribly high degree of sophistication and abstraction at various times in Indian history. Amalgamation of European and Oriental styles is what Indian sculptural scenario consists of.

Indian Sculptors during Modern Age have in actuality been the precursors to the contemporary Sculptors in India. Sculpture stamped its feet on Indian plebeian land with the on mark of civilization itself i.e. Indus Valley Civilization. As time rolled on sculpture too evolved and oriental sculpture and architecture has metamorphosed. However they never stayed back with traditional innuendos rather welcomed the vintages of time and space. The Indian sculptors have lucratively singled out up these changes and offered Indian sculpture wrapped in contemporary taste. In an attempt to trace the history of sculpture and sculptors one needs to rediscover the alleys of Harappan civilisation. This was more an urban set up where the cities were well planned and simple. But it was the pottery, sculptural relief`s, seals and other handiworks. The bronze sculptures from Indus Valley Civilisation were as impressive as their well laid out cities.

As temples confiscated the religion culture in India, the sculptors fashioned beautiful relief works in order to bedeck the temples. However the identities of the Sculptors remained veiled in a placid veneer of smoky smog. It was in some of the Pattadakal temples that one comes across the names of the artists. One such name that appears in the Virupaksha Temple is that of Gundan Anivaritachari. In ancient India this was a rare phenomenon. However with time notions like individuality sprang up. With it came the art of signing a particular work of art. It was done to provide recognition to the sculptors and other artisans.

Ram Kinker Baij
Ram Kinker Baij was one of the former Indian artists who had in actuality understood the importance and the language of Western art amidst global scenario and even understand the language of modern Western art and incorporated the same in his work. It is due to this reason that he is regarded as the father of modernism in art in India. When he appeared in the sculptural field the genre was marked by an age of transition from traditional art to modern art. His work proved to be decisive to Indian art history. Initially Ramkinkar used to paint portraits of Indian freedom fighters involved in the Non Cooperation Movement against the British rulers of India. He took a great interest in human figures, body language and in the general human drama. Modern Western art and pre and post-classical Indian art were his main point of reference. He used local material advantageously and worked combining the skills of a modeller and a carver. The earliest Indian artist to experiment with abstract sculptural forms his sculptures are filled with force and vitality. His oil on canvas paintings have a singular quality - unregimented by dogmas and diligently creative. His work has tremendous energy; joy and reaches out to light. It is earthy and dynamic while showing a growth. His sand and pebble sculptures are noted for a typical, lyrical, metrical sensuality which has an amazing oneness with nature. Indian sculpture was transformed by this artist. He incorporated elements of Santhal tribal art and life into his own work and enhanced them by an understanding of Western expressionism. Both his sculpture and his paintings are unprompted and bold.

N.N.Rimzon
N.N.Rimzon is another modern sculptor who was highly predisposed by the leftist background in Kerala and the socio- political strife at the time of the emergency. Major inspiration of Ramkinker Baij fell on him. The sculptures he conjures by the dint of his genius artistry are trim in an installation-like space and enthused by discontinuities, suggestiveness and contradictions of size, colour, setting. As he directs the viewer to a catered plate of assorted complexities, of his imagination mingled with that of the artist. He relies on indigenous classic art forms of aesthetic, emotive, symbolic, personal, contemporary and utilitarian ones. His approach is post-modernist as well as essentially Indian at a time of cultural and social transition. Rimzon`s later work was rooted in specific classic forms and has a greater simplicity and immediate power. Society fragmentation, individual alienation and archetypal depictions of the human experience dominate his work. His metal, fibreglass and stone sculptures have won him international acclaim. Rimzon`s solo shows were held at Art Heritage, New Delhi 1991, 93, School`s Gallery, Amsterdam 1994. The main participation`s are: Seven Young Sculptures, New Delhi 1985, 100 years of Indian Art, National Gallery of Modem Art, New Delhi 1994, Art and Nature, New Delhi 1995, The Other Self, New York and Stadelijk Museum, Amsterdam 1995,2ndAsia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane, Fire and Life, New Delhi 1996.

The artistic vocabulary of the Rimzon is rooted in symbols which are derived from the rural landscape of southern India: the village compound, the palm tree, the temple, the forest pathway and the handmade canoe. The personal language is his weapon, to construct works along with a narrative suggestion. The metaphors are used by him with dexterity to comment on important social issues. Although figures are devoid in Rimzon`s works, there is a suggestion of human involvement.

Mrinalini Mukherjee
Mrinalini Mukherjee is another sculptor whose works are enthused by nature the energies of the natural resources. Her crafted sculptures encompass the history of the divine icon with its origin in the organic world and the human body which is symbolic of continuous movement and evolution, possessing a quality of living plants that emerge and stir and burst into flowers. These pieces are an extension of Mukherjee`s iconic early work with natural fibres like hemp, and her ceramic goddesses-blossoms series. Nature was the nourishing factor of her art. She tries to interweave nature with human sculptures. The sculptures knotted painstakingly with hemp ropes in earthy or glowing colours evoke a rich world of growing life, lush vegetation and iconic figures. The strong note of sexuality is manifest in the mysterious folds and the intricate curves and drapes. There is a sensuous quality in her work.

Meera Mukherjee
Meera Mukherjee had worked under the noted Indonesian painter Effendi who was living and working in Shantiniketan. For her sculptures she used the lost wax process. Her works depict that she had been deeply influenced by the Dhokra sculptors of Bastar in Madhya Pradesh. They arranged wax threads over the core wax before covering the wax model with two layers of clay.

The first layer was in fine clay while the other was coarse and fired hard. The cast bronze would then have a rich and ornamental surface of curves, spirals lines of bronze threads. Meera spent many years staying with them and acquired the basic knowledge of their technique which she put to use in a creative way in her sculptures. She perfected a technique in bronze that was her own. She evolved a unique iconography too. Many of her works show the use of Bengali calligraphy on the surface. Her work documents the life of the common people - fishermen, weavers, women stitching Kantha, commuters in a crowded bus, labourers laying cables and carrying mud. Many of her sculptures are related to music and dance. The sense of movement is seen in her sculptures where a river is visualized as the universe. Celebration of humanism and a yearning for reaching beyond the ordinary and rejoicing in freedom and liberation are the elements that mark the spirit of Mukherjee`s work.

Dhanraj Bhagat
Dhanraj Bhagat continued experimenting with innovative styles of carving sculpture and realized the significance of wood as the base material for creating sculpture.

G. Ravinder Reddy
This Indian sculptor, born in Andhra Pradesh built sculpture which were lively and seemed as if they communicated with your eyes, directly, like speaking to you. Classical designs, followed by sexual idols which could be categorized as lusty or vulgar were included among the creations of G. Ravinder Reddy.

Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor is a distinguished Indian sculptor who won the Turner Prize in 1991 for his excellent work in the field of Indian sculpture. His work includes brightly coloured or monochromatic art forms. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards for his contribution to Indian sculpture. Anish Kapoor worked along with engineers and architects throughout his entire life and created beautiful works.

Sadanand Bakre
Sadanand Bakre is one of the most celebrated Indian sculptors. His creations are demonstrated in Europe and America, including the Commonwealth Institute, Nicholas Treadwell Gallery and Gallery Four.

Sankho Chaudhuri
Sankho Chaudhury has produced several works which are live examples of his immense potential as a sculptor in India. Many awards prove his skilled expertise at crafting wonderful sculpture.

Chintamoni Kar
Chintamoni Kar was a globally recognized Indian sculptor, who created sculpture with the aide of various materials like terracotta, metal, stone and wood. He is honoured with an Olympic silver medal which was offered to him on behalf of Britain. Indian and French governments offered him civilian awards to appreciate his works of sculpture.

Sudarshan Pattnaik
He is the pioneer of sand art in the country and has mastered it without any formal guidance or training. Innumerable works of sand sculpture have been produced by him since he was seven years of age. Many national and global awards have been awarded to Sudarshan Pattnaik to admire his innovative sand sculpture. He holds the World record for building the tallest Santa Claus sand sculpture in the world. He also won the People`s Choice Prize at the Moscow International Sand Sculpture Championship which was conducted in Russia.

Other Indian Sculptors
Kishore Nagappa, Krishna Reddy, Vijay Gaur, Latika Katt, Kumaradeva, Rooma Mehra, Dashrath Patel, Mallikarjuna Reddy, Trupti Patel, Meera Mukherjee, N.N.Rimzon, Raghunath Krishna Phadke, Mani Nagappa, Nek Chand Saini, Avtarjeet Singh Dhanjal, Raghunath Mohapatra and numerous other Indian sculptors are quite reputed.The contemporary sculptures include sand sculptures and various kinds of metal sculptures. With the emergence of temple building the sculptors created beautiful relief works in order to decorate the temples. However the identities of these India sculptors remained unknown. It was in some of the Pattadakal temples that one comes across the names of the artists. One such name that appears in the Virupaksha Temple is that of Gundan Anivaritachari. However with time notions like individuality sprang up. With it came the art of signing a particular work of art. It was done to provide recognition to the sculptors and other artisans.