Mar 24 2023 to Mar 26 2023 10 a.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Subterranean Ruins

12, Kaggalipura, Road, Bengaluru 560082

Event Description

G. Reghu was born in 1959 in Kitimanoor, Kerala. He studied sculpture at the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram Though he began with stone as a medium, Reghu’s sensibility gained direction after his contact with Elizabeth and Laurie Baker along with their Gandhian philosophy of working with indigenous materials. As a final year student, Reghu participated in an All India Students Camp organized by the Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal J Swaminathan, the Director of the Museum, spotted Reghu’s talent and awarded him a scholarship for two years to work at Bharat Bhavan. Reghu remained at Bharat Bhavan for 15 years where he shifted to ceramic and terracotta art, largely improving his skills. Through his close association with Swaminathan, he gained a benign outlook toward the dispossessed, using their life to inspire his work.

Soon after Reghu abandoned pottery and turned to the ceramic tradition of sculpture. It was clear that he was beginning to find his métier. The work was being shaped by an artist who showed an intimacy with the tactile processes of using his hands to pat mud walls, throwing the clay the medium and method reflecting his familiarity with a rural lifestyle using the techniques of hollow modeling, stabbing, folding coiling, and pinching. Reghu began to evolve a racial type that mingled Dravidian and African facial features- evocative of an ancient civilization. His head exuded warmth and classical austerity, typical of his work. From here Reghu moved to his present preoccupation, an exploration of the human form.

The Ceramic Presence, a solo show held at Art Hentage in 2015/16 is clearly inspired by the artist’s own agricultural background and the Gandhian ideal of working with local materials. The figures themselves are doll-like and employ traditional folk motifs -some of the sculptures display playful groupings of women and children at leisure, in expressions of joyous celebration and wonder. Since 1988, Reghu has held several solo shows and participated part in a number of groups shows Among them. To Encounter Others”. Stoffwechsel Kassel Germany, 1992 the Contemporary Indian Art Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, 1995 For Contemporary Art Sans Tacho Gallery, Mumbai,1998 International Biennate Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt 2000 Shaping Clay India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2013 Reghu has participated in several major art camps held across the country He is the recipient of the Award of Fourth Contemporary Indian Art Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, 1907 & 1989 and also the Bombay Art Society Award, Mumbai, 1998.